Research shows that a nutritious diet can significantly improve your chances of successful recovery. It is common sense that eating healthy helps repair damage to mind and body from substance abuse; however, conventional knowledge in the addiction treatment field largely ignores proper nutrition as a vital component to successful recovery.

2. • Research shows that a nutritious diet can significantly improve your
chances of successful recovery. It is common sense that eating
healthy helps repair damage to mind and body from substance
abuse; however, conventional knowledge in the addiction treatment
field largely ignores proper nutrition as a vital component to
successful recovery. Instead, addicts are told to not to worry too
much about diet because eating healthy is not nearly as important as
overcoming addiction. The problem with that line of thinking is that a
nutritious diet helps people overcome addiction. It is high time
nutrition became a major component in any addiction treatment
program.

3.  Every intoxicating substance affects the mind and body in some damaging way. Admittedly,
drugs like alcohol, heroin and methamphetamine cause more damage than marijuana.
 Detoxing from drugs also creates additional strain on the body from a lack of adequate nutrients.
For instance, common symptoms of opiate withdrawal are diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting
conditions with deplete the body of important nutrients and create an electrolyte imbalance
(www.medlineplus.org, “Substance Use Recovery and Diet”). A diet high in fiber, whole grains,
vegetables, and mineral-rich foods can actually alleviate some of the withdrawal symptoms by
bringing the body back into nutritional balance.
 Each drug results in unique damage to the mind and body thus requiring a drug-specific diet for
alleviation of withdrawal symptoms and repairing drug-induced damage.

4.  Many inpatient treatment facilities serve a high-calorie, high-fat, and high-sugar diet. It
is a common misconception that the recovering addict needs to put on weight and
fatten up, as if being overweight was an ideal health goal.
 Part of the problem stems from an almost singular focus in treatment on getting people
clean. Diet and nutrition just do not register with the importance of saving someone from
the deadly disease of addiction. However, neglecting diet and proper nutrition sets the
recovering addict up for health complications from obesity.
 Inpatient treatment facilities ought to implement a dietary plan that focuses on not only
the period of inpatient treatment but what awaits the recovering addict when he or she
returns home.

5.  Junk food and especially sugar are often suggested to reduce drug and alcohol cravings;
however, the recovering addict’s brain soon learns to crave the sugar because sugar and other
junk foods have a similar effect on the brain’s reward center as do drugs and alcohol (“Relative
ability of fat and sugar tastes to activate reward, gustatory, and somatosensory regions,” Stice,
Burger, & Yokum, Am.J. Clin Nutr, December, 2013). One research study even found that Oreo
cookies affected the brain’s reward center in laboratory rats as much as cocaine and morphine
(“Off the Drugs, Onto the Cupcakes,” Ellin, Abby, The New York Times, September 15, 2014).
 While any cocaine or opiate addict would disagree with the conclusions of the study as applied to
human subjects, nonetheless, sugar does affect the brain’s pleasure center in a manner similar
to drugs and alcohol and poses a risk of addiction to sugary foods.

6.  Armed with the knowledge of the real risk of their patients transferring one addiction for another,
some rehab facilities have created healthier diets and even hired registered dietitians (Id.).
 Facilities such as Blvd Treatment Centers in Southern California and Portland, Oregon consider
nutrition a key component to successful recovery (http://www.safeharbortreatment.com/).
 But there are still many rehab facilities who continue to serve a diet of high-sugar, high-
carbohydrate, and high-fat foods because those foods are usually cheaper than healthier
alternatives and that is what patients want. Facilities like Blvd Treatment Centers have not done
away with every sugary menu item, but they offer a responsible diet that helps repair the mind
and body and sets the patient up for successful recovery in the long run.

7. CONTACT US
:Business Phone - -866 956 9087
/ :URL Website
:// . .http www safeharbortreatment c
/om
:Contact Person
.Admissions@safeharbortreatment
com