Food for Thought
How Eating Right Helps You to Stay Clean and Sober
Article Submitted by: Alice Robertson
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Food for Thought: How Eating Right Helps You to Stay Clean and Sober
Recovering from an addiction is never easy. Your mind and body have already endured a lot, though, and it’s time to make some repairs. By providing yourself with proper nutrition, you can encourage healing, wellness and sobriety. Here are some helpful facts from La Jolie MLN to get you on the right track.
Why worry about diet?
Even with professional help, those in recovery from an addiction face tremendous challenges. Addiction takes a toll on your mind, body and lifestyle -- but you can give yourself the best chance of success by embracing the whole package. Healthline points out nutrition-based therapies, which treat your mind, heal your body and help you establish a new lifestyle can make a tremendous difference in staying clean.
It’s vital to rebalance and do some “biochemical repair.” By providing proper nutrition to fuel your recovery, you can help balance those issues which caused your initial cravings, as well help repair the damage from your addiction.
No guts, no glory
You might sometimes hear it said that your digestive tract is linked to overall health. Gut flora is considered vital because your entire body and mind receive basic nutrition to function from the food processed there. When you don’t have a healthy digestive system, everything else can suffer. Drug and alcohol abuse take a toll on the digestive tract, reducing your ability to draw nutrition from food and inhibiting your ability to heal. Restoring gut flora is a key step in helping your body relearn how to function in a healthy manner.
Restoring gut health lowers your likelihood of being moody and susceptible to stress as well. It helps you stay more positive, and can even reduce inflammation. Some studies cited on Nature.com indicate gut flora could be closely connected with depression, anxiety, cognitive function and certain cravings. Restoring your gut flora could potentially help overcome genetic deficiencies, which could be at the root of your addiction. In these ways, establishing gut health can be an important tool in the overall recovery process.
Avoid stress-eating
Stress can lead us to make some less-than-stellar decisions when it comes to diet and drugs/alcohol, meaning that one of the best things we can do for our own wellness is reduce our stress levels as much as possible. One great strategy is to begin by cleansing your home of as much negativity and unhealthy behaviors as you can. When you optimize your home for healthy living -- which includes improved diet and exercise -- you make it easier to avoid stress and stress eating. ZenBusiness also has a number of healthy suggestions for eating at home -- like cottage cheese, homemade oatmeal, and french toast.
Good choices make great recovery
In the course of your recovery, you need to make healthy food choices to stay on the right track. The Fix points out many people make the mistake of substituting sugary foods for substances. This can lead to replacing one addiction with another. What’s more, a sugar high can lead to an equal and opposite low, which can equate to cravings. Select lean protein sources, a variety of fruits and vegetables and whole grains for your meals. By making lifestyle changes which include healthful diet choices, you can train yourself to say “no” to other temptations, helping you avoid relapse during difficult times.
Healthy habits are a cornerstone
Structuring your days and weeks can be a key to staying sober, and reframing your eating habits is a big part of your new, healthier lifestyle. Getting overly hungry can leave you open to poor choices, so make a game plan for each day. One suggestion is to plan on three balanced meals every day, and include two or three healthy snacks to help you maintain a positive outlook and avoid letting your blood sugar dip. If you find yourself getting hungry, up your fiber content to help you feel full.
Also, make sure you’re drinking plenty of water, since proper hydration can be a key to healthy detoxification. With plenty of fluids, you can flush toxins out of your body. You can drink some coffee or other caffeinated beverages, but don’t overindulge in caffeine since it can leave you with dropping energy levels later and opening up an unhealthy cycle. Remember to avoid drinks with a lot of sugar, since that can also be a stumbling block.
Sobriety can hinge on nutrition
Proper nutrition can help ease the road to recovery. So give yourself the gift you deserve: work to restore your gut health, choose healthy foods, and make proper eating habits part of your new lifestyle. That way, you can reframe, rebalance and heal your mind and body at the same time.
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