When you’re into fitness in a big way, an injury is frustrating on many levels. It slows you down in your overall fitness and health goals, it takes time to heal properly, and it can often seem like you need to do a hundred things to get it all to come together. While the natural healing process can’t be changed, it can be helped with the proper nutrients added to your diet, some of which are easily found in your fridge or cupboard already. So, let’s take a look at the foods that are well known to promote healing, to get you back out there sooner.
5 Foods That Encourage The Healing Process
Collagen
Despite what a lot of people think when they hear the word “collagen”, this isn’t just about keeping the skin young and wrinkle-free. No, the entire body can benefit for a true source of collagen when it’s added to the diet in a convenient and comfortable way. It is known for helping with tendons, bones and muscles throughout our bodies because collagen is, actually, a core material to these parts. Therefore, when your body is attempting to heal itself, having a supplement can help strengthen this naturally occurring material and make those muscles and tendons stronger than ever before. You can find collagen in a couple of different forms.
One of the best sources is from animal bones. However, since we don’t go around gnawing on bones, bone broth is a great alternative. You can also get a supplement powder or capsule that can be added to your regular daily routine as part of a protein shake or oral supplement that will make the difference.
Arginine
In terms of focusing on the actual muscle recovery after an injury, arginine is a critical mineral to consider. This will help the wounds heal simply because its job is to take collagen in your body and deposit it into the part that is currently injured, to promote its healing. So, it’s all well and good to have collagen at your disposal, but this is one of the minerals to actually make sure that it does the job its supposed to do. In adults, there is generally plenty of it already, but when you are injured, the more that you can have, the better it is going to be for the overall healing process. In terms of finding it naturally in food sources, you will be able to find it rich sizes of turkey or chicken as well as spinach, yogurt, or even that same bone broth that we just talked about.
If you’re on the hunt for your superfood of the day, you’ll find that bone broth is one of the best options to injury recovery overall. Click here for a good bone broth recipe.
Glutamine
When you are laid up for an extended period of time, you can often lose a significant amount of muscle mass. This is because, of course, your job is to allow the injury to heal properly. But, when you look at your muscles in detail, glutamine is the core mineral to deplete when you are resting. However, this same mineral is also important for keeping muscle mass at its constant. What this means is that, by using a supplement for glutamine, you can maintain your existing muscle mass, and this will attract collagen into your injury and help you heal faster.
You’ll be able to find glutamine in fish, legumes, chicken, different forms of beef and, yup, you guessed it right, bone broth. As you can see, there is an important pattern forming here for food choices during injury!
Zinc
During an injury, zinc is an important element to consider bumping up in your diet. This is commonly used when you have a decreased immune system, as it is an aid in helping you stay healthy. When it comes to a muscle injury, however, its role is to help promote faster healing through new tissue and muscle growth. This also will help significantly with inflammation, which is great for all stages of recovery.
You’ll be able to find zinc in a lot of different seafood options, a popular one being oysters. You’ll also find it in beans, beef, chicken and there is a touch of it in bone broth, but it isn’t the prime source for it on its own.
Antioxidants
Lastly, you can find that adding antioxidants to your diet is critical in the healing process overall. These are important for your overall health and fighting off infections or other injuries. When it comes to an existing injury, you’ll find it will heal faster and offer the same kind of support as the other minerals that we’ve mentioned above. When you bump up your immune system, you promote faster healing and future protection against re-injury. Similar to zinc, this one is also important for reducing swelling and inflammation faster.
You’ll be able to find anti-oxidants in berries, yogurt, many types of tea, and more. Tea is one of the best options because you can combine a few of these things together. Or, yogurt and berries makes a great combination to get calcium and antioxidants working together to promote stronger muscles and body overall.
When you have an injury, sometimes it feels like it is never going to get better, but all it takes is having the right kinds of supplements to help you on your way. The ones we mentioned today are all great options to consider for a speedy, natural recovery by giving your body what it wants and needs for protection. All that’s left is to find a way to work them into your eating plan!
We hope you enjoyed our post. Before you go, have a look at our blog for more useful information related to health, fitness and pain management.
Disclaimer – We are not doctors or nutritionists here at SimplyJnJ. We research and post information, such as the info posted above, for informational purposes only. You should always consult a doctor when it comes to pain/health related issues.