The connection between food and mood has gained more attention lately and with good reason. What you eat can have a tremendous impact on how you feel. This is why many treatment centers are now incorporating nutrition therapy for addiction into their recovery programs.
At Painted Desert Recovery, we take food and addiction seriously. With a registered dietician nutritionist on staff, our nutrition therapy program is carefully designed to help women heal their minds and bodies with the power of great nutrition. To find out how we can customize a nutrition therapy regimen to help you recover from addiction, give us a call today at 844.540.0357.
How Are Food and Addiction Connected?
What you put into your body can affect how you look and feel. That holds true for food, beverages, drugs, and alcohol. Each item either helps or hurts your health. When you are suffering from addiction, the health of your mind and body declines due to your substance of choice.
Some of those impacts relate directly to nutritional deficiency, such as:
- Your addiction can dampen your appetite or cause you to forget to eat when under the influence, resulting in unhealthy weight loss, malnourishment, hypoglycemia, and anxiety.
- Drugs and alcohol can deplete your body of important vitamins and minerals, leading to a whole host of health problems, including low immunity, fatigue, and depression.
- Addiction can interfere with healthy digestion and nutrient absorption, which can end up causing digestive issues.
How Nutrition Therapy Can Help Support Your Recovery
With the help of a registered dietician nutritionist, you can address imbalances in your diet caused by substance use.
To help you get started, some foods to avoid during recovery include:
- Caffeine – If you have ever attended recovery meetings, you may notice that complimentary coffee is usually offered. For many people in recovery, caffeine becomes their new vice, but it can come with its own set of negative side effects. Caffeine stimulates adrenaline release and insulin production, which can lead to adrenal exhaustion over time. Try swapping out coffee, black tea, and energy drinks with green tea, herbal coffee or tea, or decaffeinated versions.
- Sugar – This sweet substance is often reached for during recovery as it is the ultimate comfort food. Sugary treats may provide a sense of comfort when you are trying to kick an addiction, but they will only make you feel worse in the long run since refined sugars can deplete your body of precious nutrients, similar to drugs and alcohol. Sugar can also be incredibly addictive, so you may just end up swapping one addiction for another. Keep your favorite fruits on hand if you find that you are often craving something sweet. You can enjoy the natural sweetness while also getting a boost of vitamins and minerals.
- White flour – Essentially, your body will break down white flour and treat it like sugar, so you will experience an increased risk of digestive issues due to the lack of fiber.
- Preservatives and additives – These create an additional burden on your liver, which is usually already weakened by substance use. Protect your liver by checking food labels and avoiding ingredients such as aspartame, BHA, BHT, MSG, and phosphates. Better yet, opt for fresh, whole foods whenever possible to avoid unnecessary additives.
Heal with Nutrition Therapy for Addiction at Painted Desert Recovery
Unhealthy food and addiction often go hand in hand. With the nutrition therapy program at Painted Desert Recovery, women can feel the difference in their recovery experience. The right combination of vitamins and minerals from fresh, delicious, nutrient-rich foods can be life-changing for those suffering from addiction. When you are ready to recover with the healing effects of nutrition therapy, give us a call at 844.540.0357, or contact us online.
