Elixir of the Gods
The Greatest Post-Workout Drink
Let’s be honest here,
Your post-workout shake sucks and it’s killing your gains.
Most lifters after a workout will drink a shake consisting of pasteurized whole milk and some type of generic whey protein powder. Obviously, the protein count in this drink makes it very attractive to most lifters. However, most lifters don’t realize that the quality of protein is a huge deal.
Let us first dissect the ingredients in one of the most popular protein powders out there, Muscle Milk.
Ingredients:
- Milk protein isolate
- Non-dairy creamer (sunflower oil, maltodextrin, sodium caseinate, mono- and diglycerides, tocopherols)
- Maltodextrin
- Alkalized cocoa powder
- Soluble corn fiber
- Canola oil
- Crystalline fructose
- Medium chain triglycerides
- Natural and artificial flavors
- Calcium phosphate
Analysis
There are quite a few red flags here. First off, there are more than 10 ingredients in this product. Second, there are two types of seed oils (canola and sunflower) which are absolutely terrible for you and will lower your testosterone. Third, all of these ingredients are highly processed in factories. This is the lowest quality protein you will find on your grocery store shelves.
Pasteurized Whole Milk
Pasteurized whole milk is not a terrible source of nutrients if you are buying the right kind. If you’re buying whole milk that is A2 and grass fed you are going to get a much higher quality product. This is because the cows that this milk is extracted from are fed strictly grass. Cheaper sources of milk (A1/non-grass fed) come from cows that are fed a diet consisting of grain and soy. Most of the time this grain that they are being fed has mold in it. Mold is highly estrogenic which means this is also going to lower your testosterone. Soy, as we all know it, is also highly estrogenic.
Now when it comes to lactose intolerant people, or people that don’t like drinking milk because it bothers their stomach, I am going to provide you with a great alternative.
Pasteurization
But first, we must discuss why exactly pasteurized whole milk makes your stomach hurt. So pasteurized whole milk goes through a process called pasteurization which is when they heat the milk at 161 degrees to kill all the bacteria and enzymes in the milk. This pasteurization process not only kills all of the bad bacteria and enzymes, but also all of the healthy bacteria and enzymes. This pasteurization process also makes milk much harder for us to digest it. This is why many people are lactose intolerant to only milk that has been pasteurized.
The Amazing Alternative
This incredible alternative is Raw Milk. And not just any raw milk, but Grass-fed, A2, Raw Milk. Preferably from a trusted local source. Now, there is a risk with drinking raw milk. The one that I buy has a warning label on it stating
“Raw milk has not been processed to remove pathogens that can cause illness. The consumption of raw milk may increase the risk of food borne illness in people who consume it, particularly in highly susceptible populations such as children, the elderly, pregnant women and others with weakened immune systems.”
I buy this raw milk from Pennsylvania because it is illegal to sell it in New Jersey. However, this warning on the gallon is only put there because the state of PA makes them. It is against PA state law to sell and distribute raw milk without this warning label. So does this warning label have any truth to it?
A Bad Reputation
The whole reason why raw milk has this bad reputation of causing illness is actually quite simple. So all civilizations and peoples since the beginning of humans have been extracting raw milk from cows and drinking it without problems. However, when the industrialization period started and highly populated cities became a thing, they needed a way to bring the cows to the cities, so they did.
Cows were now in these densely populated areas and they had no fresh grass to eat. The only thing that they had to eat was what was given to them. This consisted of cheap grains and dirty city water filled with bad bacteria. Most of the time, the grains that were given to these cows had mold in them which meant even more bad bacteria. This is where problems started to arise when consuming raw milk and it was all because the cows weren’t being fed a healthy diet. This was also before state laws were passed on the processing and distribution of food so who even knows what these companies were feeding their cows.
The Benefits
Raw milk has one tremendous benefit that I noticed once I first started drinking it. This was the drastic increase in my digestion and gut health. Since the healthy enzymes and bacteria were still in the milk, they could actually go to work inside of my body and help me. I started drinking raw milk about a month ago and I went from having terrible digestion problems to basically never having them. Since I began I have had one stomachache and I didn’t even have to go to the bathroom after. It went away in a matter of 20-30 minutes and I felt normal again.
Another benefit is the quality of nutrients you are getting. Milk is known for being a superfood because it has all the necessary qualities. These are fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and sugars. You might be thinking:
“But wait Kenny, aren’t carbs and sugars bad for me? Aren’t they going to make me fat?”
Yes and no. High quality carbs and sugars from things like raw milk and organic 100% maple syrup are NOT going to make you fat. They’re actually going to help you burn fat. This is because your body can digest these sugars and carbs right away. Now on the other side of things, carbs and sugars from anything that is highly processed is not easy at all for your body to digest. This is because they aren’t digested until they reach the small digestion track in your body. This results in higher inflammation and that is what makes you fat and feel like shit: Increased inflammation.
Also, we are solving the problem that many keto diets face and that is the shortage of electrolytes. We all know that when we sweat, we lose electrolytes. Now these electrolytes are potassium, magnesium, calcium, and sodium and they help move water around in our cells which is what we want. A shortage of electrolytes can cause things such as cramps. Drinking raw milk and any other type of natural whole superfood that is high in sugars and carbs solves this electrolyte problem. Some of my favorite foods that help me accomplish this are organic 100% maple syrup, raw honey, organic plantains, organic bananas, and organic watermelon.
Elixir Time
Okay, so now we are ready to cover the REAL post workout drink that you should be drinking. This drink is:
- 1 glass raw milk
- 2 tablespoons of organic 100% maple syrup
Mix these two ingredients together and you have a high protein, high electrolyte replenishing post workout drink that will also improve your gut health!
Hope you all found this information useful, I will see you next week.
Best,
Kenny