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A real meal has everything your body needs to recover. Shooting back some sort of energy drink is a stop-gap, at best, and prevents you from noticing your body's needs, at worst. Hence ending with "Go find some protein". If you're considering whether or not your muscle-glucose levels are going to be replenished, you've already missed the plot.

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I drink chocolate milk, usually about 1 hour in. After the exercise is complete, a real meal is exactly what you need. No arguments there at all.

While you're training someone(or yourself) for any type of endurance event(eg triathlon), it's not uncommon to toss them a sugary(decaffeinated!) soda or juice. You're goal is to make sure they never exhaust that available supply of glucose until the event is complete. If they do, along with cannibalizing their muscle mass, they're going to have short-term discomfort(cramps, mental fogginess).

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