Milk as bodybuilding supplement

Intro

Milk is a white liquid produced by mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for babies before they can begin to consume and digest other types of food. It is very rich in nutrients and minerals that are needed for growth and development. For this reason, I believe that milk is one of the best supplements any athlete working out should use and disregard anything that states otherwise. In this article I will look what milk contains and how it can be used to gain optimum results.

 

Semi-Skimmed or Full Fat?

Ideally, you should be drinking semi-skimmed, however, if you are under weight or trying to put on weight, going full fat might be the way forward for you. At more than 30 grams of fat per liter it supplies 600 or more calories.

 

 

UHT

My advice is: Avoid UHT milk. The way its manufactured denatures lots of the proteins and destroys a lot of the nutrients, thus requiring you to take much higher quantities of UHT to maintain the same amount the body would get from Euperised milk. Euperised milk is processed in a similar way to cold-processing in supplements, which is used to guarantee the best quality with the highest amount of nutrients in supplements

 

Calorie info

It’s common knowledge that if you’re trying to put on weight (Muscle) your diet should be 50% carbohydrates, 35% protein and 15% fat. This percentage matches the compositional make-up of milk. For every litre of semi-skimmed milk, you get 440 calories, 48 grams of carbohydrates 32 grams of protein and the recommended 15% of fat. This potentially makes milk the cheapest meal replacement product any body builder could ask for. Not only it’s cheap, but also natural and pure.

To put on weight, you must be consume more calories than your body needs for its metabolism. I will talk in a later article about how to calculate your metabolic rate, but if we assume that you need anything between 2500-3000 calories per day to start putting on weight, 60-75% of that target can be achieved via milk, one of the cleanest and purest sources left in a world of pre-packaging, diseases and genetically engineered food.

 

Calcium

To any athlete, the 3 most important minerals are Iron, Zinc and calcium. Milk is renowned for being rich in Calcium, needed for healthy, strong bones. The amount of calcium the body needs is a lot higher than any of the other two, which is why it’s advised that Zinc and Iron should be taken when the body is low in calcium to increase their bioavailability to the body. This is because the body would always give preference to the absorption of calcium over any of the two minerals given the choice.

Calcium is also very important in the process of muscle contraction and relaxation. If there isn’t enough calcium within the cell, the muscle can’t relax which means less energy for the following contraction which will lead to a limited growth. Calcium is needed to improve the relaxation and prevent muscle cramping, muscle injury and twitching. It also plays a huge role in fat metabolism. Using the recommended FDA calcium dosage has shown to decrease body-fat significantly in obese people.

 

Protein info

Milk can also be used as a primary source of protein. Each litre contains 32 grams of protein coming from two main sources: casein and whey. Combining this with egg protein provides the full protein and amino acid spectrum needed by any athlete.  It also has the highest bioavailability for the body containing large amounts of fast acting and vital amino acids needed for muscle growth, but also casein which is a slower acting form of protein, needed to provide the essential amino acids needed for the body’s Amino Acid Pool.

By mixing whey and casein, the casein influences the whey to act slower and so doing stay active in the body longer and increasing the possibility of absorbing more of it. And because of the amino acids present in casein, there is more of a chance that the whey will be stored in muscle-tissue.

Twenty percent of milk protein is whey, so by drinking approximately 9 litres of milk, you are effectively giving the body 30 grams of whey. This is enough whey for any bodybuilder weighing in less than 95Kg (210lb). This can be further supplemented by other sources such as fish, eggs, or powders.

 

Vitamin D

I will be writing an article soon about vitamins and their importance for athletes, but here, I will just offer an overview of vitamin D, which is something that milk has become enriched in recently.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble secosteriod, a type of molecule very similar to steroids in structure and acts just like them. Primary source is the sun’s radiation where it forms vitamin D on the skin.

Vitamin D is crucial in prevention of bone diseases, such as osteoporosis, but it’s also a highly anabolic hormone that may be of greater benefit than you think. The basic recommendation is 400 International Units, but as with Vitamin E, getting 800 or so makes more sense.

 

Lactoferrin

Lactoferrin is a small protein chain found in milk which is very expensive to extract and purify. It’s full role is still unclear, however it plays a crucial part in the body’s defence against disease. It plays a key role in digestive functioning, immunity and in reducing cancer-risk. It’s also one of the greatest anti-oxidants ever.

 

Ease of access to – convenient

Milk is probably the easiest supplement you can find. You go to any supermarket or corner shop, find the refrigerator and I guarantee you a milk bottle or carton will be there waiting for you. It’s relatively cheap. Also 90% of its volume is water, so it’s an excellent source for rehydration along with water, but unlike water, milk has lots of other nutrients and a better taste. You can have a glass of it any time of day and in the following section I will be showing you ways in which you can use it to maximise your gains.

 

How to optimise its use

Drink as much milk as you can. It’s rich in nutrients and very economical. But there are always more ways you can improve and take in more milk.

1. Drink it whenever you feel like it
2. Mix it with your cereal or porridge for breakfast
3. Mix your shakes with milk
4. Have it with snacks, cookies, chocolate
5. Use it to water down soup (If that’s what you do)

 

Conclusion

• Milk is one of the greatest supplements you can use
• It’s rich in nutrients that promote growth, development and aid recovery
• Drink lots of milk

 

 .