03
Dec 2014
Anti-Inflammatory And Recovery Bedtime Beverage
As CrossFitters, we bring it. We put our body through the ringer on a regular basis and come out on the other end as stronger, faster, and healthier humans. However if you are like anyone else who lifts weights and performs lots of pullups (or ring rows) you most likely know what it feels like to be sore. It doesn’t feel all that good. Although feeling a little sore is part of the game, there are some ways to hack the system and feel fresh faster.
It starts with getting enough sleep and all that stuff but it also is very helpful to include a select bunch of foods in your diet that do well to kill soarness at it’s source. That is called inflammation. Here are a few anti-inflammatory foods you can include in your CrossFitter lifestyle. We also inclu a simple way to add them all together at once, no sweat involved.
Upgraded Turmeric Tea
The Ingredients
#1 Turmeric
Turmeric, the ingredient that gives curry its yellow color, works in the body by helping to turn off a NF-kappa B, a protein that regulates the immune system and triggers the process of inflammation. We wrote a whole bunch on Turmeric here. Check it out if you want to get the science on the orange stuff.
#2 Ginger
You might often find ginger on your neighbor’s spice cabinet, but it really should be in your medicine cabinet. It has been used for 1000’s of years and ranks high in the Ayurvedic system. What makes ginger so helpful? “Ginger has anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer and antioxidant activities, as well as a small amount of analgesic property. That means it helps your body calm down and reach a state of balance which makes it a perfect choice at night time.
#3 Cinnamon
Cinnamon’s unique healing abilities come from three basic types of components in the essential oils found in its bark. These oils contain active components called cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl acetate, and cinnamyl alcohol. The benefits of cinnamon for your health are pretty wide ranging but it is important you buy the good stuff if you choose to include this spice to the mix. Unfortunately, most cinnamon on the market is in fact not real cinnamon…it is a fraud! Take the time to find the good stuff or use the link at the bottom of the page to find the quality goods. (PS..if you shop at BJ’s …you can find organic Saigon Cinnamon for very cheap…that is the good stuff!)
#4 Raw Honey
This tip is via The BulletproofExec.com
During the night, your brain uses a lot of energy. One efficient form of brain energy comes from sugar stored in your liver, called liver glycogen. Your brain taps your liver glycogen before hitting your muscle glycogen (stored sugar in your muscles), so having a little extra sugar before bed can help your brain function better at night. Raw honey is preferentially used to stock liver glycogen, so it is used first for brain function.
#5 Coconut Oil
Finally Coconut Oil…the magic ingredient. For one, this is the ingredient (along with the honey) that makes this drink taste amazing. However there is more to the ingredient than the benefits of taste. The fat (MCT) in coconut oil is like the mother of all hormones. When you exercise like a CrossFitters, your hormones go for a ride. In order to recover and come back feeling fresh, it is very important for your hormone levels to stabilize.
That is why overtraining and under recovering is the reason you are not getting any stronger or losing weight…you are on a hormone rollercoaster going nowhere fast. Coconut oil (and other forms of saturated fat like grass-fed butter…yes we said butter) are amazing superfoods that act as hormone balancing friends for the body…especially after doing burpees and thrusters.
The Recipe
- 1/4 Tablespoon Turmeric Powder
- 1/4 Tablespoon Ginger Powder
- 1/4 Tablespoon Cinnamon Powder
- 1 Tablespoon of Honey
- 1 Tablespoon of Coconut Oil (or grass-fed butter, or ghee)
- Warm some water on the stove
- Add all ingredients to a blender
- Pour the water over the ingredients and blend for 30 seconds
Where To Get The Goods
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