If you are just starting on the road to recovery, you may not know just how important diet is in the process of getting to a sober, happy state. Detox is a first step towards sobriety, but one of the many aspects that rehab and drug and alcohol treatment facilities emphasize is the importance of what you’re eating, how much you’re eating, and how often. It may seem to be unrelated, but there are many ways in which diet is a vital to a healthy life of sobriety and to re-learning what it means to be a “normal” person—one who isn’t controlled by their addiction, who has their life once more on track.
Weight and Recovery
After quitting drinking, weight loss is one of the most commonly cited self-improvement goals for New Years’ resolutions. However, for many addicts and alcoholics, it is actually very unhealthy to attempt to lose weight during the early days of recovery; in fact, it can be more important to gain weight. This is because addiction and alcoholism tend to go hand in hand with malnutrition; addicts and alcoholics neglect personal care, and many substances suppress appetite, so those in the grip of substance abuse tend not to eat as much as they should or would otherwise. Putting on weight—healthy weight, of course—is an important boost to the body’s ability to heal itself. To get the best results from your early days of recovery, it’s important not to worry too much about your weight but to eat wholesome, nutritious foods that will help your body have the tools it needs to heal.
Nutrients and Drug Abuse
There are such things as recovery-tailored diets, and many drug and alcohol treatment centers use them as part of an overall treatment plan, hand-in-hand with education and therapy, to give the recovering addict or alcoholic a fool kit of tools to use to become a healthier individual. Among all of the ways that alcohol and drugs interfere with your life, your health is a major concern. A recommended diet in early recovery consists of 45% carbohydrates, 30% fat, and 25% protein, along with fluids and foods high in vitamins—particularly a specific group of vitamins. The diet gives your body exactly the things it needs to heal faster and more thoroughly than other food programs would.
Complex carbohydrates, like those found in whole grains, broccoli, spinach, beans and starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes and regular potatoes are a cornerstone of the diet, making up half of what you consume. This is in part because fighting addiction takes up a considerable amount of brain power, and the brain’s preferred fuel is carbohydrates. Addicts who don’t have sufficient carbohydrates in their diet have longer, more frequent cravings for the substances they are addicted to. In addition, there is a need to avoid too many sugary foods like candy or pastries; particularly alcoholics are used to the blood sugar spike that comes along with consuming alcohol—and staying on that treadmill of spike and crash is not helpful.
Vitamins and minerals play a particularly important role in recovery as well. Certain vitamins, including B vitamins, are very important for the recovery process. Alcohol depletes several of the B vitamins in the body—particularly B1, the vitamin also known as Thiamine. Thiamine deficiency can lead to a type of brain disease called Wernickie-Korsakoff syndrome—what is thought of as “wet brain.” But all of the B vitamins help with the recovery process; B3 (niacin) helps with detox, B5 and B6 (pantothenic acid) support adrenal function and aid in the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and melatonin, and B12 is vital to a healthy nervous system. With the right diet and plenty of fluids, alcoholics and addicts can improve their chances of a healthy life in recovery.