Foods to Help You Mend

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-pound woman. This is in contrast to normal needs of 48 grams of protein daily for our reference woman.

To meet this increased protein need, Vasconcellos adds, “Choose high-quality protein foods. If appetite is a problem, look for soft, easy-to-eat protein dishes like custards, puddings, scrambled eggs, milkshakes, macaroni and cheese, and French toast dipped in egg and milk. You can also stir powdered milk into soups and cereals to fortify them with extra protein.”

For reference, one egg provides 7 grams of protein, 1 ounce of cheese 7 grams, and 1 cup of milk or yogurt 8 grams. Lean meats, poultry, and fish also supply high-quality protein at 7 grams per ounce. Vegetarians can easily fulfill protein needs with, for example, 7 ounces of chickpeas (16 grams), 5 ounces of tofu (10 grams), 8 ounces of soymilk (8 grams), or 1 ounce of peanuts (7 grams).

Beyond the massive protein push wound healing requires, this necessary nutrient is needed in adequate amounts on a daily basis, especially if you exercise regularly.
author and dietitian Nancy Clark, MS, RD, says, “Eating protein before exercising can reduce microinjuries to muscles. Since carbohydrates are the main fuel muscles burn, it’s ideal to have a snack before exercising that contains both protein and carbohydrates. For example, have a cup of chocolate milk or fruited yogurt, or cheese and crackers.

Calories
The Goldilocks approach is best when it comes to calorie intake for health and healing—not too much, not too little, just right. After that, it’s quality that counts.

Nutritionist Yvonne Nienstadt sums up this concept best by saying, “We recommend what is called an isonutrient diet. This means a high-nutrient and low-calorie diet—the exact opposite of the standard American diet which is high calorie and low nutrient.” Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy foods fit this definition.

Clark says, “The first fear athletes have when they’re injured is that they can’t work out and therefore will gain weight and get fat. But they still need energy in the form of calories to heal and to make sure protein isn’t burned for calories but instead is available for muscle repair.”

Likewise, the stress of surgery and anorexia from anesthesia or medications can put calorie intake at a dangerous low at this critical time, says Vasconcellos. “Approximately 30 to 35 calories per kilogram of body weight is the goal after surgery. This is a minimum of 1,800 calories a day for a 130-pound woman.”

Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Fats are a real Jekyll and Hyde story when it comes to nutrition and healing. Researchers at the University of Maryland, studying the effect of varying levels of dietary fat intake on rodents’ response to stress, found that high-fat diets significantly raised stress hormones and interfered with the body’s ability to calm itself, even after the stress ended.

Kleist says, “We know that the hormone cortisol seems to have the effect of clumping fat molecules together. So if you have a high-fat diet and are under stress, you are priming the pump for arteriosclerosis. In this case, it makes sense to eat a healthy, low-fat balanced diet.”

The type of fat is as important in the healing process as quantity. Clark says, “Omega-3 fatty acids have an anti-inflammatory effect.” Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of polyunsaturated fatty acid. They’re an essential fat because our bodies can’t make them. Proper brain growth and development, as well as an anti-inflammatory effect, are their chief attributes. Omega-3s also help regulate mood by increasing serotonin levels, thus warding off depression.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fatty cold-water fish—Atlantic salmon, herring, sardines, Atlantic halibut, bluefish, tuna, and Atlantic mackerel. Although there is no established recommendation for omega-3 intake, many health professionals recommend eating two to three 3-ounce servings of fatty fish per week for maximum benefit. Omega-3s are also found in wild game, including venison and buffalo, as well as walnuts, leafy greens, canola oil, purslane, and flaxseeds.

 “If you choose to use flaxseeds, don’t eat them whole because the hull is so strong the seeds may pass through you undigested,” Vasconcellos recommends. “Instead, grind small amounts in a coffee grinder and sprinkle a teaspoon on breakfast cereal for a morning boost. Ground seeds go rancid quickly, so grind only as much as you need and store leftover seeds in the refrigerator.”

Antioxidants
Eating a plant-based diet—that is, one that calls for filling two thirds of your dinner plate with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains—has been linked through a field full of research to the prevention of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. What’s the magic bullet in these foods? Antioxidants.

What’s more, results of a study released in 2006 by researchers at the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain reveal that antioxidant-rich foods improved immune function and increased life span in mice—and that these results may also apply to humans.

Antioxidants are substances that can protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules called free radicals. Antioxidant nutrients include beta-carotene, lycopene, and vitamins C, E, and A.

In 2002, researchers at the University of Oslo in Norway analyzed more than 50 fruits and vegetables, as well as nuts, root vegetables, and grains, to determine each food’s antioxidant content. The results? Pomegranate, grapes, oranges, plums, and pineapple are the top-ranked fruits for antioxidant content, while chile peppers, kale, red cabbage, orange and yellow bell peppers, parsley, Brussels sprouts, and spinach top the vegetable list. Compared with other fruits, all berries—blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries—rank high in antioxidants. In other categories, red beets, purple potatoes, whole grain barley, oats, and walnuts are also superfoods when it comes to supplying a rich source of these free radical-fighting foods.

