Nutrition therapy benefits everyone who undergoes addiction treatment. However, women’s nutrition therapy will focus on women’s specific nutritional needs vs. men’s. The long-term benefits of nutrition therapy require a long-term approach. As important as focusing on nutrition during rehab, developing a long-term nutrition therapy plan that will support your recovery into the future is just as important.
At Painted Desert Recovery, we provide nutrition therapy and counseling to help you build a healthy body to support your recovery goals and create a lifelong model of health and well-being. Reach out to Painted Desert today to find out why nutrition therapy is a long-term process, how nutrition therapy benefits you, and how it fits into your addiction treatment. Call us at 844.540.0357 or fill out our online form to connect with a staff member.
What is Nutrition Therapy for Women?
When a woman seeks to begin recovery from a substance use disorder (SUD), she is searching for a return to a healthy body and mind. Nutrition therapy is part and parcel of that quest.
Women and men are humans and thus require the same nutrients to live. However, women need certain vitamins and minerals to maintain a healthy balance, such as hormonal changes and other specific factors unique to them.
Some of the nutritional needs of women include:
- Calcium in supports bone strength, especially in later years, due to hormone fluctuations linked to menstruation and child-bearing
- Iron in the event of iron deficiency and anemia related to menses – a woman’s iron requirement is more than double that of men.
- Depending on her child-bearing status, a woman often requires an increase in folic acid, a B vitamin.
The increased need for calcium, iron, and folic acid reflects how nutrition therapy for women differs from that of men.
Long-Term Nutrition Therapy
The answer to the question, “Is nutrition therapy a long-term process?” is yes, because you have nutritional needs and the way good nutrition supports your recovery are two facts that will not change over time. Do you need to be in a specific nutrition therapy program for life? No. But we recommend that, as part of your recovery, you check in regularly with a nutritionist who specializes in nutrition for addiction recovery.
Once nutrition therapy in addiction rehab has helped you, you will continue to include healthy nutrition as part of your ongoing recovery.
Some nutrition therapy benefits during rehab include:
- Replacing nutrients depleted by your SUD
- Building back a healthy gut biome weakened by substance abuse
- Balancing mood through diet
- Reducing stress with balanced nutrition
- Reduction of cravings
Long-term focus on nutrition includes many of those same benefits and also:
- Stable mental health
- Ability to handle life’s stressors
- Decreased risk of relapse
- Long-term health of mind and body
Many people do not realize the profound connections between good nutrition and successful recovery from a SUD. At Painted Desert Recovery, our nutrition therapy is one of the centerpieces of our rehab program. We establish your healthy nutrition plan while you are with us so that you continue to reap the benefits over your lifetime. In that way, we offer long-term nutrition therapy that will go with you post-rehab as you live your best life.
Women’s Nutrition Therapy at Painted Desert Recovery
In addition to evidence-based psychotherapeutic treatment such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), experiential therapies such as equine and art therapy, and peer support groups, Painted Desert’s nutrition therapy program is cutting edge.
What is nutrition therapy? Find out the answer to that and how nutrition therapy benefits your long-term recovery by contacting us via online form or phone – 844.540.0357. We look forward to conversing with you, answering all your questions, and supporting you as you begin your recovery journey.
