Post-Run Diet Tip: Drink Teas That Reduce Inflammation in the Body

Certain teas may help enhance your overall recovery efforts for running. One relevant strategy to effectively manage inflammation and swelling is with anti-inflammatories. This is where herbal tea may come in handy!

Herbal teas have high value when it comes to driving through inflammation, which is why I think certain teas qualifies for being a great addition to your overall post-run dietary practice.

Excessive swelling is one of the main symptoms of over-training from running, and excessive swelling could be a precursor to an injury in the making. One relevant strategy to effectively manage inflammation is with anti-inflammatories. We know that inflammation has a corrosive effect on the muscles and tendons, this is why I think the teas that I discuss below should be of fundamental interest for runners.

Post-Run Diet Tip: Drink Teas That Reduce Inflammation In The Body

Post-Run Diet Tip: Drink Teas That Reduce Inflammation in the Body

Certain teas have high value when it comes to driving through inflammation, and for this reason, teas are ultimately important for running recovery. In the research, there has been a lot of focus on the effects of teas on minimizing harmful inflammation in the body and staving off injury.

The evidence proves and has led to the distinct conclusion that certain teas are an ideal recipe for shrinking injurious inflammation and may greatly enhance general recovery.

Dandelion Tea

According to tea expert, Dr Pina LoGiudice, N.D, dandelion tea has protective effects on the muscles because it floods the body with potassium which is powerful for muscle healing and relaxing. Dandelion tea is also high in key muscle strengthening minerals, which again, is going to help diffuse swelling, putting real limits on extreme inflammation by employing more rapid anti-inflammatory responses and reactions

Green Tea

Green tea really closes the door on inflammation and will take your recovery to the next level because it was found to be highly effective in solving many exercise-induced pain problems. For one, it was found that the green tea extract, EGCG activates enzymes that speeds healing, helping you recover from muscle and joint injuries faster.

Moreover, drinking 3 cups of green tea per day was found to reduce joint stiffness and muscles pain. According to Texas University research, green tea vigorously helps defend against injuries because it is rich in polyphenols that burns into the chronic form of inflammation implicated in bone thinning and bone fragility. Therefore, not only does green tea help fortify muscles, it breathes new life into your bones.

Black Tea

Black tea plays a potential leading role in muscle pain relief by scaling back inflammation via fighting DNA damaging-free radicals.

Black tea was also found to help deflate inflammation and muscle soreness by reducing the stress hormone, cortisol, making black tea a good approach to elevate your recovery efforts.

Ginger Tea

According to European research, ginger tea has a broad range of health benefits, one includes pushing back on muscle damage. Ginger contains compounds that reduce pain-triggering inflammation, which not only may prevent new injuries, but its a mighty pain-reliever.

Furthermore, ginger tea was found to prompt the adrenal gland to act effectively to reduce inflammation and boosts energy levels, too. Overall, the inflammation-fighting ability of ginger tea flows, in large, on its ability to nourish the adrenal gland which will help you tackle achy muscles.

Take Home Messege

Of course, there are many other players that influence running injuries and recovery outcomes, but many hardcore runners know that with a crappy, inflammatory diet, little can be achieved with respects to accelerated recovery time for running.

True, that when it comes to training harder in running, some forms of muscle pain is inevitable, but the teas I just mentioned above can really deepen the body’s recovery efforts, partly because the effectiveness of your recovery depends on how well your body can control inflammation.

The full-measure of health benefits and anti-oxidant properties of herbal teas works to strengthen your body to adapt and re-engage more effectively to help meet the evolving challenges of endurance running. And from the scientific literature, we are constantly reminded of the nutritious benefits of herbal teas to help us realize that they are a sufficient anti-inflammatory resource that fosters healing to meet a runners recovery needs.

Bretta Riches

"I believe the forefoot strike is the engine of endurance running..."

BSc Neurobiology; MSc Biomechanics candidate, ultra minimalist runner & founder of RunForefoot. I was a heel striker, always injured. I was inspired by the great Tirunesh Dibaba to try forefoot running. Now, I'm injury free. This is why I launched Run Forefoot, to advocate the health & performance benefits of forefoot running and to raise awareness on the dangers of heel striking, because the world needs to know.
Bretta Riches

P.S. Don't forget to check out the Run Forefoot Facebook Page, it's a terrific place to ask questions about forefoot running, barefoot running and injury. I'm always happy to help!