Guest Author: Ria Gandhi
My entire life is movement, from my job as a fitness trainer to my own training. I am on my feet for most of the day, constantly active and switched on. Although I would strongly advocate the importance of recovery to my clients: sleep, water intake, overall stress factors (including training/over-training) and how they affect your life, I wasn’t incorporating this practice into my own day to day living. In short, I was lacking balance and subjecting my body to unnecessary pressure for far too long.
I first noticed a pain in my hips around July 2021. This pain progressively worsened as the months went on. Despite knowing that something was off, I trained through the pain. I pushed the weights on my Olympic lifts and continuously overloaded my body with high-intensity conditioning. I began waking up in the night with intense pain in the groin area, physically unable to walk without limping. With much resistance and a firm push from one of my closest friends, I booked a physio appointment. Fast forward to a thorough examination from the amazing experts at R&D Physio, an MRI, and consultation with Sports Doctor Specialist Dr Cath Spencer-Smith. The verdict? Two stress-fractured hips. I was straight onto crutches and total rest with minimal weight-bearing for at least 6-weeks until my follow up MRI. No teaching classes, and certainly no training.
To be completely transparent and honest, the first two weeks were mentally challenging for me, coming to terms with my new reality and the vast changes I needed to implement into my routine. One major change was increasing my protein and collagen intake to help promote and maintain bone mineral density. Nuzest's Clean Lean Protein is a great protein source and contains all of the amino acids required to synthesise collagen in the body. Collagen plays a key role in reducing the risk of bone density issues such as Osteoporosis, a concern for me due to the bilateral nature of my injury. It also contains high levels of naturally occurring iron to help keep the immune system healthy. Immunity plays a critical role in fracture repair. Immune cells are the first responders at the injury site and initiate the signals that action the repair processes. Although I had been advised to eat meat after years of vegetarianism, knowing that I had such a high-quality plant-based alternative available gave me the confidence to create the perfect balance of both meat & supplementation in my diet.
Another key component in my diet was Nuzest's Good Green Vitality. Although already a staple in my morning routine, just 10g per day reassured me that I was incorporating a product that is specifically designed to provide comprehensive nutritional support. It contains over 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients to aid better immunity, digestion, energy, cognition and well-being. I was previously subjecting my body to a high volume of stress factors with little recovery, therefore taxing my Central Nervous System (CNS) and most likely entering a state of fatigue. This is a systematic issue that affects physical and mental clarity and alters the synaptic concentration of neurotransmitters in my CNS. In essence, the ability to send the correct signals between the brain and the spinal cord. Good Green Vitality not only guaranteed me better immune support but cognitive and stress support too.
Although still very much on the journey to recovery, twelve weeks later I am off crutches, back to work and can now add resistance into my training. I feel this whole experience has a major silver lining: I am far better equipped to recognise the signals from my body and have a newfound respect for it. I am now setting myself realistic goals to work towards this year. I will continue to learn and grow from whatever life throws at me. I am grateful to have the support of the Nuzest team behind me.