Nutritional management to accelerate recovery post injury

In many of my article, I talk about how or why the injury happens and what to do to help yourself. One of the most important aspects in prevention of injury and a speedy recovery is nutrition. You are made up of what you put or do not put in your system. If you are eating right and providing proper nutritions for your body, then everything functions much better than if you were to have poor eating habits.

When it comes to nutrition, what your body need is based on many variables such as your height, weight, age, gender, activity level and training history. The values are 20-30% higher than average for muscular athletes since muscles burn more calories.

More muscles mass=burning more calories!

There are two important points to keep in mind here:

1- BMI does not give you an accurate measurement since it does not take “muscle” weight into consideration

2- As you age, your metabolism does not slow down. You get lazy and move less! You prefer sitting instead of any type of moving. You look for the closest parking spot to walk less so you burn less than what you intake.

When it comes to promoting for a speedy recovery or prevention of injury, daily hydration is important. Hydration,

  • decreases rate of injury by lubricating joints and surrounding tissues
  • increases lean body mass
  • maintains/improves immune function
  • maintains body temperature
  • accelerates recovery.

As I mentioned earlier, what you put in your body will help in decreasing inflammation, improving the rate you are healing by supplying your body with more building blocks that it needs.

Here are some tips if you are a recovering athlete,

  • Omega 3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and pain, fatty fish, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts are some examples
  • Reduce processed foods to limit the added chemicals to decrease inflammation
  • Reduce animal protein/fat

Stick with colorful produce since they are high in antioxidants

  • citrus – aids in collagen & proteoglycan formation
  • strawberries – decrease inflammation & pain

  • broccoli – prevents cartilage breakdown
  • grapes – suppress proinflammatory cytokines
  • onions, leeks, garlic – limit cartilage damaging enzymes

Hope all of this information helps!

Even though, you can get some values from online sites or from apps like my fitness pal, for a thorough assessment of your diet, see a licensed dietitian.

images retrieved from:

http://www.sports-injury-info.com/16yearolds-acl-story.html

https://www.quora.com/What-were-the-worst-athlete-injuries-at-the-2012-London-Summer-Olympics

http://www.dreams.co.uk/sleep-matters-club/sharron-davies-on-why-sleep-is-so-important-for-athletes/

http://neatoday.org/2012/05/16/bullying-of-teachers-pervasive-in-many-schools-2/

https://brodsorrell.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/how-to-easily-hydrate-4-hot-weather-fitness-training/http://en.mr-ginseng.com/omega-3/

Fresh Citrus and Strawberry Sangria Recipe

Broccoli and Black Grapes

http://veterinaryteam.dvm360.com/people-food-toxic-pets-onions-garlic-chives-and-leeks?rel=canonical

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