Foods you should consume for addiction recovery

As chronic as substance use disorder is, its harmful impact makes no wonder. It poses a risk to your mental, emotional, and physical health right away. However, addiction treatment plans can help. While the former can be recovered with counselling and therapy sessions, physical health needs a detox. As we know, using alcohol and drugs can strip your body from key nutrients like vitamins and minerals and make you feel dehydrated, weak, or restless; the detox program can help you recover them. During the detox program in most rehabilitation clinics in UK, consuming nutrient-dense foods nourish and revitalise the body and mind by replacing lost nutrients. For counselling and therapy sessions, please visit: https://www.sanctuarylodge.com/rehab-programme/rehab-therapies/ Also, a healthy and well-balanced diet makes staying committed to your recovery easier while preventing relapse.

Nutrition in Addiction Recovery

Nutrition and wellness are crucial parts of the recovery journey. Though eating a balanced diet is not a cure-all, they help many common ailments of early recovery. A balanced diet including carbohydrates, fats, micronutrients, and essential proteins can regulate the body's overall functioning, boosts mood and cognitive functioning, help manage cravings, and strengthen the immune system while providing much-needed energy throughout the day.

Additionally, a nutrient-dense diet in your routine can manage withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, mood swings, irritability, muscle pain, insomnia, depression, digestive issues, and fatigue. Proper nutrition also reduces inflammation and oxidative stress and speeds up detoxification. But what superfoods can help people make addiction recovery easy and manageable?

Superfoods for Your Lungs

People who get involved in excessive vaping, huffing, or smoking and do minimal or no physical activity may experience lung-related problems in future. Because our lungs only allow us to breathe, other activities can severely damage their functionalities. For instance, even the simple act of breathing can take a lot of energy out of us and putting the pressure of smoking or vaping on the lungs can do significant damage. Additionally, a lack of a healthy diet may worsen the condition. Therefore, you should include foods rich in magnesium, antioxidants, and omega-3 in your diet to support the lungs. The omega-3-rich foods include salmon, flax seeds or oils, and chia seeds. For antioxidants, you can take apples, berries, artichokes, kidney beans, and pinto beans. These foods improve blood flow and breathing patterns. Other essential foods include green leafy vegetables like kale, moringa, spinach, and bok choy.

Superfoods for Your Brain

Whether it is tobacco, alcohol, or drug addiction, any long-term addiction is likely caused by some cognitive impairment, such as memory loss or the inability to perform certain things or remember them. However, cognitive abilities can be restored using problem-solving skills, therapy, and healthy diet plans. For example, omega-3 foods, including salmon and flax seeds, can help strengthen cognitive functions. In addition, diets with flavonoids like citrus fruits, green tea, and cocoa effectively boost your brainpower. Moreover, you can eat lentils, avocados, tomatoes, walnuts, and ginger in your diet to get a complete package of vitamins, minerals, and other healthy fats, restoring brain cells and boosting addiction recovery efforts.

Superfoods for Your Energy

Substance use disorder undoubtedly strains us in and out; thus, experiencing a lack of energy is evident. Most addicts experience low energy levels during their addiction and recovery days, leading to problems like weight gain, stress, and sleeping disorders. To combat this, healthy carbohydrates, such as cereal, green leafy vegetables, antioxidants, and whole-grain bread, can help by boosting energy. Honey is also an excellent energy source and provides your body with what it needs. Furthermore, mixed nuts like almonds, pistachios, and peanuts contain vitamins A, B, and E and calcium, phosphorus, potassium, minerals, iron, and magnesium.

Superfoods for Your Liver

One of the first body organs that get affected by the intake of alcohol and drugs is the liver. Responsible for detoxifying dangerous chemicals and free radicals that a person digests, the liver has many other metabolic and secretory functions. And poor liver functioning can cause multiple health problems, such as allergies, skin problems, tiredness, headaches, and even weight gain. Though addiction severely damages the liver, it can be recovered by remaining sober and following a healthy, nutritional diet. For example, studies have shown that antioxidant-rich food help heals the liver while those high in sulphur help to detoxify it. The antioxidants that you can take for better liver function are berries, prunes, cantaloupe, pears, oranges, plums, raisins, apples, and pink grapefruit. However, the detoxifiers that help eliminate toxic build-up include onions, lemon, garlic, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, beetroot, and cauliflower.

Finally, Water Can Do Wonders

As quoted by Leonardo Da Vinci - “Water is the driving force of all nature”, and our optimal health and survival also depend on it. Water is the ultimate cleanser that keeps our body hydrated and free from chemicals and toxins accumulated in the kidneys and other vital organs. Hence, drink water throughout the day to detox your body instead of waiting for the thirst to thrust in.

Takeaway

Substance use disorder can be complex, but the power of food is indispensable. Hence, the nutrition pointers mentioned above will be beneficial in making your addiction recovery process quicker and easier. If you find these tips a little daunting or hard to follow, take small steps over time. For example, add small portions of tofu, brown rice, and fermented veggies to your lunch or dinner. You can also keep nuts in your room or the hall to snack on whenever cravings happen. Nevertheless, Foods are always there to help with proper nutrition programs for addicts. The medical professionals at the rehab will help you through the recovery steps and help you maintain a well-balanced diet to sublimate the cravings. So don't wait and book an appointment with a rehab centre today!

To access rehabilitation clinics in the UK, visit: https://www.sanctuarylodge.com/location/