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The Right Nutrition is Important to Your Physical Fitness Recovery
Eating right leads to healing right!
Eating right seems like a good idea for every day, but it is even more important when you are going through rehabilitative therapies. The proper nutrition can fuel your body as you heal, making your journey on the road to recovery shorter. Here are a few things to consider that can help improve your rehab results:
Protein helps avoid muscle loss: Your muscles are going through a lot, no matter what type of physical therapy you’re doing. To prevent atrophy, or the breaking down of muscle, eating the proper amounts of protein can help (it’s so hard to rebuild muscle – keep the ones you have healthy). Of course, there is a science to determining the proper amount of proteins. Spacing out protein intake evenly and choosing options that are easily digestible are important.
Avoid foods that cause inflammation: When rehabbing, you don’t want to make injured areas even more swollen and painful. Don’t eat inflammation-causing foods such as sugars, dairy, refined flours, vegetable oil, fried foods, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners.
Go Mediterranean: Research has found that choosing a Mediterranean diet is not only good for overall health, but it can help with healing and fight inflammation associated with metabolic syndromes and conditions like arthritis. Choosing healthy fats, more seafood-based proteins and less red meat, vegetables, fruits, and fiber-rich foods are better choices for overall health and can aid in your healing progress.
As everybody – and every body – is different, remember that Howard Memorial Hospital has a registered dietician who can help you customize the perfect nutritional balance to aid in your healing and rehabilitation. Call 870-845-4400 ext. 6935 for more information or to set up a consultation.
