Sitting around waiting patiently for an injury to heal can often be more painful than the injury itself. However, it is necessary. Before you can do any strenuous activity again, you need to wait for your body to fully recover. Fortunately, there are foods and supplements you can take that will make the recovery process much faster.
Proteins
The tissues in your body rely heavily on protein to do what it’s supposed to, especially your muscles.
After sustaining an injury, your body can start losing strength and muscle mass due to inactivity. When you maintain a protein-rich diet, however, you can minimise this loss.
Protein also help prevents inflammation in the injury from getting too bad or worse.
Fibres
When an injury leaves you or a specific body part inactive, you can gain unwanted body fat. In order to prevent this from taking place, you need to reduce your calorie intake by eating fibre-rich foods.
This will help you eat less without feeling hungry.
Some fibre-rich foods such as fruit and vegetables contain vitamin C, magnesium and zinc. These vitamins and minerals can also help to speed up recovery.
Don’t restrict your calories too much as these help the wound to heal.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C helps to rebuild damaged tissue after an injury. It produces collagen, which helps to maintain the integrity of your bones, muscles, skin and tendons.
It also contains antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.
Omega-3 fatty acids
The first step for a wound to heal involves inflammation. If the inflammation remains too high for too long, however, it can slow down the recovery process.
Omega-3 fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties. They can also increase the creation of muscle protein and reduce the loss of muscle.
Be sure to stay away from omega-6 fats as these can promote inflammation.
Zinc
The enzymes and proteins needed for your wound to heal, and your tissue to repair and grow contain zinc.
Calcium
As we all know by now, calcium helps your bones and teeth to grow stronger.
Together with vitamin D, which helps your body absorb the calcium, this mineral can help you recover from bone injuries.
Glucosamine
Glucosamine is naturally found in the fluid around your joints and supplements. It helps to create tendons, ligaments and cartilage. In effect, it can also help repair tendons, ligaments and cartilage after an injury and helps to reduce joint deterioration. It also reduces the pain you feel after joint and bone injuries.
It is crucial to wait for an injury to recover before you try to put strain on it again. You can, however, speed up the recovery with vitamins C and D, calcium, glucosamine, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, protein and fibre. It is better to make sure you get these via a healthy diet than taking supplements, as your body only needs a certain amount and you risk taking too much with supplements. Taking too much of these could have negative effects on your body.
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