Most of my friends and family members who’ve just had surgery or are healing from a non-gym or workout related injury don’t realized that the same advice I give them is what I give to my gym buddies and clients who are healing from a grueling workout.
Many don’t realize that a good workout and a surgery may require the same energy and resources from the body in order to get back to better than you were before. In today’s blog, I am going to discuss some foods that may help you fight your injury or injuries.
What do I mean by injuries?
I'm not going to define injuries at this moment, but I am going to claim that I am referring to most, if not all, injuries. Injuries that come from accidents, surgeries, and I am claiming the repair that your muscles have to undergo when you have had a good workout as injuries in this case since your muscle fibers go through tearing. One of the most common denominators of all the different ways you can get injured is the production of inflammation as a response to what happened to your body.
The Inflammation Dilemma
Inflammation is an important part of the natural healing process for the body, but it is a huge challenge for your immune system. As you immune system and bodily services are taxed, it is ever so important to have necessary proteins, nutrients, and vitamins available to keep you organs functioning but also to have the extra body will need to support the healing. The trick is to balance your inflammation so you have enough for healing but not excess that taxes your body even more.
Now that the context has been established, I have chosen three foods that research shows can have a positive effect on helping you heal from your injuries.
Chicken
Chicken tends to be one of those lower calories, high protein lean meats that is more commonly eaten. The benefits of chicken and other lean meats with regards to healing from injury is the protein. Your body will need plenty of protein for new tissue growth and so your muscle tissue can be sustained while you are recovering.
Almost any high protein, lower fat meat would work here. If your chose a fatty fish instead of chicken, that may work even better since fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, or mackerel would also provide you with good omega-3 fatty acids and zinc.
Broccoli
Broccoli will help you get your needed fiber, vitamin C, and vitamin D. The fiber in broccoli will help you feel fuller, which will assist in curbing the urge to overeat while you are immobile. The vitamin C in broccoli will aide with collagen production and anti-inflammatory responses. The anti-inflammatory responses may help you heal faster due to your body not having to share resources between healing and fighting excessive inflammation. Broccoli will also provide antioxidant benefits which is a good thing while you’re on the mend.
Apples
Apples are high in fiber and fiber may be necessary especially if you are healing from surgery. Outside of helping you feel fuller to deter you from overeating while you are inactive, the fiber in apples may help with keeping you regular in terms of bowel movements. The stress from surgery and Constipation can cause more discomfort while you are healing and apples may be just what you need.
Your Action
What can you do with this great information I just gave you? Well, I’m so glad you asked. Provided you don’t have any allergies or health related issues with the three foods mentioned here and your doctor is okay with you eating these, your mission is to find exciting and healthy ways to eat these foods. Here are some of my favorite ways:
Chicken: My favorite chicken is smoked thin boneless chicken breast. I also like grilled chicken tenders and a good chicken salad. Serve any one of these with a complex carb and a good fruit and/or vegetable and you’ve got yourself a good meal.
Broccoli: Broccoli is probably my favorite vegetable. It’s the one I think of first when my wife ask me to choose which vegetable I would like for dinner. I eat this with salmon and brown rice or as part of a good stir fry.
Apples: Apples are my all-time favorite fruit. At times there are other fruits that I crave more but all in all, the apple never gets old to me. I like my apples raw or with peanut butter, honey, and sunflower seeds (dirty apple).
I hope this information has enlightened and helped you. Please “heart” this blog and feel free to comment with other ways you eat the foods listed here and other helpful information.
Brian "B-Rob" Robinson is a Certified Sports Nutrition Coach, Certified Life Strategies Coach, Certified Personal Trainer, Youtuber, and co-founder of LEANWellonline. His YouTube channel is called thisisb-rob.
Sources:
Tipton K. D. (2015). Nutritional Support for Exercise-Induced Injuries. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 45 Suppl 1, S93–S104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0398-4
Tipton K. D. (2010). Nutrition for acute exercise-induced injuries. Annals of nutrition & metabolism, 57 Suppl 2, 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1159/000322703
Wall, B. T., Dirks, M. L., Snijders, T., Senden, J. M., Dolmans, J., & van Loon, L. J. (2014). Substantial skeletal muscle loss occurs during only 5 days of disuse. Acta physiologica (Oxford, England), 210(3), 600–611. https://doi.org/10.1111/apha.12190
Davies J. W. (1970). Protein metabolism following injury. Journal of clinical pathology. Supplement (Royal College of Pathologists), 4, 56–64. https://doi.org/10.1136/jcp.s3-4.1.56