Whether you have recently got an injury or experience long-term pain from old trauma, it can be overwhelming when you can’t train or even move as usual.
Depending on the type and severity of your injury, things like icing, message, compression, rest, strength work, and elevation are effective treatments for injuries. But to speed up recovery time and reduce pain, you need to make some dietary changes.
There are some magic foods that can help your body heal faster and feel better. Your body has the ability to heal from the inside out and consuming certain foods is essential in this process.
If you implement the right foods and nutrients into your diet during your healing time, the duration of an injury can be shortened. Here are some types of food your body will like while recovering from an injury:
It’s known that omega-3 fatty acids possess powerful anti-inflammatory properties and thus can help combat inflammation caused by injuries. They can be so effective, that other pain medications might not be needed.
Moreover, omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to be effective at reducing overall inflammation in people with rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions that cause extreme inflammation. The best sources of omega-3 include salmon, flax seeds, and walnuts.
When your body experiences an injury, it automatically needs more protein for healing. Protein is involved in different processes that are needed to recover from injuries.
How quickly and how properly the injury heals depends on whether you are getting sufficient amounts of high-quality protein. That’s why it’s important to enrich your diet with healthy carbs and proteins after you’ve got an injury.
If you are just recently injured or looking to prevent an injury, add foods high in protein such as grass-fed beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, and Greek yogurt into your diet.
But if you have long-term pain due to an old injury, it’s best to visit a pain clinic to get proper treatment provided by highly qualified specialists. Chronic pain from injuries is not as easy to treat as you may think, and it requires more than just eating the right foods and getting enough rest.
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that acts as an antioxidant in your body. Since our bodies don’t store it, you need to get it from your diet on a daily basis. Vitamin C plays a big role in the healing process by helping your body build new protein for your skin, scar tissue, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels.
Vitamin C is also required to maintain cartilage and bone tissues healthy. Citrus fruits, kiwi, bell peppers, and broccoli are high in this vitamin.
Every tissue in your body contains zinc, so this mineral is extremely important for your healing process. Zinc helps your body use fats and proteins to maintain the healing of the injured tissue.
It also helps keep your immune system healthy and strong, just like vitamin A, which will protect you against infections or viruses. Consider eating more oysters, nuts, seeds, and chicken.
Vitamin A helps your body create white blood cells that are considered the main “preventers injuries”. These little cells help combat infection and viruses. Even if you don’t have a visual injury, your body will still rely on the production of white blood cells to protect the injury and increase the rate of healing. Sunflower seeds, sweet potatoes, carrots, winter squash, swiss chard, and spinach will give your body a good dose of vitamin A.
Your body needs antioxidants to avoid the damage by free radicals. These harmful molecules are roaming around our body, especially when you have an injury. They make your body weaker by taking from your healthy cells. Foods such as blueberries, strawberries, and tart cherries help to control those free radicals, so our body can focus on repair.
