Getting Over a Sickness As Quickly As Possible
We’ve tried hard to not get sick and followed all the tips and tricks we have at our disposal but something snuck through. When you’re sick, it’s easy to come up with excuses as to why you shouldn’t stick to your diet or why it’s easier to eat something else or why you should just give up on the whole thing! It’s more important than ever to be strong during this time and focus on getting better quickly. There’s a lot of crossover from the ‘How To Avoid Getting Sick’ section but here are some tips and tricks to get you better fast:
Rest - When you’re sick, your body wants to recover ASAP and beyond supplying it with all the necessary nutrients, you need plenty of sleep. Just like recovering from a tough workout, your body needs to wind down, and focus it’s energies on recovering from whatever is ailing you. Once you load up on the high quality nutrients you need to fuel recovery, take time out to sleep - more is better.
Vitamin C – Continue to take lots of it. I personally like to ratchet up my dosage to 5+ grams per day. I find that it helps me recover faster and I like knowing that I'm getting plenty of it just in case. Be sure to assess your tolerance to Vitamin C before experimenting with higher than normal dosages.
Eat High Quality Clean Foods - You've got to do your best to make sure you're only eating high quality foods. It can be tough - especially if your sense of taste is diminished due to a cold or some sinus ailment. Be strong and see it through and your body will thank you for it. It's during these times of sickness when it needs good quality foods the most. Make a conscious effort and know that every bite, portion and meal is contributing to getting you better, faster!
Be Diligent And Stick To Your Diet - As best as you can of course. It won't be 100% consistent by any means but it is vitally important to stick to quality foods if you can keep them down. Your body needs that quality nutrition to be in top form and begin healing itself. For some reason, mentally we begin to break down when we're sick and think that eating junk will make us better. It's strange because it's the exact opposite of what we need to do. Try to focus on: Keeping fluids up, keep taking vitamins if you can keep them down, small portions of quality foods and whey protein if you can stomach it. It's not easy! But, if you can do your best with it you'll be on the road to recovery faster than you thought could be possible.
Recovering From An Injury As Effectively As Possible
Injuries happen and unfortunately, sometimes they can keep you out of the game for extended periods of time. I’ve seen both ends of this spectrum and would like to provide some insight on how to approach a fast and effective recovery. The two specific incidents I’ll reflect upon are a snowboarding accident that nearly severed my MCL (medial collateral ligament in the knee) many years ago and a recent fall down some cement stairs while carrying an item that weighed about as much as I do. I’ll reference each of these injuries in the sections below. These are some tips and tricks I know of that may be able to help you recover from injury more effectively:
Get Plenty Of Rest - Are you noticing a pattern here? When I hurt my knee I could barely even stand let alone walk - I had no choice but to rest it immediately. The fall I took recently had my lower back aching and being very sore. It was difficult to sit or stand for long periods of time. Even laying down would cause it to stiffen up quite a bit. In both situations, I stayed away from any sort of exercise until I started to feel like I was approaching 'normal' again. For my knee, this took about 4 to 6 weeks. For my back, it was about 7 to 10 days.
Take Time To Recover - As mentioned above, you need to recover before you jump back into activity again that can quickly sideline you. Beyond just resting, you need to insure you're taking care to not reaggrevate whatever injury you may have. My knee gave me trouble when I tried to start walking again. I began wearing a brace which helped but I stopped using it after a couple of days because I didn't want to become dependent on it. My back was a little more difficult as it bothered me whether I was sitting, standing or laying down. Even reaching for something in the refridgerator became a 'high risk' activity. The point here is to try and avoid any activity - even while resting and recovering - that may reaggravate your injury.
Keep Eating Clean Foods - You've got to keep this up. This is where that consistency and discipline comes into play. Don't lose sight of your goal because you get injured. Eating properly will help you recover much quicker than you may be used to and allow you to get right back on track to making progress with your diet and exercise regimen. As we've been stating over and over, high quality, clean foods are just what your body needs to help you recover from sickness and/or injury. In both cases of my injuries, I found that increasing my protein intake helped out quite a bit.
Get Lots Of High Quality Protein - I increased my protein intake by about 50 to 100 grams per day after my injuries. Not immediately after, but within a few days. I have found that this really makes a difference in recovery times. The body needs those amino acids to repair and rebuild and it needs a lot of them! This is difficult to do consistently with whole foods but it's quite easy when using a high quality whey protein. Plus, whey protein is very fast acting and in an easily digestable form which our bodies prefer.
Additional Supplements And Nutrients For Cartilage/Ligament Injuries - When I had my MCL injury, it was agonizingly painful. I wanted to do everything I could to get better quickly. One interesting item I used quite a bit during this time was good old fashioned Knox Gelatine. While it may not sound very appetizing, Knox Gelatine is made from the very same material our own connective tissue is made of. In effect, it supplies us with the raw materials needed to recover from this type of injury. I began mixing up one packet in the morning and one in the evening with the additional protein I was taking in. It made the protein drinks quick thick and filling but they were definitely palatable. If I ever have an injury to my connective tissue like that again (fingers crossed that I won't!), I will definitely follow the same type of regimen to heal as quickly as possible.
Make A Slow And Steady Migration Back Into Exercise - Many times we want to jump right back in and feel like we're our old selves again. Unfortunately, this usually happens too soon and has us running the risk of re-injuring ourselves. Take time to ease back into exercise. For me, in both cases of my injuries, I slowly began exercising again. Just bodyweight at first and always going a few reps short of failure. For my knee injury, the best thing I could've done for it was easing into bodyweight squats. This allowed my knee to get reacclimated to a natural movement with very little stress. Believe me, it hurt at first! But, over time, and with consistent effort the pain went away and the joint became much stronger. Within the year, my knee was able to effectively support hundreds of pounds and I feel that it's stronger today than it ever was. If I didn't ease back into exercise slowly, I could have reaggrevated the injury and caused more permanent damage. Don't push yourself, take time to do it right!
Know The Difference Between A Real Injury And Sore Muscles - You're going to get sore from exercising - no two ways about it. Knowing the difference between sever soreness and an actual injury is key. You should know the difference - if you don't think you will or can, your body will most likely tell you! A full on injury will require down time to recover where severe soreness will require additional rest and nutrition to recover more quickly. The major difference is that the injury will require you to ease back into things whereas once you recover from severe soreness, you should be able to effectively jump right back into your routine. Don't let your mind play tricks on you just to sneak in some additional time off - you'll just be short-changing youself!
So there you have it - a whole slew of tips and tricks to help recover as quickly and effeciently as possible from sickness and injury. Your best approach is to obviously stay focused, keep on target with your diet and exercise and try to avoid getting sick or injured in the first place. If you do find yourself falling ill or injured work hard to do all you can to get back on track ASAP.
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