Injury Recovery: Nutrition To Speed Up Healing - Part 5

The right food and supplements to speed injury recovery

Video filmed at the Fit Pro Convention in Loughborough, England. 

Wrap-up and practical implementation

In parts 1-4 of this video series, we reviewed the research on nutrition for injury recovery. We also made some practical recommendations for you and your clients.

However, taken altogether, the strategies might seem overwhelming. I can totally identify with this feeling.

I’ve sat in on hundreds of lectures. When speakers present long lists of nutrition and supplement suggestions, I usually leave baffled.

Which of the 20 or 30 supplements should I take? Which of these strategies is the most important? Do I have to take all the suggestions? Or just a few? And how do I choose?

I’d hate to have you leave this series with the same questions and anxiety. So let’s wrap this up with a few examples of just how easy the implementation can be.

To do so, I’d like to finish where we started — with Georges St. Pierre.

As discussed in part 1, GSP came to me for advice prior to a surgery in 2007. Since a surgery is essentially an injury process, the advice I gave him fits perfectly here.

GSP’s Plan – For 1 week before surgery

• Follow training-based nutrition plan leading up to surgery
• No supplements for the week before surgery (especially fish oil, as this can interfere with anti-clotting medications)
• Let doctor know about prior fish oil use

GSP’s Plan – For 4 weeks post-surgery

• Continue with training-based nutrition plan but remove 1 daily Super Shake
• Quest multi-vitamin: 1 capsule, 2x per day
• Biotest curcumin: 2 capsules, 2x per day
• Biotest Flameout: 3 capsules, 2x per day
• EAS Muscle Armor: 1 scoop, 2x per day

As you can see, we kept it very simple for Georges, making only small changes to his already well thought-out nutrition plan. And adding just 4 supplements into his regimen helped to manage the inflammation process while stimulating anabolism and tissue repair.

For a detailed explanation of why we chose these particular supplements, please see the video above.

Here’s another example. Last year, while training for the 60 m sprint race at the Indoor Canadian Masters National Championships, I injured my hamstring. This is the plan I used for 4 weeks after the injury.

JB’s Plan – For 4 weeks after hamstring injury

Copper is a mineral that assists in the formation of red blood cells and works with vitamin C to form elastin and to strengthen connective tissue. 2-4 mg/day is recommended during the first few weeks of injury repair.

• Ice, heat, elevation, 2-4x per day
• Stretching and light activation, 1x per day
• ART, 2x per week
• Doctor’s Best curcumin: 500 mg, 2x per day
• Labrada Sorenzyme: 4 capsules, 2x per day
• Fast Joint Care+: 1 capsule, 2x per day
• Optimum Nutrition vitamin: 1 tab, 2x per day
• Omega-3 fish oil: 1 tsp, 4x per day

Like Georges, my eating plan was already very good, so I didn’t really change much there. I just added a few supplements to support recovery. Again, see the video above for more.

In the end, the program worked extremely well and enabled me to compete at the National Championships, placing 3rd in my age category without any hamstring concerns.

Summary of recommendations

​In summary, injury recovery is characterized by an organized response to the acute trauma.

First, inflammation removes damaged tissues. Cells then proliferate to replace the damaged tissue. And finally, new cells replace the intermediary cells to strengthen the repair process and lead to injury resolution.

During each step of the repair process, you can use targeted nutritional strategies to support and enhance this repair process.

Ensure that injured athletes eat enough calories and protein, by using some simple strategies:

Frequency

Eat every 3-4 hours.

Protein

Each meal/snack should contain complete protein including lean meats, lean dairy, eggs, or protein supplements (if whole food is unavailable).

Vegetables & Fruit

Each meal/snack should contain 1-2 servings veggies and/or fruit (1/2 – 1 1/2 cups or 1-2 pieces) with a greater focus on veggies.

Starches

Additional carbohydrates should come from whole grain, minimally processed sources like whole oats, yams/sweet potatoes, beans and legumes, whole grain rice, quinoa, etc. The athlete should eat fewer starches when not training (such as during injury recovery), and more when training (unless they want to lose fat).

FAts

Eat at least 2-3 of these healthy fats each day: avocadoes, olive oil, mixed nuts, fatty fish (such as salmon), flax seeds, and flax oil. Add 3-9 g of fish oil to the diet.

Supplements

Although these steps above should lead to adequate micronutrition during normal conditions, during injury repair, the following vitamin and mineral supplements are useful:

• Vitamin A - 10,000 IU/day for 2-4 weeks post-injury
• Vitamin C - 1000-2000 mg/day for 2-4 weeks post-injury
• Copper - 2-4 mg/day for 2-4 weeks post-injury
• Zinc - 15-30 mg/day for 2-4 weeks post-injury

Beyond these supplements, you can also manage inflammation by:

​Balancing your fats

Increase your intake of olive oil, mixed nuts, avocados, flax oil, ground flax and other seeds, etc. Get some of each fat source each day. By eating these foods, you’ll likely balance out the saturated fats naturally present in your protein sources, leading to a healthy profile without breaking out the calculator.

Balancing your 6:3 ratio

Add 3-9 g of fish oil each day while reducing omega-6 fats like vegetable oils such as corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, and soybean oil, etc. This strategy should take care of your omega 6:3 ratio.

Including anti-inflammatory foods

​These foods include curry powder/turmeric, garlic, pineapple, cocoa, tea, blueberries, and red wine (in small amounts).

Supplementing amino acids

Finally, even in well-nourished individuals, supplementing with the following amino acids can stimulate collagen deposition and injury healing.

• Arginine – ​7 g, 2x per day
• ​HMB - 1.5 g, 2x per day
• Glutamine - 7 g, 2x per day
  
  

Wrap-up and What's Next?

That’s it for PART 5 of our series: Injury Recovery: Nutrition To Speed Up Healing.

At this point, you might be asking: “What’s next?”

Most people know that regular movement, eating well, sleep, and stress management are important for looking and feeling better. Yet they need help applying that knowledge in the context of their busy, sometimes stressful lives.

That’s why we work closely with our Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching clients to help them lose fat, get stronger, and improve their health… no matter what challenges they’re dealing with.

Learn more @ https://www.gogoodguru.com/nutrition-coaching