Treat Inflammation, Muscle Damage & Workout Injury With Food

January 16, 2023

Inflammation might not sound fun, but it’s very common. It’s your body’s way of protecting you.

The pain you feel from inflammation is actually your immune system’s response to toxins, trauma, chronic disease and physical stress to protect the body. It might not feel like protection, but is actually a response to danger. Inflammation doesn’t discriminate: your age, physical activity and fitness level doesn’t matter.

In this article, we will guide you through 6 tips for reducing inflammation and preventing muscle damage, including anti-inflammatory recipes. First, let’s learn more about the different types of inflammation and what type you may need to watch out for most.

‍Two Types of Inflammation that Occur with Exercise (One is normal, one is harmful)

When you exercise, you are putting stress on your body and tearing your muscles. After a training session, it is natural to feel sore and a little bit of inflammation. That means white blood cells in your bloodstream are rising to heal and recover the body. However, when the concentration of white blood cells is too high, it may cause longer recovery time and muscle damage.‍

1) Acute inflammation:

‍If you’ve ever exercised and had sore muscles after, you have experienced acute inflammation. This is a normal and short-term response to tissue injury which can last minutes or hours. It is part of the process of building stronger muscles. Exercising more reduces the acute inflammatory response (the more you do a type of exercise, the less you’ll get sore as easily).

‍2) Chronic inflammation:

‍Unlike acute inflammation, chronic inflammation is long term and something we want to avoid. Chronic inflammation damages your system, reduces the rate of recovery and limits training performance. It’s hard to feel its effect because it’s something we can’t visually see or feel.

So now what?

Well, don’t stop exercising, just be aware of how to do it safely. Nutrition and lifestyle play a big role in dealing with inflammation and healing your entire body.

7 Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Inflammation, Muscle Damage and Workout Injury

Having proper nutrition enhances your recovery and reduces risk of injury. If you want to improve your performance, follow these 6 tips to ensure you have your workout nutritional needs met.

‍1) Eat the rainbow!

Include all colours of vegetables and fruits wherever you can! Not only does it make your plate prettier, they’re also rich in phytonutrients specific to their colour. References to scientific research are at the bottom of the article.

‍2) Get fishy or nutty.

‍Prioritize sources of omega-3 in your diet! If you’re into seafood, salmon, sardines, tuna, herring, and mackerel are all great choices. If you’re more into plant-based foods, hemp seeds, walnuts and flax seeds are other natural sources of omega-3 in nature. Consider omega-3 supplements and ensure you have the recommended dietary intake for omega-3. For ages 19-50, women should have 1100 mg and men should have 1500 mg.

‍3) It’s spice time! ;)

‍Add anti-inflammatory spices to your diet! For example, turmeric, cayenne pepper and ginger all have anti-inflammatory effects on your body. We have recipes below as examples, but feel free to mix and match anti-inflammatory foods.

‍4) Whole grains = more gains

‍When you eliminate processed grains and include whole grains into your diet, you reduce the rate of inflammation in your body. The more you increase whole grain foods, the less likely you will experience inflammation. (That being said, don’t overtrain your body and make sure you have rest days!)

‍5) Lean into lean cuts

‍Your performance will improve with more lean protein sources like fish and chicken breast. Alternatively, plant based protein sources like beans, chickpeas and lentils will also do the trick! Try to avoid excess saturated fats or processed meats whenever you can.

‍6) Say no to artificial foods

‍More specifically, eliminating trans-fats and fried foods will lower your rate of inflammation. They might be yummy, but consuming too much of these foods are linked to more inflammation.

Here are two easy anti-inflammatory recipes you can try! :) If you’re looking to set better nutrition habits to help with your workout, try our 28 Day Fall Body Care Challenge. Our community of health-minded folks and nutrition coaches will check-in with you daily and provide motivation, support and feedback to get you on the right track!

Beet-Berry Anti Inflammatory Smoothie

Ingredients

1 cup baby kale

1/2 beet (peeled and chopped)

1/2 cup water

1/2 orange (peeled)

1/2 cup pineapple or mango (frozen)

1 cup mixed berries (frozen)

1 tsp fresh ginger (grated or chopped)

¼ avocado

Instructions

Blend kale, beet, water, and orange in a blender.
Puree until smooth.
Add pineapple, berries, ginger, and avocado.
Blend again.

Cauliflower soup with fennel and ginger

Ingredients

1 onion chopped

5 garlic cloves

½ head large cauliflower (cut into florets)

1 fennel bulb chopped

500 ml stock

2 tbsp lemon

1 knob ginger (peeled)

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F
Place red onion, garlic cloves, cauliflower and the fennel on a baking tray and roast for 30-35 minutes until they turn slightly into golden brown .
Remove from the oven and place in a blender.
Add remaining ingredients and blend.
Pour into a heavy saucepan and place on the stovetop.
Cook for 20 minutes on medium heat.
Add salt to taste.

If you want something different or to learn more, book a call with us or make a post on our Facebook group and we’ll help you find a recipe right for you.

References

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