All athletes should eat a balanced diet, with plenty of fruits and vegetables, a good quality multivitamin — and it goes without saying that you shouldn’t smoke. But can your diet actually prevent some injuries, or help you to heal faster from the injuries that you have already sustained? The answer is yes — not only can your diet provide you with the nutrients you need to repair and regrow your tissues, but it can also reduce your overall levels of inflammation, and even reduce pain and swelling from an injury, strain, or ordinary muscle aching and soreness. To reduce inflammation, swelling, and pain, consider including the following foods in your diet (always being careful to avoid any foods that you may personally have an allergy or sensitivity to):
- Green leafy vegetables. Green leafy vegetables are good dietary sources of vitamins and minerals that you need to keep your bones and muscle tissue in good repair: calcium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, vitamin C, and vitamin K (which helps prevent bruising). Just for starters, try broccoli, kale, spinach, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. But, all things in moderation — a diet that is too rich in cruciferous vegetables can push someone who is borderline hypothyroid (as many women are) over the edge into hypothyroidism, so don’t overdo them. Instead, make sure to balance cruciferous vegetables with other nutritious foods, such as fresh fruit, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean protein sources. Don’t always eat a spinach salad — have romaine sometimes, or mix in some leafy herbs, such as parsley or cilantro.
- Foods that are rich in zinc, such as chicken, eggs, soybeans, and wheat germ. Zinc helps to keep blood vessel walls strong and helps blood to clot.
- Foods that are rich in vitamin C. If you don’t get enough vitamin C in your diet, not only are you prone to the bleeding gums of scurvy, but you will also find that you bruise more easily, because a vitamin C deficiency can make your blood vessels more delicate and thin, so tiny capillaries break and bleed more easily — leaving you with a bruise. Luckily, it’s easy to get enough vitamin C — just eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. You don’t have to drink orange juice if you don’t like it — try berries or leafy greens, or better yet, a salad containing both.
- Alfalfa sprouts. Alfalfa is rich in vitamin K, which helps to prevent bruising.
- Pineapple. Pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain, which is famous for improving digestion, but is also an anti-inflammatory. It can reduce the inflammation of tendonitis, muscle aches, and sprains and strains. If you don’t like pineapple, or if you need bromelain in a more compact form to take with you on a climb, you can take bromelain as a supplement, in capsule form. If you are recovering at home and trying to heal a current injury using pineapple as an anti-inflammatory, be prepared to eat a lot of it — about 1/2 a pineapple per day. If you enjoy pineapple, though, that shouldn’t be a problem! And here’s a bonus: in Germany, bromelain is also prescribed for sinusitis, so if you tend to suffer from sinus problems, you may want to take an especially good look at adding pineapple to your diet. (For more about bromelain, see the University of Maryland Medical Center’s fact sheet, “Bromelain,” http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/bromelain-000289.htm.)
- Ginger. Ginger is the original compact all purpose herb — the friend of travelers everywhere, because not only is it small and easy to pack, but it reduces motion sickness. However, like pineapple, ginger can also act as an anti-inflammatory. Ginger has been studied and used medicinally for centuries, but only since the 1970s has it been made the subject of clinical trials for its efficacy in treating inflammation. Now scientists have moved on from validating ginger’s anti-inflammatory action to studying the reasons for it. It turns out that some of the chemical components of ginger are similar to those of aspirin, and in studies, ginger, like aspirin, has been shown to reduce the pain of arthritic inflammation. (See Grzanna, et al., “Ginger–an herbal medicinal product with broad anti-inflammatory actions,” Journal of medicinal food, Summer 2005, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16117603.)
- Omega-3 fatty acids. Yes, that means fish oil — or possibly, flax, nuts, or algae. Many vegetables also contain small amounts of omega-3s. You don’t have to worry about including omega-3s in your diet every day (unless you are trying to remedy a past deficiency), but including them at least a couple of times per week can reduce inflammation in your body. The jury is still out on just how helpful omega-3s are for inflammation, but they are being studied as a therapy for the pain and inflammation of arthritis. Like most healthy foods, this one also has other bonuses: it improves memory, focus, and reduces depression and anxiety — so if you are anxious about a tough climb that is approaching, you may find it helpful to include an omega-3 supplement (such as fish oil capsules) every day for a while — omega-3s have been found in clinical trials to reduce anxiety. (See National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, “Omega-3 fatty acids may reduce inflammation and anxiety in healthy young adults,” 2011, http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/spotlight/072811.htm.)
Brett Warren is a fitness and weightlifting enthusiast from Boston, Massachusetts. He is passionate about nutraceutical science and loves his job developing workout supplements for Force Factor. Brett’s extensive background in biochemical engineering means he’s one scientist you don’t want to mess with. When Brett is not crushing it in the gym or working at Force Factor, you can find him spending time outdoors with his family.
Needless to say, armed with my new gluten free oats and a very, dark side of the moon attitude, I headed into the kitchen. Where I blared some music and baked granola bars.
Have you ever given up one item of food and headed head first into another food? If not, you are lucky because that is exactly what is happening to me now. Since I have given up gluten, or more correctly, my body has told me that it will no longer accept gluten loaded food, I have given up gluten. Maybe it’s because I am not eating bread, or other types of carbohydrates that turn into sugar once broken down, but I have been craving sugar like a mad woman.
The recipe is an easy recipe, it just takes a butt load of time. The amount of steps can seem overwhelming but when you look at what the steps are, it all seems easy. Like I said, it is easy…. but it takes time.
Ok, I’ll give you the recipe but just a warning…. it takes an F-ing long time to make. Also, it’s not my recipe, I got it out of a Bon Appetite magazine (May 2011) but I did make it gluten free.
While sitting in bed Sunday morning, watching the program Sunday Morning, I had a great once over at the Chronicle’s Food and Wine section. In my last post, I talked about the amazing story about the ex-Tartine baker who started cooking gluten free pastries. From that story, I made her gluten free chocolate chip cookies. She claimed that they tasted just as good as their gluten enhanced counter part but I was a bit skeptical to say the least. How could you make great tasting chocolate chip cookies without using flour? I mean, I know rice flour tastes pretty good but…how can that work in cookies? Well, this woman is a baking genius! Her recipe was dead on and you really can’t tell that they don’t have flour in them.
Seriously, if you get the chance, make sure to read the entire article. It’s the featured story in the food and wine section of the Sunday (05/05/2011) San Francisco Chronicle.
Today we have a guest post from Almine Barton, who is a licensed acupuncturist and certified personal trainer as well as an avid rock climber.
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