An essential vitamin for everyone, but especially athletes
A day or two after a gruelling workout and suddenly you can’t walk up the stairs to work – we’ve all been there, even the less athletically-inclined!
That all too familiar muscle-pain is well-known for being your muscles repairing themselves after an extra hard job. It’s often seen as a good sign that the workout was effective, but that doesn’t make the pain any less, well, painful. It can also last for days, so just when your legs feel like themselves, suddenly it’s leg day again!
Muscle and tissue repair is something our body does naturally, and it’s supplemented by the vitamin C we consume in our diet. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient, but even though our bodies can’t live without it, they don’t naturally produce it! That means that our diet needs to include a healthy dose of this vitamin to ensure we can not only repair muscle and tissue, but also fight free-radicals, protect against diseases and colds, aid in iron absorption, and a whole host of other fantastic things.
This super vitamin does a lot to make sure that any damage we do to our muscles and tissue (whether on purpose or not) can be healed and get you back in optimal condition. If you live an athletic lifestyle, or are an avid-gym bunny, it’s likely that vitamin C has been recommended to you at least once to supplement your athletic efforts.
Although sugary citrus fruits are probably what immediately spring to mind, many people increase their vitamin C intake through supplements. Although orange-flavoured vitamin C chews from the pharmacy sound like an easy (albeit unappetizing) route to tissue repair, sauerkraut and kimchi could be a far more exciting and tasty option.
It’s long been known (since the days when Captain Cook sailed to our Land of the Long White Cloud) that sauerkraut is a fantastic source of vitamins. Alongside all the good gut bacteria, and wide range of vitamins and minerals, vitamin C is a real heavy-weight in the sauerkraut department.
If you’re looking for healthy but delicious recipes to include in your nutrition and sports plan, check out our recipes page, where we have something for everyone.