Safer Than NSAIDs, Better for Your Joints, and Won't Stop Weight Loss
If you're trying to soothe your aches and pains, or heal damage done to your knees, shoulder, back, or any joint for that matter, using NSAIDs can significantly lengthen healing time, leaving you in pain longer. Multiple studies have shown that NSAID use can slow the healing of damaged ligaments, broken bones, and other soft tissue, including arthritic aches, pains, and soreness.
While NSAIDs are the most frequently used to manage pain and injury, especially among those who suffer with arthritis (includes rheumatoid), tendonitis and bursitis, many physicians (non-holistic) consider them to be the medication of choice, despite their potentially serious side effects that can be permanent.
In addition to slowing the healing process, they can cause GI and cardiovascular damage. And what most people don't realize is that they may be the reason you're not losing weight.
Everything from aches, pains, and weight loss all rely on how well your body heals and recovers, keeping inflammation in check. How your body heals today will determine how you feel tomorrow and whether or not you lose or gain weight. In the athletic world, performance is based on healing.
Exercise is important, but if you neglect to nourish your body so it can recover properly (your body can't get everything it needs from your diet), you can actually cause more damage to an already struggling healing and repair system.
Keep in mind that getting into shape, becoming fitter, leaner, and stronger also requires a recovery period, in addition to a healthy diet. Optimizing recovery and healing is even more important for tennis players, golfers, runners, and water sports enthusiasts like surfers and kayakers. Anything that moves your muscles muscles increases your body's nutrient needs.
Rest, and a good, sound nutritional game plan that includes the smart use of safe supplements in the right doses, and of course increased water intake to keep your muscles hydrated is vital.
If any one of these increased needs are not met, you can potentially miss out on the health benefits of your workouts and can create more problems in the long run. These problems can include increased soreness and pain and also taxing your immune system that can lead to you getting sick or injured.
Okay, enough sports nutrition talk from me, but I’m sure you're getting the point. You need to make very sure you maintain adequate nutrient levels EVERY DAY to avoid some of the issues above. By saturating your body with adequate amounts of healing nutrients, you can alleviate aches and pains better than NSAIDs without delaying healing, gaining weight, or damaging your liver.
Here is the Short List of the Side Effects of NSAIDs
- Headaches
- Drowsiness
- Dizziness
- Gas
- Bloating
- Stomach pain
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea/constipation
Long-term Use of NSAIDs can lead to an increased risk of:
- Peptic ulcer
- Renal failure
- Acute renal failure
- Kidney damage/failure
- Myocardial infarction
What many people don't realize is that taking higher than usual doses of over-the-counter pain relievers/NSAIDs and/or taking them for a longer period of time can affect blood sugar levels and make it difficult to lose weight. So can inflammation, which is why it's best to find natural ways to manage the inflammation that is the root of almost all of your aches and pains.
Here are a few simple things that can help manage your body's inflammatory response, preventing aches and pains before they appear. These healthy habits can also help reduce/rebalance your body's response when it gets out of balance by simply adjusting your intake for a few days or until you get relief.
Fuel Up First
It doesn't matter what your goal is -- whether you want to improve health, decrease pain and inflammation, stay strong to slow the aging process, or you're trying to lose weight and burn fat -- one thing in common is that it requires specific fuel in order to keep your metabolic engine running optimally.
If your body becomes depleted of essential amino acids, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, or essential fatty acids, it switches from health-building, immune-protecting over to a vulnerable state. This sets the stage for diseases, weight gain, joint health issues, weak, brittle bones, hair, and/or nails. It also makes you feel tired, weak and worn out.
This vulnerable state almost always brings with it depression, fatigue, and moodiness, no matter how much sleep you get.
Nutrient saturation is THE MOST important determinant when it comes to the outcome or how well your body handles the stress mentioned. Making sure you always have enough fuel (aka nutrients) available for your body gives it the best possible advantage and a better outcome than allowing your body to remain nutritionally depleted.
