Top Five Nutrition Tips for Injury Recovery
If you’re recovering from an injury, or suffering with pain, then nutrition is really important.
Considering what you are eating and drinking can help your body to heal, repair and regenerate.
Take a look at our Top Five Nutrition Tips for Injury Recovery.
1) Increase your protein intake – Your body needs more protein when injured, because it is having to heal your injury! As a rule of thumb, you should consume 1.5-20g of protein for every kg of body weight. Try and have 20-30g of protein with every meal, and if you can, find some leucine-rich foods, as these stimulate muscle protein synthesis!
2) Reduce consumption of saturated fats – Saturated fats are found in foods such as pies, sausages, chocolate etc. Unfortunately, they have been found to increase levels of inflammation within your body. Therefore, if you’re struggling with an injury, you may already have inflammation present, so consuming foods high in saturated fats makes it a double inflammatory hit!
3) Vitamin D – The sunshine vitamin! As a general NHS guide, we are recommended to supplement vitamin D throughout the winter and autumn. However, it has also been discovered that those with deficiency of vitamin D have a longer recovery, when compared to those who have sufficient levels! An excuse for a sunny holiday!
4) Reduce alcohol intake – Consuming alcohol while injured can have a negative impact on your recovery. It reduces your body’s ability to grow muscle, negatively impacts your sleep, and slows down the natural healing process.
5) Vitamin C – Vitamin C is essential for your body to synthesise collagen. If you have a muscle, ligament or tendon injury, then your body will need vitamin C to build new collagen and repair!
Why not chat to your therapist about your nutrition the next time you’re in for an appointment. If you’ve not got one scheduled, click here to book in now.
