I’m just a scatterbrained mom and the wife of a dairy farmer, so how could I have any credibility with anyone about nutrition? For heaven’s sake, I use real butter when I cook, lard in my pie crust and a day without chocolate is like a day without sunshine – so how could anyone trust anything I have to say about the good and bad we put into our bodies?

Here’s the good news – you don’t have to trust me at all. I’m the messenger and I bring you good tidings of great joy: Chocolate milk is good for you!

Yes, I’m harping on it again and I will harp to the end, especially when I see Facebook posts from people who promote books that basically say milk is from the devil. Nothing gets my blood boiling faster than a bunch of bandwagon enthusiasts trashing nature’s most perfect food – the same nourishment we survive on from the beginning of life.

Imagine how pleased I was when I saw the Google Alert come over my email about recent research proving what dairy promoters have been preaching: That chocolate milk after exercise is the preferred drink.

I’ll give it to you just as the abstract from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research written by researchers Kim Spaccarotella and Walter Andzel gave it: Current evidence suggests that, to maximize glycogen resynthesis, athletes should consume about 1.2 g carbohydrate per kilogram body weight as glucose and sucrose immediately after exercise and each hour thereafter for 4-6 hours post-exercise. Alternatively, they may consume 0.8 g·kg-1·h-1 in combination with 0.4 g·kg-1·h-1 amino acids or protein.

Liquids provide valuable fluids for rehydration, and an ideal recovery beverage should not only contain carbohydrate and protein but also contain electrolytes, including about 0.3-0.7 g sodium·per liter fluid to help restore sodium lost through sweat. Commercial beverages with this type of nutrient composition are effective, and recent work indicates that chocolate milk may be as effective as or superior to these in promoting recovery.

When I got done reading that, I felt as though I was in the Chem Building at MSU in my physiology class, where the professor pronounced protein as pro-TEE-in. It took me a few lectures to figure out just exactly what a pro-TEE-in was, but I wish it wouldn’t take so long for athletic leadership in our schools to figure out this key to body recovery.

It’s a simple concept; drink chocolate milk. What could be simpler? Yet, we have parents who think chocolate milk should be taken off school lunch menus.

Admittedly, the correlation between physical activity and consuming chocolate milk is obvious, and dumping copious amounts of chocolate milk down the throats of sedentary children wouldn’t be too beneficial. So maybe we should add more physical education or recess time for our children in schools, instead of jerking chocolate milk off the menu.

Does anyone remember how much recess time we had in the 1970s? When I was in elementary school we had 15 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes at lunch and then another 15 in the afternoon. And there weren’t any parents clamoring about chocolate milk on the lunch menu, and we didn’t have video games and obesity wasn’t an epidemic.

The conclusion is obvious: Get moving and drink chocolate milk!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.