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How A Healthy Diet Can Help You Stay Sober: Healthy Recovery Solutions


How A Healthy Diet Can Help You Stay Sober

Over the years, the prevalence of malnutrition in drug addicts has inhibited the recovery process for recovering addicts. After completing drug rehab, most drug addicts enter into recovery programs with deficiency problems. For this reason, GateHouse Sober Community has recently put together an online health guide for drug addicts in recovery, to help them retain the appropriate amount of nutrients and maintain a healthy diet. This online health guide will provide recovering drug addicts and alcoholics, an overview of how to stay healthy in recovery, a summary recently updated recommendations for how to retain vitamins, and insight on how much damage addiction can cause to the body.

Addiction Toll On The Body

When drug addicts start using illicit drugs, they never think about the damage that they are doing to their body. For starters, opiate consumption increases mortality and make a poor quality of life.

According to the Iranian Journal of Public Health, “Opiate addiction is also linked with a significant number of diseases including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), and other blood-borne diseases.”  To further explain the bodily damage that Opioid addiction causes the FIX states “ opiates can cause myriad stomach issues once in withdrawal, which can lead to diarrhea and vomiting, hence losing even more nutrients.” In essence, most people recovering from an opioid addiction still struggle with malnutrition problems. Alongside opioid addictions, recovering alcoholics also suffer from nutrition deficiency problems.

According to the US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health, “ Malnutrition is common in chronic alcoholics.” They also state that “Malnutrition is often reflected in body weight loss.” With this in mind, recovering alcoholics should be mindful that alcohol suppresses your appetite. Therefore, people with a history of alcohol abuse should consider establishing a healthy diet. Beyond drinking, stimulants such as meth, cocaine, and Adderall, can also suppress your appetite. As a consequence recovering addicts and alcoholics suffer from deteriorated body tissues, anemia, difficulty healing from wounds, and high complication risks in the event of surgery.

Healing With Proper Nutrition

As far as the proper nutrition goes, a healthy diet for drug addicts and alcoholics in recovery consist of protein, vegetables, fruit, and whole grain bread. In regards to alcoholics, Vitamin B1 Thiamine is essential for alcoholics in recovery. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse And Alcoholism, “Vitamin B1, is an essential nutrient required by all tissues, including the brain.” Thiamine -rich foods include meat and poultry; whole grain cereals (e.g., brown rice and bran); nuts; and dried beans, peas, and soybeans.

Also, many foods in the United States Commonly are fortified with thiamine, including bread and cereal.” Ultimately, Vitamin B1 can prevent Alcoholic Brain Disease. Remember moderation is key.

Conversely, people in recovery for drug addiction should focus on replenishing Vitamin B1, B5, B6, C, E, Calcium, Magnesium, and Niacin. Each of these vitamins plays an essential role in avoiding future health problems. If you’re looking for the best way to find these vitamins, here’s a list :

Vitamin B1: Salmon, flax seeds, green peas, brown rice, asparagus
Vitamin B5: meats, vegetable, cereal grains, legumes, eggs, and milk
Vitamin B6: milk, ricotta cheese, salmon, tuna, eggs, beef, carrots, spinach, sweet potato, bananas, avocado
Vitamin C: milk, chili peppers, guavas, parsley, kale, kiwis, broccoli
Vitamin E: sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnut oil, salmon, brazil nuts, Cod

Can Eating Healthy Keep You Sober

Establishing a healthy diet can help you stay sober by permitting you to think clearly. According to Dr. Bierer at Harvard Health, drug addiction is a brain disease. Therefore, the benefits of a healthy diet can enhance your cognitive capabilities and your bodily functions. At the same time, a healthy diet can prevent you from relapsing.

As an illustration, drug addicts with hunger cravings have a habit of mistaking their food cravings for a substance cravings. As a result, this can cause a recovering addict to relapse.

In the process of establishing a healthy diet, the proportion is vital. Excessive food consumption can also cause a person to relapse. To be more specific, consuming too much food can cause a drug addict to feel guilty. Given these points, guilt can lead to depression. In the end, depression is the leading cause of drug relapse.

Above all things, establishing a healthy diet can help increase both drug addicts and alcoholics confidence. In particular, it is common for people to enjoy the benefits and rewards that a healthy diet affords them. As a result, a healthy diet will encourage a person to incorporate more healthy practices into their lifestyle.

Which Drug Recovery Program Offers A Healthy Diet

Here at Gatehouse Sober Community, we believe that a nutritional diet is essential for a long-lasting recovery. We also offer comprehensive programming to help drug addicts and alcoholics maintain a healthy diet. Each of our Gatehouse Sober Community visitors enjoys the benefits and rewards that they receive from incorporating a healthy diet into their lives. In light of the benefits of a healthy diet, we think you will also appreciate the advice that our Sober Community counselors have to offer you. For more information, give us a call at 855.448.3588

(855) 448-3638