College students often ask me whether chocolate milk is "good" for them. The answer is not a clear-cut yes or no. If you dislike plain, fat-free or lowfat milk and would never drink it and are of normal weight, then I'd recommend chocolate milk to you in order to get some great nutrition (vitamin D, calcium, protein.) However, I would not recommend chocolate milk as a regular drink to everyone because it is a sugar-sweetened beverage with more calories than most people need to consume from a beverage. I tend to agree with most of what Marion Nestle says about nutrition topics and I agree with her on the chocolate-milk-as-an-exercise-recovery-meal debate. Instead of drinking your calories, eat something!
College-friendly After Exercise Meals:
- bowl of healthy cereal with milk (there! I used milk, not chocolate milk, in this example!)
- fruit smoothie (example: yogurt, berries, orange juice)
- sandwich (example: whole grain bread, turkey, lettuce, tomato)
- pasta with marinara or meat sauce
- burrito or burrito bowl with rice (like at Goody's)
- pizza bagel (easy-to-make even in your campus apartment)
- peanut butter and jelly sandwich with....MILK!