“Adding a mixed salad each day to your diet is a simple and extremely beneficial way of increasing the quantity of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants you consume each day,” advises Kleist.

Make sure you eat enough plant foods each day. For example, start the day with fresh pineapple stirred into low-fat yogurt, have your salad at lunch along with carrot sticks and sliced bell pepper strips for an afternoon snack, include steamed Brussels sprouts or spinach with dinner, and end your day with a handful of grapes or blueberries.

Minerals
Zinc, selenium, and magnesium are the big three when it comes to dietary minerals that are indispensable for wound healing and strengthening the immune system.

Zinc is found in meats, seafood, liver, eggs, milk, and whole grain products. Australian researchers at Deakin University found that feeding a standard hospital diet plus a daily supplement of 30 milligrams of zinc, 500 milligrams of vitamin C, and 9 grams of the amino acid arginine significantly improved the healing of leg ulcers in a group of 16 hospitalized patients.

Vasconcellos says, “It’s important to note that zinc will aid in wound healing only if you’re deficient in this mineral. Otherwise, more isn’t helpful.”

Good food sources of selenium include fish, shellfish, red meat, grains, eggs, chicken, and garlic. Vegetables can also be a good source if they’re grown in selenium-rich soils.

“Magnesium is easily drained by stress,” Kleist says. It’s also reduced by the consumption of alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fatty foods. You can boost your magnesium intake by eating plenty of leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.

Putting It All Together
There’s a millennium or two worth of myths that describe mankind’s quest for rejuvenation. For example, there was the famous Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon who led an expedition around the Caribbean and into Florida to find the Fountain of Youth. Around the same era, European alchemists were looking for the Philosopher’s Stone, the mythical substance that, as it was believed, could not only turn lead into gold, but also prolong life and restore youth.

The truth is, there is no single food that can totally nourish us, heal us, and keep us happy and whole. To this end, Monica Myklebust, MD, director of the University of Michigan’s Integrative Medicine Clinical Services (UMIMCS) and an assistant professor in the department of family medicine, and Jenna Wunder, MPH, RD, UMIMCS dietitian, developed the Healing Foods Pyramid (www.med.umich.edu/umim/clinical/pyramid/index.htm) based on findings from many reputable studies. “We have included only those foods known to have healing benefits or to contain essential nutrients. Often, nutrients are best assimilated in the form of whole foods, in their natural state,” says Myklebust.

Wunder adds, “Contemporary eating habits often rely too heavily on processed foods. Such diets often don’t include enough whole grains or fruits and vegetables and simply can’t produce the same health benefits as those recommended in the Healing Foods Pyramid. We recommend minimizing processed foods and those foods with ingredient names too long to pronounce.”

Myklebust and Wunder encourage us to use the Healing Foods Pyramid as a practical guide to healthy eating and incorporate the suggested foods as part of a balanced lifestyle that integrates mind, body, spirit, and emotion.

This Healing Foods Pyramid begins with a foundation of water. A rainbow of fruits and vegetables is followed by whole grains, then legumes (dried peas and beans), healthy fats, dairy, eggs, lean meats, fish and seafood, seasonings such as herbs, onions, and garlic, then accompaniments including alcohol, dark chocolate, and tea. A final category remains empty, awaiting the user’s addition of food healing to that individual, to be consumed occasionally, thus personalizing each pyramid.

The Healing Foods Pyramid offers daily, weekly, and optional choices that can be mixed and matched to accommodate most people, whether they are free of health challenges, vegetarian, or have specific dietary needs. In the interactive, Web-based version, a click on a category immediately takes the user to Facts About guidelines that specify serving sizes, the recommended frequency with which to eat the foods or drink the beverages and information about the health benefits and concerns of each category.

“Don’t pull out good nutrition like a fire engine,” says Clark. Kleist agrees. “How well your body is nourished prior to and during a stressful event will affect how well you handle the stress. If you are marginally nourished prior to a stressful situation, you overtax your ability to handle the situation—nutrition status and health pay the price. If instead you eat the right foods, you’ll have the energy and clear thinking to cope with whatever life throws your way.”

— Carol M. Bareuther, RD

Healing Foods Pyramid—Recommended Servings
• Water: 64 to 96 ounces daily
• Fruits: two to four servings daily
• Vegetables: five servings daily
• Legumes, including soy: two to five servings daily
• Healthy fats: three to nine servings daily
• Seasonings: a variety of spices, herbs and alliums* daily
• Dairy: one to three servings, emphasizing low-fat choices daily
• Eggs: up to one daily, except for people with high cholesterol whose dietary cholesterol consumption is limited
• Fish and seafood: two to four servings weekly, emphasizing a high omega-3 fatty acid intake
• Lean meats: one to three servings weekly
• Accompaniments: alcohol, dark chocolate, and teas
            - Alcohol: up to two servings daily
            - Dark chocolate: up to 7 ounces weekly
            - Tea: two to four cups daily

* Members of the allium family include onions, garlic, chives, leeks, shallots, and scallions.

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