Top 10 Nutrients to Heal Your Body
When we sustain an injury, be it chronic or acute, our body activates it’s inflammatory process which produces the symptoms of pain and swelling. These are essential steps to the healing process but we can take steps to minimise the chance of the injury (and therefore the pain) becoming chronic. Along with proactive physiotherapy and remedial massage to assist your body in returning to it’s healthy state, we can influence the inflammatory process with the nutrients in our diet. Here are my top 10 nutrients to heal your body.
What I’ll cover in this article:
- What is the inflammation process
- Microphages: what are they?
- Basic Diet Concepts for a healthy body
- Top 10 nutrients to heal your body
What is the Inflammation Process?
The inflammatory process starts with what is known as the inflammatory cascade. This is where inflammatory cytokines are activated to put our body on alert in the case of injury or illness. This is fine in the case of an individual falling over and grazing their knee. In this case, pain is good because it prevents the individual from causing further damage to the area. It also sets up the healing process with increased blood flow to the area along with white blood cells otherwise known as leukocytes (think of these as antibacterial and anitfungal cells). Leukocytes are made in the bone marrow.
What are Microphages?
Macrophages are an important type of white blood cell (think of these ones as “Pacman”) . They increase inflammation and stimulate the immune response but they also engulf “germs and nasties” like Pacman does. Macrophages then kill these germs and nasties by digesting them. This process also kills the macrophage cell. Macrophages also deal with the healing process by removing damaged tissue (such as muscle) and secreting substances which stimulate the growth of new healthy tissue.
The problem with long term inflammation and macrophages activity is not only the symptom of pain but also the complication of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes in the obesity cycle. Keeping this explanation of inflammation in mind, we can see how inflammation needs to be treated quickly and thoroughly to prevent chronic pain and further complications due to injury.
A Basic Diet
A diet based on low to moderate glycemic index (GI) foods with the right nutrients is know to minimise insulin resistance. You can research these foods further but there are some stand out examples of low GI foods. These are sweet potatoes, legumes and dairy products. Foods that have little carbohydrate (sugar) content sort of fit into the low GI category too because they have a slow influence on insulin levels. These are foods such as nuts, fish, meats, oils etc.
Foods to stay clear of are hot chips (yeah weird but normal potatoes have a high GI, especially when fried in hot fat!), sugary foods (chocolate, lollies etc), highly process foods (white bread, breakfast cereals etc) and, strangely, coffee seems to increase the Glycaemic Index of food too. Sorry coffee drinkers!
A sample meal plan might look like this:
Breakfast: Natural Muesli with nuts and seeds, a dollop of yoghurt and some grated fresh apple or pear. Served with milk.
Morning tea: A piece of fresh fruit and a handful of nuts or seeds.
Lunch: Large salad (big enough for 2 but eat it all yourself) and protein (fish, chicken, tofu, tempeh etc)
Afternoon Tea: Cheese and crackers or hummus dip and vegetable sticks
Dinner: Protein (meat, fish, tempeh etc) and 5 vegetables.
Dessert: yogurt and fruit.
Top 10 Nutrients to Heal Your Body
We can refine our choice of foods when we are in pain by choosing foods that specifically have an ability to reduce inflammation. Special anti-inflammatory chemical and nutrients include:
1. Anthrocyanins – these chemicals are found in dark red/blue clouded foods. Examples are purple carrots, blue corn, aubergine (eggplant), blueberries, red cabbage, bananas (yes, there’s always an exception to a rule isn’t there!), beetroot, raspberries, and blackberries. Have as much of these foods in your diet as possible.
Research has found that that consumption of cherries can help reduce muscle damage and inflammation. That’s why you’ll see cherries as part of an athletes diet Australian Institute of Sport.
2. Omega 3 Fatty Acids– commonly found in deep sea fish – mackerel, John Dory, salmon (wild caught – farmed meats have a reduced content of Omega 3 fatty acids), sardines. Also any wild game such as kangaroo, deer etc. Vegetable sources include chia seeds and linseeds.[2]
3. Hydroxycinnamic Acid – know to be a free radical scavenging substance. Free radicals can be though of as broken cell parts flying around and damaging other cells. Hydroxycinnamic acid can be found in a wide variety of plant based foods such as millet, kale, bok choy, choy sum (Asian greens) and red wine.[3]
4. Fat Soluble Vitamins – vitamins A, D, E and K also protect against free radical damage. They are fat soluble vitamins found in egg yolk, kale, spinach, nuts and seeds.[4]
5. Indols – Indols are powerful anti free radical and anticancer chemicals. They are found in the brassica family of vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and cabbage.[5]
6. Bromelain– this is probably the best known nutrient for acute inflammation. Eating at least half a fresh pineapple each day is the best way to take this supplement. Cooked, canned, packaged juice or even the supplement form are not as good as the real food here. Cooking kills the bromeliad enzyme.[6]
7. Papain– Papain is another enzyme which is has fantastic anti-inflammatory properties. It’s found in paw paw and papaya. The traditional Thai green papaya salad is a great way to eat paw paw if you don’t like it once it gets to the orange fruit stage.[7]
8. Cucumin– This is the active ingredient in turmeric. It’s more powerful than Aspirin (as an anti-inflammatory and blood anticoagulant) and faster than a speeding bullet. Ok maybe not that part. Curry. Add an extra spoon of turmeric powder to any curry that you make. Turmeric lattes are fashionable right now but you don’t have to put yourself through that if you find the idea repulsive. Just eat lots of curry! [8]
Interestingly, coconut oil (which you might want to fry your curry vegetables in before adding the curry paste) combined with Indian spices (such as turmeric, cumin, clove etc) creates strong healing compounds. One study found this combination to be more effective than arthritis medication.[9]
9. Lypoxygenase and Cycloxygenase inhibitors– these clever compounds stop damaging enzymes from activating the inflammation process. Ginger contains both of these compounds. You can’t over dose on ginger![10]
10. Vitamins – apart from A, D, E and K, all other vitamins are water soluble. They need to be consumed in our diet as our bodies generally cannot make them. An example is vitamin C which animals such as dogs can manufacture in their own bodies but humans cannot. Fresh fruits and vegetables contain vitamins.[11]
By having a basic diet based on low GI foods we are allowing our bodies the best possible chance of healing quickly. By adding the specific nutrient foods along with specific physiotherapy exercises, we are possibly accelerating the healing process and preventing the chance of long term pain and inflammation. As an aside, we are possibly reducing our risk of Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
1) Hosp. 2015 Nov 1;32 (5):1885-93. doi: 10.3305/nh.2015.32.5.9709. Consumption of cherries as a strategy to attenuate exercise-induced muscle damage and inflammation in humans. Coelho Raballo Lima L., Oliveira Assumpção C., Prestes J., Sergio Denadai B.
