Why Athletes NEED Turmeric

I've been using a turmeric, ginger, and black pepper cocktail for a while now. 

It's really been amazing for my recovery and so I did a bunch of research on turmeric. 

Here's some cool stuff I found:

1. Potent anti-inflammatory (as effective as ibuprofen, and other NSAIDs. Comparable to corticosteroids in effectiveness, without nasty side effects). [7, 8, 9, 10]
2. Pain reliever, increases pain threshold [16, 17]
3. Helps restore and strengthen the immune system [19, 20]
4. Stimulates myogenesis (muscle growth and regeneration) [21]
5. Speeds muscle healing [22, 23]
6. Potent antioxidant; increases antioxidant and detoxification capacity of the body [26, 27, 28, 29]

For the other 5 reasons and to get the anti-inflammatory recipe I use, check out the original post. 

What nutritional interventions do you all use to maximize recovery?

My curried Cauliflower recipe just took on a whole new vibe

Justin Goodhart said:

I've been using a turmeric, ginger, and black pepper cocktail for a while now. 

 

What nutritional interventions do you all use to maximize recovery?

Sounds potent man! I'm gonna try that drink out.

Is the lime/lemon an active ingredient - or is it more for taste?

   Both are expensive where I live, so wondering if I can replace it with something similar.

I eat to meet vitamin/mineral RDIs - and focus on nutrient timing (a bit of every macro after the morning run, throughout the day just have veggies and lean protein and a bit of fruit, and then liquid carbs/protein before and after training).

Oompa2: Delicious!

The lime/lemon is for taste and palatability. Pure vitamin C powder also does the trick. And I often mix it with tart cherry juice (pure, organic, no other ingredients) which also helps with drinkability. 

Thanks.

Is there an ideal time to drink it? Perhaps relative to stomach emptiness, or pre/post workout, or time of day?

In my experience, first thing in the morning with (or after) a meal, or post-workout with a meal. 

The optimal time to take MOST supplements is half way through a meal, as many nutrients require cofactors, fats, protein and/or insulin production to properly transport them into cells. The exception is probiotics, which I always take after my meals or on an empty stomach. 

Use it as a food...great.  I love it.  Take at pharmacologic doses...use at your own risk.  Safety studies are all less than 3 months in duration and evidence that it inhibits p53 and TNF suggest it could have carcinogenic effects.  Before I took it as a "supplement" at big pharma doses I would want to know a lot more about it's long term safety.  But eating more curry, that's right up my alley 

What would be a big pharma dose?

Concentrated doses in supplements that are not naturally found in food sources. Probably over 1000 mg would be exponentially more than you'd get in your food, so if you're looking for a number... Many supplements have 2000-8000 mg.

Wow... it's only from Googling turmeric today do I realize how saturated the market is with curcumin supplements (the most well-known active element in turmeric).

Most supplement dosages I've seen here in Aus are 500-600mg curcumin per dose.

Compared to 1 tsp of turmeric (as per Justin's recipe) contains about 75mg curcumin per serve - which I think is much more sensible.

What does the cocktail taste like. To me it seems pretty unpalatable and that's from someone who's drank raw cabbage juice and brewer's yeast. 

I shook the spice mix in 15oz/500mL of water and it tasted fine - subtle taste of ginger with a gentle heat to it. No citrus required personally. Might struggle with less dilution though.

I have all that stuff in my larder so I'll give it a try. I did take capsules of ginger and tumeric among other things when I suffered quite badly from gout. Sour cherries especially montmorency cherries make similar claims regarding anti inflammatory properties. 

tfeal said:

What does the cocktail taste like. To me it seems pretty unpalatable and that's from someone who's drank raw cabbage juice and brewer's yeast. 

I find it to be a bit spicy, but can usually finish it in 1-2 gulps. If I want a milder version, I just make the recipe with turmeric, black pepper, and tart cherry juice. Goes down very easily, still packed with amazing benefits. 

Justin Goodhart said:

I've been using a turmeric, ginger, and black pepper cocktail for a while now. 

It's really been amazing for my recovery and so I did a bunch of research on turmeric. 

