This article talks about a small study which found that drinking milk after working out promoted muscle gain and fat loss better than soy drinks and much better than carbohydrate drinks.

If there’s one thing my diet is deficient in, it’s dairy. I do not have enough dairy foods. I avoid them because I don’t like the taste of milk very much, cheese is high in fat, I don’t like the taste of natural yoghurt either except in cooking (it is lovely when used in curries, bakes etc), flavoured yoghurts have too much carb in them, etc etc (most of these are just excuses, aren’t they). My dieticians have said that it’s not really an issue – I guess they’re used to lactose intolerance so they don’t get aeriated when milk isn’t in a diet – they just want me to keep up my calcium and if I have to supplement that (I’m not keen on crunching salmon bones either) then so be it. In summer I do like a nice berry smoothie from the cafe downstairs which is made with milk, yoghurt and berries, no banana, no sugar, no honey, no thickening agents, nothing but the MYB. Yummm. But I wonder how I can incorporate a yummy berry smoothie to have after my workouts…

What struck me when reading this is this getting-fit/losing-weight stuff is exactly like fertility stuff – you get to see so many studies focussing on this or on that, and I’ve retained a dignified but superior detachment from thousands of women increasing their vitamin B or their L-arginine or trying umpteen different creams, cordials, potions, tablets in the hopes of getting pregnant this month – theory after theory after theory, it all does no good.

Whereas with getting fit, I find I’m prepared to believe anything, try anything. Yes I’m going to shoot off now and make some natural yoghurt and get some frozen berries for the freezer, yes when I get home from my workouts I’m going to prepare a nice berry smoothie for myself. And my rationalisation, so that I don’t look like I’m ricocheting from one thing to another, is that as my diet is lacking in dairy anyway, I figure it’s not a bad thing to try.