By Dr. Aaron Case BSc, DC (October 2006)
Are you feeling pre-race aches and pains? If so, use food to stamp out the fire of inflammation in your muscles and joints.
Inflammation Facts:
- Essentially, your body has two main pathways and a limited number of enzymes.
- These enzymes (limited supply) create an inflammatory or anti-inflammatory environment in your body.
- The type of foods and fats that you eat will feed these enzymes and contribute to whether your skin, joints and muscles are in a state of inflammation or not.
- An inflammatory state prolongs injury and slows recovery in between runs.
- An anti-inflammatory state allows for the speedy recovery of an injury and recovery in between runs.
In other words, if you use up your enzymes by eating inflammatory foods, it is much harder to recover from an injury or a run. Those with sensitive immune systems (i.e. allergies, eczema, arthritis, chronic injuries etc.) should eat even more of the anti- inflammatory foods and less of the inflammatory foods.
Good Choices (Anti-inflammatory Foods): Ginger, pineapple, curry powder, grapes, celery, garlic, blueberries, omega-3 oils (walnuts, wild salmon, ground flax seeds).
Poor Choices (Inflammatory Foods): Meat fats, dairy fats (>1% M.F.), fried or deep fried foods hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats, refined carbohydrates.
