When you’re injured, your body is focused on very important healing activities, you’re in pain, maybe on some interesting pain medication - the last thing you have the brain capacity for is reading science heavy articles about grams of protein every how many hours. So here are some handy, easy to follow tips to make your life easier and still get the nutrition your body requires to heal as quickly as possible.
1. Protein foods - Each meal should contain some type of protein to make sure your body doesn’t start cannibalizing itself to meet the extra protein requirements of healing damaged tissue. Great protein sources are lean meats, beans, eggs, soy, and/or a protein supplement.
2. Vegetables & fruit - Fruits and veggies contain phytochemical and antioxidants helpful for healing. They are also a great source of the vitamins and minerals necessary for your metabolism to function optimally.
3. Whole grains - Minimally processed sources like whole oats, whole grain rice, sprouted grain breads and quinoa are best during injury recovery.
4. Nuts/seeds/oils - To help your body naturally limit the inflammatory process, try to increase your intake of omega 3’s and limit your intake of omega 6’s to achieve a better fat balance. Olive oil, mixed nuts, avocados, flax oil, ground flax, and other seeds are great sources of omega 3’s. Supplemental fish oil can also be very helpful. Sources of omega 6’s are corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil.
5. Eating frequency - During injury recovery, it’s best to graze to continuously supply your body with a steady stream of nutrition, and also to help stay in ‘rest and digest’ mode which will help the tissue repair process. So aim to eat about every 3 hours or so.
6. Herbs and Phytochemicals - For the first 2-4 weeks post-injury, the inclusion of turmeric, garlic, bromelain, and flavanoids from cocoa, tea, and blueberries can help manage inflammation.
7. Vitamins and Minerals - For the first 2-4 weeks post-injury, the inclusion of vitamin A, vitamin C, copper, and zinc can assist in the proliferation and remodeling stages of recovery.
8. Extra Supplements - The inclusion of arginine, and glutamine can also help during the proliferation and remodeling stages.
You can see this post here for a more in-depth list and explanation of the nutritional requirements during recovery.
Wishing you speedy healing and a quick recovery!