Everybody heals at a different rate, experts say you just have to do what is best for your body.
SAN ANTONIO — From the common cold, the flu or even accidents around the home, everybody takes a different amount of time to heal from an illness or an injury. In this edition of Healthy SA, experts share small but intentional changes that you can make to speed up your body’s healing process.
There are many factors in our day-to-day life that influence our body’s natural recovery process. Researchers say addressing those root causes and not just your symptoms, may be the best way for you go to.
“They’re a little different depending on who you are and what you’re wrestling with,” said Dr. Victoria Maizes from Zuckerman College of Health at the University of Arizona.
Are you diabetic? Try reversing diabetes by something like a plant-based diet.
“But there’s research to support almost the opposite approach, which is a keto diet… A high fat, moderate protein, very low carbohydrate diet,” said Maizes.
Intermittent fasting works for many, where you eat over a 12-hour window and fast over the remaining 12 hours.
“They may need to fast for 13 or 14 hours. What we find is when people follow a time-restricted eating, they often lose weight and reverse their type two diabetes,” said Maizes.
Allow inflammation. It is actually your body healing from an injury and is blood being circulated.
“With that blood comes healing responses from your immune cells and also white blood cells that help the injury heal more quickly, more easily,” said Maizes.
Finally, protect your joints and get them moving.
“We don’t want atrophy or loss of the strength of that muscle. So we get people moving very quickly these days when they have an injury while still protecting the joint,” said Maizes.