Diet and Sobriety: How the Foods You Eat Actually Help Your Recovery Journey
The journey to sobriety is a difficult one. With all your willpower focused on that singular goal, the concept of adding dietary changes on top of everything else is daunting. Still, your body needs proper nutrition during your recovery journey. The right diet doesn’t just help with healing — it can also help reduce stress, depression, and other triggers.
Still, the last thing you want is some holier-than-thou article telling you what you can and cannot eat, so we’re going to knock the big part out the way first.
There’s No Such Thing as a Bad Food
One of the reasons why diets often fail is because we use a restrictive approach toward them. There’s a big focus on what you can’t have. You start thinking things like “I can’t have that slice of cake” or “I can’t order fast food”. This is counterproductive, since it not only encourages fixation on those forbidden foods, but it also riddles you with guilt when you eventually do cheat. That’s why so many diets end with people binge eating their formerly forbidden foods.
This approach is hard enough as it is, but when you’re on the road to recovery from substance abuse, it’s dangerous. You’re already devoting a good portion of your willpower to recovery, so you really shouldn’t worry about cake of all things.
Here’s the approach to take with diet and sobriety: your number one priority should be your recovery. Things like weight, appearance, and all the other reasons diets are pushed onto us are secondary. If you want that slice of cake, go ahead and take it. If you just don’t have the energy to cook, go ahead and order fast food. Don’t deny yourself when it comes to food.
Instead, your goal should be using food to support your sobriety journey by adding healthy options to your diet.
Why Change Your Diet?
Do you know what the most insidious thing about substance use is? Many substances strip your body of the nutrients it needs to make ‘feel good’ chemicals like serotonin and dopamine, while also causing damage to other parts of the body. You feel awful afterwards, so you turn to the substance again to alleviate that feeling, creating a vicious cycle that it can feel impossible to escape from.
Changing your diet won’t magically break that cycle. You’ll need support, both from medical professionals and the people you surround yourself with. However, it can help.
One of your main goals during recovery, especially during the first year, should be using your diet to help restore your body’s ability to feel good on its own. This means, rather than focusing on things like calories and carbs, you should focus on adding things that help bring you back into balance. Here are some examples.
Hydration: Hydration is critical, doubly so if you’re just beginning your recovery journey. Alcohol and many other drugs lead to dehydration, and a lack of hydration can lead to worsened symptoms of depression, fatigue, anxiety, and general withdrawal. One good way to stay hydrated is by sneaking more liquids into your diet via fruit, soups, stews, and smoothies. Soups and smoothies in particular are a solid choice for early in your journey, as they also put less strain on your digestive system, which might be out of whack for a bit while you recover.
Fermented Foods: Gut health is a hot topic in the world of nutritional science. The bacteria living in your gut have been linked to all sorts of conditions, including how we manage stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, substance use has a tendency to kill off a lot of these good bacteria, leading to issues like constipation, nausea, diarrhea, depression, anxiety, and other unpleasantness. One way to correct this is by introducing fermented foods into your diet: this includes the familiar options like pickles and sauerkraut, but also things like kimchi, miso, and tempeh. If you hate the taste of pickles, yogurt with active cultures and raw honey are also good options. Find something you like, and try to incorporate it into more of your meals.
Healthy Options: Your diet should have a good balance of nutrients, proteins, and carbohydrates. One of the best ways to help with this is by keeping healthy snacks and meal options on hand. The goal here is to make it so you don’t have to think about eating healthy. A good beginner option is keeping mixed nuts and dried fruits on hand for those regular cravings. They’re high in protein and complex carbohydrates, and the salt and sugar help scratch some of the most common dietary itches we experience. Other solid options include easy to eat fruit (like grapes and bananas) or grabbing prepackaged salads from the local grocery store. The less you need to think about it, the easier it is to stick to.
Thanks to: Sarah M. at Medicare Studies