A Proper Diet can be One of the Best Drug Rehabilitation Methods
Addiction replaces something vital in your life. It’s the way in which your body is trying to fix something, the addiction is the symptom.
Which is why, many times, finding something healthy to replace your addiction is a commonly used therapy.
A good diet might not completely replace your addiction. But it can help in controlling cravings during recovery. And the best drug rehabilitation methods help control cravings.
1. Substance Abuse And Your Body
It’s a commonly known fact that substance abuse affects the body in negative ways.
Not only can substance abuse affect the physical processes of your body, but it can also affect your psychology. This, in turn, changes your mood, your eating schedule, your rate of exercise, and your diet decisions.
Depending on what kind of substance abuse afflicted you during your addiction, you may have experienced different deficiencies.
And if you improve on those deficiencies, you will see an increase in energy, a decrease in symptoms of depression and anxiety.
The goal of a nutritional program in addiction recovery is to heal and nourish, stabilize your mood, reduce your cravings, and address medical conditions that resulted from your addiction.
2. The Best Drug Rehabilitation Is A Good Diet
Substance abuse can lead to a deficiency in vitamins and minerals within your body. This damages your physical and mental health. These deficiencies can damage your internal organs and your nervous system.
This damage will decrease your immunity and increase the likelihood of diseases.
But a good diet can reverse this damage in your body and begin the process of healing.
You want balanced meals when you are first going through detox. You will most likely be combating hypoglycemia and other deficiencies and you may be attempting to regain weight.
You want to choose nutrient dense food. Think, “the closer to the earth the better.” So whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fish. Anything with antioxidants or good vitamins and minerals.
Cut Out The Processed Stuff As Much As You Can
Carbohydrates will help your mind heal. Good carbs are good for you.
What do we mean by good carbs?
Whole grains, mostly. If you are going to eat spaghetti, get whole wheat spaghetti.
Carbohydrates are your brain’s food. It’s converted into blood sugar and used for the processes in your brain. If you’ve been eating mostly crummy carbs or processed food, you might have a carbohydrate deficiency.
If your brain can’t function you will become frustrated, anxious, and experience increased cravings.
Try to incorporate Omega-3 Fatty Acids. They will help decrease symptoms of depression as you recover.
You can find Omega-3s in eggs, avocados, Fish, walnuts, spinach, and various seafood.
And stay hydrated.
This will ensure that you adequately absorb all the nutrients you need during recovery. The best drug rehabilitation is a hydrated one because it also helps with mood.
Your body knows when it’s dehydrated. So let it drink.
Conclusion:
Your body is going to help you get through this period of recovery. But only if you feed it well.
If you’re going through recovery and want some advice, contact us. We have first-hand experience with helping people with their nutritional choices during recovery.
Reviewed and Assessed by
Taylor Brown, B.A.Com., MAADC II
Tim Coleman, M. of Ed.
Staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Medical
Midwest Recovery Centers believes strongly in a client-centered approach. Substance Use Disorder is not what it was 5 or even 2 years ago. The substances on the street are constantly changing and so are the number of contraindications and fatal threats that substance use imposes on the person suffering. Our Medical team continues to stay up to speed with new advances of evidence-based approaches in treating those with both substance use disorder as well as their co-occurring mental health diagnosis. There are many varying pieces to each client’s situation when it comes to tackling the puzzle of a medical detox, and each step in the treatment planning is carefully selected, reviewed, and communicated for the best possible outcome of each client. We understand that consideration of the medical history, family history, past trauma, past and current substance use are all key indicators to most effectively give each client the best chance at developing a recovery process. Each client may present with a different scope of medical needs whether it’s their blood work or the most effective medications for them. Midwest Recovery Centers is proud to have the finest medical team to meet these individual and specific needs of each client that walks through our doors.
Clinical
When it comes to the therapeutic treatment of patients with substance use disorder, Midwest Recovery Centers believes in a client-centered approach guided by evidence-based practices. Substance use disorder has been identified by the American Medical Association as a disease, but because addiction is a disease that impacts behavior, treatment of this disease is often heavily focused on modifying behaviors and thoughts as well as establishing a new way of life. We place a strong emphasis on educating patients about this chronic illness and empowering them to practice treating it as such. Our clinical team is composed of leading experts in the field. We believe in having a staff as diverse as the clients we serve; from Licensed Professional Counselors to Licensed Clinical Social Workers, our staff is highly trained and educated in not only addiction but the mental health issues and life circumstances that often accompany it. Many of our clinicians have their own personal experience in long term recovery which lends them to an even better understanding of what our patients are experiencing. Our staff is highly skilled in choosing the most effective therapeutic modality for each client’s needs, to give them the best chance of securing the recovery process that will change their lives. Our clinical team understands that this is a family disease. This is why clinicians will offer weekly updates to families as well as concrete tools for families to utilize as they journey through this illness with their loved one. Those tools will be offered by the patient’s individual clinician as well as at our free Family Night on the first Wednesday of each month, offered to anyone in the community.
Our Origin Story
I began Midwest Recovery in honor of my mother, Betty Lou Wallace, who taught me responsibility in life and sobriety.
Mom was born, raised, and lived most of her life in Missouri, a state I'm still proud to call home. She had five children. The youngest were my older brother Don and me.
We knew that the disease of addiction ran in the family, but it wasn't until Don and I grew older that we realized we were falling into addictive patterns. Through it all, Mom was supportive of her children but firm about one principle: whether the disease was inherited or developed through your environment, you were responsible for your recovery from addiction.
"I will be supportive of your recovery but I will not enable your addiction," she was fond of saying.
Ultimately, I stayed sober from 1990 to 1997, when I relapsed. With Mom's support, I was able to get sober again in 2002. Tragically, Don was not so lucky. He passed away in 2005 from complications of an injury and continued addiction.
Mom wanted no parent to suffer from the sorrow and anguish of losing a child, so in 2002, she helped me establish my first treatment center business.
As Mom grew older, she shared with me some lessons she had learned through her affiliation with Al-Anon, a support group for family members of loved ones struggling with addiction. She asked me to stay clean and sober one day at a time and to use the lessons I learned in my own recovery to help others who were suffering.
In 2008, Mom passed away from throat cancer, one day after my six year sober anniversary. I still remember that one of the last times we spoke, she told me she was proud of my recovery.
Mom would be so happy to know that myself, our partners, and our team are carrying on her legacy in her home state. I don't know if my own recovery process would be intact without her and the lessons she shared. So much of what we share with our clients at Midwest began with Betty Lou.
Above all, Mom imparted several teachings that I carry with me every day: that people are inherently good, and if they fall into addiction, this makes them sick, not bad. She taught me to be patient, tolerant, loving, and kind to myself and to others.
Most of all, she taught me that recovery works if we are able to be honest with ourselves about our own behavior. That’s what she helped me accomplish and that’s what we strive to accomplish with every Midwest client.
On behalf of Betty Lou, I thank you for your interest in Midwest Recovery.
Jeff Howard