Foot Orthopedic Surgery Grants Pass OR

Make food your ally when you’re battling stress, fighting fatigue or illness, or trying to heal from wounds or injuries.

There I sat, head in hands, shoulders slumped, totally stressed out. Unfortunately, it was the last day of my vacation, not the first. During that supposed respite, the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I managed to fit in day surgery for a thankfully noncancerous mole, pull a hamstring muscle while running off an excess of Christmas cookie calories, and spend two nights entirely without sleep—the first wrapping presents and the second wide-eyed when the kids played with those electronic ear-shattering gifts. What I needed at this point was a gulp from the fountain of youth. But what I found instead was a repast that would make me feel restored, refreshed, and rejuvenated.

“Your body responds to stress by making stress hormones,” says Michelle Kleist, RD, executive director for the Destination Spa Group . “These hormones help your body respond to situations of extreme need. But when your body makes too many of these hormones for a long period of time, the hormones wear your body down and suppress your immune system and your emotions.”

Kleist continues, “You can help lower cortisol levels, boost natural defenses, calm yourself, and decrease the negative effects of stress on your body and mind by fueling your body with the nutrients it needs to stay healthy. A well-balanced eating plan, in addition to getting enough sleep and exercise to relieve pent-up tension, can help you feel energized and alert and keep your weight under control.”

Protein, calories, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and minerals are the key nutrients when you need an especially healthful healing diet to help you mend from illness, injury, fatigue, or stress.

Protein
Look at your muscles, feel your skin, hear your heart beat. These are just a few parts of your body built predominantly from protein. Protein makes up nearly 17% of our body weight and is essential for monumental tasks such as growth and repair, all biological processes, muscle contraction, immune protection, and nerve impulse transmission.

Your protein needs can skyrocket when you are recovering from surgery. “Orthopedic, gastrointestinal, cardiac—virtually any type of surgery calls for wound healing and that requires protein,” says dietitian Patricia Vasconcellos, RD, CDE, LDN .
 
Indeed, a study by researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine’s department of orthopedics released in 2006 found that rats that ate the highest protein diet healed more quickly from a bone fracture. Rats on the highest protein diet also showed positive signs of elevated serum albumin, which is linked to immune function, greater body and muscle mass, and better bone mineral density.

How much protein should we eat to heal a wound? Recommendations are from 75 to 90 grams per day for a 130-p...