Proper brain function enables a patient to learn and retain the coping skills needed to stay focused on sobriety goals. Without it, a patient may struggle with the therapeutic elements of a treatment program and feel more challenged in their recovery efforts. Another benefit of nutrition is better brain health through neuroplasticity. It’s important for https://sober-house.org/ brain function to change after a period when it’s been rewarded routinely by drug or alcohol use for months or even years. They may impair your judgment and have other effects on your brain that keep you from eating. While an exercise addiction may not lead to physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms, it can still prevent you from living a full life.

• The significance of improved brain function through nutrition cannot be overstressed.
• We need not discuss the obvious health consequences of developing an unhealthy food addiction.
• Salads are a favorite for many nutritious eaters because they’re typically quick and easy to prepare.
• It is not uncommon for the addicts to have low energy not just while they are under substance abuse but even after it or in the recovery period.
• Alcohol, sugar, and other highly addictive substances all share similar neural-reward pathways in the brain.

Micronutrients are just as important, but you don’t need to consume as much of them to stay healthy. Vitamins and minerals are micronutrients, while the macronutrients you need are protein, fat, carbohydrates and water. Lemon juice helps promote healthy digestion by stimulating bile production in the liver. In addition, a 2017 study found that mice that consumed lemon juice experienced reduced alcohol-related liver damage compared with a control group.

The Sugar-Sensitive Body

However, carbohydrates are essential for the function of the central nervous system and brain. They are so important that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests 45% to 65% of daily calories should come from carbs. • Established a revised screening process for admissions, including questions about recent fevers, travel and mandated negative COVID-19 test results. One of the first steps your teen should take to improve their health is to eliminate as much sugar and caffeine as possible and incorporate whole grains and lean proteins into their diet. Adding fiber to the diet can nurture beneficial gut bacteria back to health, help heal the GI tract, and support the gut–brain connection. “It’s predictable that once someone gets sober they’ll have excessive consumption of rewarding dopaminergic foods such as sugar,” he explains.

Try these smoothie recipes at home to incorporate more nutrient-dense ingredients in your smoothies. If salads really aren’t your thing, that doesn’t mean you can’t eat nutritious meals! Smoothies are a great option because they’re so versatile, they’re easy to make, and you can pack all types of fruits and veggies in them.

Exercises To Add To Your Routine

When a person feels better, they are less likely to start using alcohol and drugs again. Because balanced nutrition helps improve mood and health, it is important to encourage a healthy diet in a person recovering from alcohol and other drug problems. A high level of alcohol intake damages the liver, whose roles are to produce proteins and to eliminate toxins. The damage to the liver makes it less capable of absorbing much-needed calcium, eventually leading to cirrhosis.

Glucose is another parameter that was studied in PWUD and remains not well understood. In a study by Zhang et al,48 the fasting blood glucose levels of persons addicted to MA were lower than those of control participants. More studies are needed to confirm if behavioral factors play a role in the effect of drugs on plasma glucose levels. Healthy eating habits are important for everyone, but even more so for those in recovery from addiction. One of the reasons healthy eating habits are so important for recovery is because they help the body eliminate toxins and begin repairing the damage caused by addiction. Medications used for opioid dependence include methadone, buprenorphine , and naltrexone.

What Treatment and Recovery Providers Can Do

A personalized, high-protein diet supplied by nutritional therapy can increase dopamine receptors and provide enough amino acids to balance the body’s dopamine levels. Carbohydrates are macronutrients that provide the body with energy, help with brain function, and keep blood sugar stable. Eating food with complex carbohydrates like bread, pasta, root vegetables , legumes helps regulate levels of serotonin in the brain.

Maintaining a healthy, well-balanced diet is just one of the many parts of addiction recovery. Any fruit, vegetable, protein, grain, or dairy product that has not been processed or modified is considered a whole food. When individuals first discontinue stimulant use, dehydration and electrolyte imbalances may occur, so careful monitoring is important. Since low weight and eating disorders may be of concern, encouraging and educating patients on proper nutrition and helping them achieve a healthy BMI is important. Counseling patients on lifestyle changes to decrease their risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes is important.

This list of food types includes whole grains, cheese, bananas, and lean beef. Tyrosine can help counter intense substance cravings early in your treatment program. You may not know how sobriety and healthy eating are directly connected. So, let’s look at some harmful effects of substance use disorders on the body and what makes good nutrition an important factor in recovery. If we don’t get the nutrients that we need from our diets, and if we’re not taking the appropriate nutritional supplements, then our body won’t be able to function properly.

Those whose drug of choice is a stimulant enter treatment underweight, dehydrated, and muscular deficient. Many times they lack vitamin A, vitamin C, the B vitamins, and iron, including electrolytes like calcium and potassium. Stimulant abuse often leads to a deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids, which contribute to the regulation of mood and the prevention of depression and anxiety. Alcohol consumption also tends to replace eating, leaving the body starved of essential nutrients and functionally incapable of effective digestion. Some alcoholics take up to 50 percent of their daily caloric intake from alcohol.

