Feed Your Injury

Having been in the field nearly 12 years, patients are often wondering what exercises or activities they should be doing at home or avoiding to help accelerate their recovery, but no one really asks,

"Is there anything I can eat or take (that is legal, of course) to help this injury get better?"

There is SO much one can do. 

Setting up the substrate-
our bodies exist in a relatively alkaline state (higher pH or more on the basic side of the acid-base scale).  Musculoskeletal injury causes localized inflammation in a particular region.  Inflammation is GOOD and NECESSARY for healing.  We just want to CONTROL the inflammation so that scar tissue is laid down in the injured area in a more organized fashion instead of one that is haphazard.  We also want to get better quicker, don't we??

So, in order to improve healing, do all that you can to minimize foods that might tip the scale towards inflammation. 

What does this mean?  Are you saying that foods can cause or increase inflammation?
Yes, of course, and you probably already know the macronutrient types that do. Read on-

Foods to eliminate or drastically reduce from your daily consumption (at least while you're healing from an injury or post-op surgery:
-Refined carbohydrates (breads, pastas, white rice, refined sugars) 
-Processed foods
-legumes (yes, a gray area that needs more evidence)
-For many reasons, cutting out these poor sources of carbohydrates will not only benefit your recovery, your waistline and body composition will improve. 
-Dairy (cheese and milk. Eggs are ok).
-Red meat (this is kind of a gray area as there are clear benefits to eating grass-fed red meat including creatine, BCAAs, etc).

Foods to add in or dramatically increase in your daily consumption (at least while you're healing from an injury or post-op surgery (this is by no means a comprehensive list, but will start you off in the right direction):
-Water, water, water- muscle is ~75-80% water.  Does drinking enough water/fluids make sense? During an injury, consider drinking alkaline water with a pH that is 8.0 (Eternal and Iceland spring are brands that I've consumed). 
-whey protein isolate (somewhat controversial since it's processed, but it's known for rapid and nearly complete absorption into muscle tissue.  For vegans, pea/brown rice protein are good alternatives)
-Omega 3 sources:
nuts (unsalted)- particularly almonds, walnuts
chia seed
salmon
avocados
veggies: purple, red, yellow, green
-substitute quinoa for grains (quinoa is a seed).

Obviously, your body has mechanisms in place to keep itself in homeostasis, but we can take an active role in helping our bodies minimize the energy needed to maintain this, ESPECIALLY when an injury is present.

Another temptation active folks face when side-lined during an injury is to reduce caloric intake.  My question back to you- If your body needs X number of calories to function at a certain level per day, do you think that reducing your caloric intake will assist or lengthen your injury progression?  I think the answer is obvious.  Remember, in the grand scheme of things, stabilizing your food intake won't put massive pounds on you (unless you eat poorly to begin with). It can only help, especially if you're feeding your injury the right things as we mentioned above.

Having said that, if you have any questions or concerns (there are almost always exceptions to every rule), send us an email!