Protein is often referred to as the building blocks of life since your body uses them to repair old damaged cells and produce new ones. Most of us know that we need to consume protein after a workout but did you know that protein plays an important role in wound recovery?
Let’s talk about protein and how it helps power up our wound recovery.
What is Protein and What Does it Do?
Protein is an essential part of everyone’s diet since it plays quite a significant role in the development and repair of your muscles and other tissues. Along with carbohydrates and fats, protein is considered a macronutrient, which means that this is a nutrient that you need to consume in large quantities. Here are some of the most important things that protein helps your body do.
Growth and Repair
Since protein is used as the building blocks of your body, they are needed to build tissue and grow. All of your tissue, including muscle, cartilage, skin, and bone are dependent on protein to be able to build and repair them. Even your hair and your nails are comprised of mostly protein.
This is why protein is so important to consume after strenuous exercise since that will create micro-tears inside your muscles that will need to be repaired. When you are healing from an injury such as a wound, protein becomes even more important since it accelerates wound healing and shortens the time that your wound is open, minimizing the chances of infection.
Boosts Immunity
Another important function of protein is that it helps to boost your immune system response. This is due to the fact that protein is made up of amino acids, which are the substances that activate cells that will limit the spread of infections and create the antibodies needed to fight off potential infections.
Related: Top Foods to Increase White Blood Cells
Fires Up Metabolism
Research has shown that subjects who were placed on a diet containing high amounts of protein experienced boosts to their metabolism that increased their daily caloric expenditure by an average of around 100 calories per day. Combined with an increased metabolism, protein also helps you feel full for much longer which helps to maintain a healthy body weight.
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How Does Protein Help Heal Wounds?
Since protein is the basic building block of your body, it is essential when you are healing from a wound. Eating a diet with plenty of protein will make sure that your body has enough resources to repair and rebuild the areas that were damaged by the wound.
When we do not have enough protein to maintain our healing process, we enter a state called protein energy malnutrition. Protein energy malnutrition is a condition that usually occurs in young children and is caused by inadequate amounts of protein being consumed and absorbed by the body. If someone is suffering from a significant wound that can take a long time to heal, protein energy malnutrition can become a danger at any age.
It is so dangerous since it causes our bodies to start breaking down protein in our body to use for energy, which causes us to start slowly losing our lean body mass. Severe cases of protein energy malnutrition can cause wounds to stop healing.
One of the biggest dangers for people with open wounds is infection. When we have a break in our skin, we risk catching an infection since it allows microorganisms such as bacteria to get into our bodies. With open wounds, the risk of infection is much greater since it can go beyond the outer layers of skin and deep into muscle tissue, where it is more vulnerable.
Related: Protein for Wound Healing: A Complete Guide
What Are the Best Sources of Protein for Wound Healing?
Here are some high-protein foods that will help jumpstart your healing and get you back on your feet quickly.
Chicken Breast
Chicken breast is packed full of protein at 8 grams every 25 gram serving. It is also low in fat and can be added to a variety of dishes to spice things up.
Salmon
Another great source of protein is salmon. Salmon has around 6 grams of protein in every 25 gram serving, and is also packed with healthy fats.
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Eggs
Eggs are another great way to add some extra protein to your diet. Each large egg contains 6 grams of protein and is rich in vitamins such as vitamin D, vitamin B2, and vitamin B12.
Thrive Ice Cream
Thrive Ice Cream is a delicious ice cream treat that packs 24 important vitamins and minerals, 6 grams of fiber, probiotics, prebiotics, and a whopping 9 grams of protein in a six-ounce cup. These are extremely easy to eat, require no preparation and best of all, it tastes amazing.
Those that are recovering from wounds will be able to eat Thrive Ice Cream anywhere, and at any time, which will give their bodies the protein boost needed to heal quickly. There are four great flavors to choose from; Fresh Strawberry, Simply Chocolate, Simply Vanilla, and No Sugar Added Simply Vanilla. BC30, the patented probiotic in Thrive Ice Cream has been shown to improve protein absorption in the diet.
Related: Benefits of Thrive Fortified Nutritional Ice Cream
Final Thoughts
Protein plays an essential role in wound healing. It provides the basic building blocks our bodies use to grow or repair damage. If we do not take in enough protein, our wound-healing process will be severely hindered or completely stopped.
Protein intake is vital to our healing process so make sure you choose a protein source that you will love eating over and over again, like Thrive Ice Cream.