Carbohydrates aid in the production of serotonin, which facilitates a happy, stable mood; aids in sleep; and helps curb food cravings. Low serotonin levels can result in sleep problems, irritability, and depression. These include fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, grapefruit, pineapple, and watermelon.

You can pick your favorite type of music and work up a sweat while having fun. Dancing is an excellent aerobic exercise and can work many different muscle groups. If pizza has always been your favorite junk food, then you’re in luck. With just a little bit of effort, you can change it from a junk food into a superfood. Often, when you grab a smoothie at a place like Jamba Juice, it’s packed with sugar. It’s best if you can make your smoothies at home or buy them from a place that offers options without high amounts of sugar.

Why Addiction Messes Up Your Appetite

Nutritional therapy focuses on stabilizing blood sugar levels by minimizing processed foods and foods with lots of added sugar, focusing on foods with a low Glycemic Index , and balancing carbohydrate intake with protein and fat. Studies indicate that as many as 88% of people struggling with chronic substance abuse disorders have poor appetite and diet quality overall. Studies have also discovered that some people struggling with substance abuse may eat fewer meals or simply omit eating meals for an entire day. Malnutrition could also make your recovery more difficult because you can be more mentally vulnerable to anxiety, short attention spans, depression, low energy, and cravings. There is a very close connection between substance abuse, mood, and nutrition. Up to50% of people with an eating disorderabuse drugs or alcohol, which is five times the rate of the general population.

In recovery, headaches, nausea, mental illness, low energy levels, and sleep disturbances do not only come from withdrawal, but also poor nutrition. Without proper vitamins and nutrients, the damage extends to hormones, organs, nerves, and glands. Giving clients the opportunity to practice good eating habits is essential, especially since food addiction can often replace drug addiction. Grassfed and pastured beef are healthy sources of protein, a critical building block for the recovering brain.

Lack of sleep can lead to a decrease in well-being, reduced cognitive function, and reduced energy, so encouraging patients to practice healthful bedtime routines is beneficial. An understanding of how food affects mood and the risk of substance abuse begins with macronutrients. Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy; without this macronutrient, the brain can’t properly function, blood sugar becomes unstable, and neurotransmitters become disrupted. Unstable blood sugar can lead to feelings of frustration, anxiety, and cravings. Good nutrition is an important part of repairing the harm to the brain and body by chronic use of alcohol and other drugs. Nutritional therapy aims to bring the brain and body back into biochemical balance by implementing dietary changes tailored to the individual’s needs.

Carolina Recovery

With the substance use epidemic in the U.S. continuing to reach crisis levels, it is more important than ever that treatment and recovery workers partner with those from every field impacted by substance use disorders . By joining to combine new and innovative treatment modalities from many fields, service providers stand the best chance of successfully treating SUDs. While the idea of using nutritional concepts in treatment and recovery was conceived in 1955, it currently is not widely used. To date, little progress has been made in using nutrition professionals in treatment settings. Nutrition, the whole foods and component nutrients that nourish our physical bodies, is often neglected in the throes of substance addiction.

The main nutritional impact of this drug is increased appetite.16 Long-term users may be overweight and may need a calorically restricted diet and an exercise program to help them achieve a healthy weight. Medication-assisted treatment for substance abuse has been effective for alcohol and opioid dependence. It’s important for dietitians to be familiar with these common medications, as the side effects may influence patients’ nutritional status.

Benefits of Nutrition in Recovery

People who struggle with process addictions are still attempting to fill some sort of void. In the case of an exercise addiction, people often become addicted to the release of endorphins and other pleasurable neurotransmitters released by exercise. Also known as vitamin B1, thiamine is important for all tissues in the body. Without thiamine, you may be more likely to develop dementia, heart disease, vision problems, and memory loss.

Setting personal nutritional and physical health goals helps keep you accountable and motivated. Just like with nutrition, you want to create a sustainable habit of exercise, so it’s important to find activities you enjoy. You might like some of the most common activities, like jogging, hiking, or lifting weights. If none of those sound right for you, try some of the following activities.

Substances cause our brains to flood with dopamine, giving us a highly concentrated feeling of this euphoria. Low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin can cause obsessive thoughts, impulsivity, compulsive behaviors, eco sober house rating and susceptibility to triggers. Low levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine can slow reactions and dull the pleasure center. These combined effects can contribute to cravings and weaken our resistance to them.

When this doesn’t happen we experience a number of different problems. Attention and focus – Recovery is a process of becoming aware of yourself and your environment. It’s a process of paying attention to new information and opening your awareness to what’s going on within. Once addiction has forced changes in the brain, however, it damages neuroplasticity and makes it much harder to adapt to sobriety. Additionally, the adaptations that the brain develops disrupt crucial neuropathways, decreasing neurotransmitters and their ability to move normally through the brain. Lack of these nutrients can result in anemia, which makes the sufferer feel cold, lethargic and frequently dizzy.