2) Venter Lek. 2016 Spring;62(5):406-12 Can fish oil improve wound healing in surgery? Neuwirthová J., Gál B., Urbánková P., SmilekP.
3) Eur J Nutr. 2016 Mar;55(2):477-89. doi:10.1007/s00394-015-0865-6 Epub 2015 Feb 28. Multiple anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic properties of red wine polphenolic extracts. differential role of hydroxycinnamin acids, flavonols and stillbenes on endothelial inflammatory gene expression.
4) Int J Oncol. 2013 Mar;42(3):793-802. dos: 10.3892/ljo..20131771.Epub 2013 Jan 15. Inhibition of repair-related DNA polymerases by vitamin Ks, their related quinone derivatives and associated inflammatory activity (Review). Mizushina Y., Nishiumi S., Yoshida H., Azuma T., Yoshida M.
5) Chem Biol Interact. 2016 Jan 25;244:71-83. dos: 10.1016/j.cbi.2015.10.024.Epub 2015 Nov 5 biological activity of a small molecule indole analog, 1-[(1H-indol-3-yl) methylene]-2- phenylhydrazine (HMPH), in chronic inflammation. Misra CS., Gejjalagere Honnappa C., Jitta SR., Daram P., Singh MP., Hosur Shrungeswara A., Nayak Y., Unnikrishnan MK.
6) Mediators Inflame. 2015; 2015:918089 doi: 1155/918089.Epub 2015 Apr 16. The combination of N-acetyl cysteine, alpha-lipoid acid, and bromelain shows high anti-inflammatory properties in novel in vivo and in vitro models of endometriosis. Agostinis C., Zorzet S., De Leo R., Zauli ., De Seta F., Bulla R.
7) Planta Med 2013 Mar;79(3-4):207-13.doi:10.1055/s-0032-1328201. Pub 2013 Jan 30. Anti-inflammatory activity of Bromelain hieronymi: comparison with bromelain. Errasti ME., Caffein NO., Pelter LE., Rutelli AE.
8) Curr Top Med Chem 2016 Jun 4. [Epub ahead of print] Synthetic and Medicinal Prospective of Structurally Modified Curcumins. Kumar B., Singh., Shankar R., Kumar K., Racal RK.
9) International Immunopharmacology 2014 May; 20(1):124-30. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2014.02.026 Epub 2014 Mar 6 Polyphenolics isolated from virgin coconut oil inhibits adjuvant induced arthritis in rats through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action. Vysakh A , Ratheesh M, Rajmohanan TP, Pramod C, Premlal S, Girish Kumar B, Sibi PI.
10) BMC Complement Altern Med. 2015 Oct 29; 15:390 dos 10.1186/s12906-015-0896-9 Evaluation of in-vitro anti-inflammatory effects of crude ginger and rosemary extracts obtained through supercritical C02 extraction on macrophage and tutor cell line: the influence of vehicle type. Justo OR., Simioni PU., Gabriel DL., Tamashiro WM., Rosa Pde T., Moraeas AM.
Int J Prev Med 2013 Apri;4 (Suppl 1):s58-62 Quercetin and vitamin C supplementation: effect on lipid profile and muscle damage in male athletes. Askari G., Hajishafiee M., Ghiasvand R., Hariri M., Dervish L., Ghassemi S., Iraj B., Hovsepian V.,
I’ve just had knee surgery to clean up some arthritis and thanks to your article, I have already noticed less swelling. However, I am getting a bit tired of curries and turmeric. Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks
Hi Nick, glad to hear your swelling has improved. You could try buying a super blender that blends fruit and veg whole(ie. not a juicer). Add a little water and make a red smoothie (Beetroot, carrot, red capsicum, berries, dragon fruit, apple and maybe some cayenne pepper or chilli for a bit of a buzz). Or you could try a green smoothie (spirulina powder, spinach, 1 or 2 cucumbers, kiwi fruit, a little broccoli, kale, celery ). The water is necessary to make it blend properly. Making a large veggie stir fry with tofu or tempeh is good too. Serve on its own without the rice.
Great article with loads of information. Thanks. Getting my nutrition right to heal my body is something I’ve started focusing on a lot and this article was perfect.
Thanks Michele! Try starting with a few little changes or additions and continue to build on that. It is the best way to make sure it sticks!