4 min readNew DelhiJan 11, 2025 08:00 PM IST
First published on: Jan 11, 2025 at 08:00 PM IST
It won’t be an exaggeration to call Tiger Shroff’s sculpted physique a work of art – a product of countless hours at the gym and a meticulously curated diet. In a recent social media post, Shroff shared a picture of his chiseled abs, captioning it, “Took this a day after i recovered from dengue fever”. While his post serves as inspiration for your New Year fitness goals, it is imperative to understand that bouncing back after a draining sickness requires a streamlined recovery routine.
“When you’re sick, your body diverts its energy to fighting the infection, leaving little room for physical exertion. Once recovered, your body needs time to rebuild glycogen reserves, repair tissues, and restore immune balance,” said Isha Lall, a holistic nutritionist and wellness coach.
According to research published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, while moderate exercise can improve immune function, intense workouts, soon after recovery, can suppress immunity and increase risk of relapse. “It also raises your cortisol, the hormone responsible for regulating stress, be it physical or mental,” Lall said.
Precautions before resuming workouts
Start Slow: Begin with light activities like walking, stretching, or yoga. Let your body adapt before resuming strength training or cardio.
Watch for Symptoms: Listen to your body. Fatigue, shortness of breath, or muscle soreness could indicate you’re pushing too hard.
Hydrate Well: Illness often leaves you dehydrated. Ensure you’re drinking enough water or natural electrolyte-rich drinks like coconut water.
Focus on Sleep: Recovery is incomplete without adequate rest. Prioritize 7-8 hours of quality sleep to allow your body to heal completely.
Essential tips for recovery (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)
Foods to include for recovery:
Madhura Paroolkar Behki, head nutritionist and dietician at Cult Transform, stressed the role of nutrition in recovery. Here are her top recommendations:
Stay hydrated: Staying hydrated is crucial, especially if you have had fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or sweating. It aids in detoxification, improves circulation, and supports cellular repair. If you’ve lost fluids, drinks containing electrolytes like potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium are helpful in rebalancing body fluids.
Protein-carb balance: Proteins play a big role in repairing tissues and building lost muscle. Since appetite loss is common, having easy to digest proteins like egg whites, curd, boiled fish, paneer and even moong dal are ideal. Incorporate protein into every meal to meet daily requirements.
With illness comes energy loss, and carbs replenish energy. Start with easily digestible options like rice, pasta, or bread toast, and transition to roti and millets.
Gut-friendly foods: Probiotics are great to enhance the immune system, and even to get the happy hormone back in check. Foods like curd, buttermilk, kimchi, and kefir are great choices to make.
Antioxidant boost: Fighting illness generates free radicals that cause oxidative stress, straining the immune system. A diet rich in antioxidants like fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds can be very beneficial to reduce this inflammation.
Easy digest meals: After illness, the digestive system may be sensitive. Opt for bland, easily digestible foods like, soups, boiled veggies, oatmeal, shakes, kichadi or even kanjis. Remember to keep oily and spicy food at bay as this can irritate the gut.
Tiger Shroff goes back to the gym after recovering from dengue fever. (Photo: Tiger Shroff/Instagram) 
Essential tips for recovery (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)
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