The good news is that YOU CAN substantially increase and improve your nutrient stores simply by replenishing your body the right way with the right amounts of nutrients.
When you fuel your body first thing every morning BEFORE you start your busy day, and again immediately after (within 30-60 minutes) activities, exercising, or high-stress events, when the body is the most receptive, like a dry sponge absorbs water better, you will maximize nutrient uptake and absorption. Every cell gets what it needs to stay healthy, and you stay NATURALLY energized.
What happens if your body is already full of certain nutrients? Some are stored in fat cells for use later, and the water-soluble nutrients are excreted in your urine. That's also why your pee becomes bright yellow and smells potent. Your body takes what it needs and excretes the rest!
Here are the Essential Nutrients EVERYONE should focus on, especially for joint health and recovery.
Step #1
The first step, regardless of your goal or health issue, is Nutrition First!
Providing the right nutrition via Complete Protein is the best and easiest way to do this! Better than any food you can eat, and it’s more convenient and cost-effective. Most importantly, it's absorbed better by your body.
Adequate Complete Protein intake daily is the most important step, yet overlooked, when it comes to nourishing the body. Here’s why...
Complete Proteins contain ALL the essential amino acids your body needs and are the building blocks of every single cell in your body -- from eye health to joint health and everything in-between.
It acts as a core foundation for every nutrient you take. If you've ever tried using a supplement and thought it didn't work, it's most likely due to inadequate protein intake or not consuming the right kind.
Can any protein do this? No, not all proteins contain all the essential amino acids needed by your body for optimal healing. This also affects how it's absorbed.
In order for proteins to be "complete," they MUST have the right amounts of the right kind of protein. They must also be able to be used by your body. Vegan protein sources are not complete unless the missing amino acids are added to it, which is what we do to make it complete.
We can only speak to our protein shakes. They have the highest PER (Protein Efficiency Ratio) of any other protein, meaning it's used more efficiently by the body, so it helps begin the healing and recovery process quickly. Also, due to the way they are formulated and micro-filtered (meaning we break the protein peptides down into smaller particles and remove all traces of lactose), it makes them even more bioavailable. The body uses it more efficiently and kickstarts the healing, recovery, and repair into gear, so you begin to feel better faster.
Complete Protein provides the raw materials to heal and repair stressed-out, sore, achy muscles thanks to the BCCAs leucine, isoleucine, and valine, used for muscle tissue repair.
Adequate Complete Whey Protein intake also helps strengthen immune health and is proven to be, without a doubt, the strongest antioxidant of them all!
Step #2
Saturate your body with the nutrients it cannot make, no matter how healthy you eat. For instance, you need at least 500mg of Tumeric to induce healing. If you tried to consume that much raw most people would suffer with severe gastric issues such as diarrhea, nausea, and stomach aches. You could also easily burn your esophagus.
That's why it's best to use nutritional supplements for a more strategic approach that's also more efficient.
Turmeric in the 95% Curcumin form is as efficient, if not more so than any NSAID you'll ever take. When taken in a blended supplement like our Recovery Agent, it's even more bioavailable by the body. It works faster, and because it addresses healing at the root level, you're addressing the underlying issues at the core of your aches and pains, which is always the best approach because it won't cause the side effects drugs can.
Bottom line... Turmeric is one of the best when it comes to inflammation, and this includes neuroprotection/brain inflammation that can lead to Alzheimer’s. When paired up with MSM, glucosamine, chondroitin, hyaluronic acid, and nutritional superstars such as citrus bioflavonoids, you've laid the foundation of good health.
Step #3
The one thing missing is the omega 3 essential fatty acids (found in Pure Omega 3) your body needs to further reduce inflammatory response, thereby reducing pain and improving healing, so you stay pain-free naturally, without the side effects over-the-counter medications bring with them.
I find this trio of daily health habits (Complete Protein Shake, Recovery Agent, Pure Omega 3) to be the most effective when it comes to alleviating aches and pains and protecting further joint damage. Try this trio and let me know how you feel. I love hearing from you. Send me your questions -- I’m always happy to help!