Here's some cool stuff I found:

1. Potent anti-inflammatory (as effective as ibuprofen, and other NSAIDs. Comparable to corticosteroids in effectiveness, without nasty side effects). [7, 8, 9, 10]
2. Pain reliever, increases pain threshold [16, 17]
3. Helps restore and strengthen the immune system [19, 20]
4. Stimulates myogenesis (muscle growth and regeneration) [21]
5. Speeds muscle healing [22, 23]
6. Potent antioxidant; increases antioxidant and detoxification capacity of the body [26, 27, 28, 29]

For the other 5 reasons and to get the anti-inflammatory recipe I use, check out the original post. 

 

What nutritional interventions do you all use to maximize recovery?

Coincidentally I just started adding turmeric into my diet this week although ginger has been a main staple in my diet to ward off inflammation for the last two years.  I have a smoothie with a nice chunk of ginger daily and twice daily on workout days (pre and post workout).  I learned this from Brendan Brazier's book "The Thrive Diet."  Brendan Brazier is an ultramarathon champion and has several recipes to ward off inflammation that include turmeric and ginger.  I used to take prescription NSAID's and now I am NSAID free since adopting a plant based diet.  I follow the principles of "The Thrive Diet", "Engine 2 Diet", and the documentary "Forks Over Knives."

What's with this obsession to avoid inflammation? It occurs for a reason, namely to repair damaged tissue. Post-workout inflammation is your friend. If you're experiencing excessive inflammation, maybe you're breaking down tissue faster than your body can regenerate it, so maybe you need to adjust your volume...

Domz said:

Exercise causes free radical damage. Free radical damage is a bad thing. Why not add turmeric to your food to reduce it?

Actually, probably not so simple. Just another way us humans think we know what we're doing, monkey with nature, then find out we're wrong.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/12/09/3088935.htm

Ravn said:

What's with this obsession to avoid inflammation? It occurs for a reason, namely to repair damaged tissue. Post-workout inflammation is your friend. If you're experiencing excessive inflammation, maybe you're breaking down tissue faster than your body can regenerate it, so maybe you need to adjust your volume...

You are right that some inflammation is a good thing. It's part of the hormetic stressor that even allows for adaptation. You can't adapt when something isn't stressful (with EUstress)! 

I guess the question then is, how long should we let PWO inflammation happen before trying to mitigate it and decrease oxidation? 

I haven't found much research in this regard but I'm personally comfortable with 2-3 hours. 

There's most certainly a range. You don't want TOO MANY antioxidants, but you also don't want to few. 

You know you kill bacteria with ROS too? Life is a balance. You don't want too many antioxidants either.

This cocktail is also the perfect base for a homemade vinaigrette. Just add olive oil and balsamic vinegar and you are all set

Just wondering, does red pepper do the same as black in this potion? I always thought red was better health wise.

Apparently not. You need the active ingredient present in black pepper which is piperine which increases the effectiveness of the turmeric and ginger. 

One of the supplements I take every day has turmeric root extract, along with a bunch of other plants.  

Another supplement also has black pepper in it.  Both have ginger root.  One has ginger, frankincense, clove, thyme, cumin essential oils.

I use black pepper essential oil and lemongrass essential oil for my joints/connective tissue.  A different blend of essential oils for muscles.

And for probiotics, I just finished my first home-brewed batch of Kombucha!

Acute inflammation isn't necessarily bad, chronic inflammation is.

Fun aside about turmeric.

You can also use turmeric on wounds. Just clean the wound with water then apply a liberal amount of turmeric. No antiseptic bandages, no neosporin, no alcohol wipes. Cover the wound for the first couple of days when you shower and then reapply a bit turmeric afterwards. You won't need to cover it anymore after the first couple of days, since the turmeric will a type of scab unlike any you've ever seen. Flexible and gel-like so you can move the joint freely without pain, yet resilient to withstand abrasion during sleeping and under clothing, perfectly waterproof, the turmeric itself is antiseptic.

You can also form "organic bandages" using turmeric, a type of butter, water, and some oils but the method is too detailed for text. Waterproof right from the start, so you don't need to cover it ever during showers.

There are also very cool ash bandages involving ash, tumeric, cotton, and some other materials but I have forgotten the recipe that my father taught me. The scab formed in this one will heal in a way to reduce scaring to an incredible, incredible, absolutely incredible degree. I wish I remembered how to make this one. Man, guys, it was really cool, you would have to look so hard to find the scar after it healed.