PaleoAce Blog: July 2012

Monkey's swift recovery from injury on a Paleo Diet

Posted by Ace on Thu 12th Jul, 2012

As part of our training for the Alpe D'huez duathlon we cycled up and down Porlock Toll Road three times on Sunday. Total ascent: 1143m. My husband (Monkey) suffered from severe cramps afterwards in both legs to the point of almost passing out. He sustained a tear to his vastus medialis muscle (just above the knee) thanks to this cramping episode.

Result:

Day 1: unable to walk up the stairs without excruciating pain

Day 2: as above

Day 3: the pain gradually eased off leaving no pain by night time

Day 4: no pain

This led us to compare notes on our recovery rates pre- and post-paleo eating. Conclusion? Prior to our non-paleo diet if we woke up with DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) this would stay with us throughout the day affecting our ability to train effectively or sometimes at all. However, thanks to our protein-packed, eggilicious breakfasts on a paleo diet all aches are gone by lunch time enabling us to get in that training session after work. We think, therefore, Monkey's swift recovery from this nasty cramping episode and the resulting injury might be very closely linked to our relatively new way of eating: No processed foods, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and tasty protein...