Nutrition
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Nutrition
Nutrition For Addiction Recovery
Addiction & its Impact on Nutrition
How addiction impacts nutrition:
- You eat less or not at all – Alcohol and most narcotics suppress the appetite, and the drug itself replaces the nutrition the body needs.
- You eat lower quality food – Satisfying the cravings of addiction becomes the top priority. Eating nutritionally sound meals is hardly a concern.
- Overeating – Marijuana addicts tend to overeat, which leads to severe weight gain and all the conditions that come with excessive body fat.
- Damage to organs – Drug addiction can lead to damage to the pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, the lining of the stomach, and the liver. Damage to these organs leads to problems in digestion, nutrition storage, and nutrient absorption.
- Suppressed immune system – Drugs and alcohol can damage the immune system leaving you with little defense against illnesses and infections.
Malnutrition could also make your recovery more difficult because you can be more mentally vulnerable to anxiety, short attention spans, depression, low energy, and cravings. Food affects the brain. There is a very close connection between substance abuse, mood, and nutrition.
Hormones related to digestion can trigger pleasurable or unpleasant emotions in the brain. When your brain doesn’t have enough nutrients, it’s levels of neurotransmitters are off-balance, leaving you with depression, agitation, and stress. These unregulated mood states can be triggers for relapse.
Comfort eating, also known as “eating your feelings,” is when an individual uses food to cope with their emotions, not because they are hungry. Addicts are accustomed to turning to anything that helps them escape from uncomfortable feelings. Food eaten for comfort tends to be sweets and junk food. This pattern leads to out of control weight gain and lethargy, which leave you ultimately feeling worse.
This creates a cycle leading to more comfort eating to soothe its own consequences. Food, especially sugar, can become a cross-addiction, giving the recovering addict a mild high with a dopamine release – a small version of what they had when they were getting high. This pattern makes it more difficult for a person to stay positive and motivated, leading to a potential for relapse. Comfort eating can become a temporary way of coping with reality, that is ultimately maladaptive and self-defeating.
The recovering addict needs to engage in the empowering activity of taking control of their nutrition and be proactive with their self-esteem by making decisions that improve their quality of life. You may feel sick and tired of your addiction, but don’t leave your body feeling sick and tired with inadequate nutrition.
Better Nutrition
The benefits of better nutrition include:
- A better, more stable mood
- Higher energy level
- Better focus, longer attention span
- A stronger immunity
- Repairs damage to organs and tissues
- Build self-care habits and create a healthy lifestyle
Thorough recovery involves more than a group or individual therapy, learning new coping mechanisms, spotting triggers, or understanding emotional regulation. Those in recovery need a balanced approach that gives your body the necessary elements for a healthy life through nutrition education.
Nutrition & Substance Abuse
Alcohol
Alcohol affects the entire body. Heavy alcohol abuse physically damages major organs. Alcohol consumption also tends to replace eating, leaving the body starved of essential nutrients and functionally incapable of effective digestion. Some alcoholics take up to 50 percent of their daily caloric intake from alcohol. Alcohol has calories, but no nutrients. When alcohol replaces food in your diet, you’re not taking in the nutrients your body needs, which amplifies the toxic effects of alcohol.
Alcoholics suffer from a depletion in vitamins in the B-complex group, namely B6, B12, thiamine, and folate, all of which are involved in neurological health. They also have notable deficiencies in vitamins A, C, D, K, also minerals – zinc, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Magnesium is needed for around 300 biochemical reactions in the body. Zinc deficiency causes reduced night vision, facial skin sores, and a lower sense of taste and smell. Low zinc levels are also associated with depression, confusion, irritability, and apathy. Thiamine deficiency is especially problematic because it is a foundational component of all tissues in the body.
Inadequate thiamine levels affect the functionality of the heart, leaving you open to heart disease. Thiamine also influences the brain and could leave the alcoholic liable to dementia, loss of coordination, vision problems, memory loss, and confusion. Alcohol abuse could also lead to Metabolic Syndrome, which results in high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, increase risk of heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Deficiencies in B-complex nutrients could also result in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, characterized by lowered cognitive function, including memory loss and lack of muscle coordination.
A high level of alcohol intake damages the liver, whose roles are to produce proteins and to eliminate toxins. The damage to the liver makes it less capable of absorbing much-needed calcium, eventually leading to cirrhosis. Alcohol also affects the pancreas, which is responsible for regulating blood sugar levels and producing digestive enzymes. These enzymes help the digestion of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and hormones that balance blood sugar levels. With a dysregulated blood sugar level, alcoholics are susceptible to type 2 diabetes and obesity.
The high levels of abdominal fat can lead to heart disease, high cholesterol, and an elevated risk of heart attack and stroke. Changes in blood sugar common with alcoholism have been shown to increase alcohol cravings. Damage to the stomach lining interferes with the breakdown and absorption of nutrients. You may end up with low energy levels and a weaker immune system, leaving you wide open to diseases and infections. Eventually, dental problems could arise along with skin conditions, even changes in the way food tastes. In the long term, risks include brain damage, nerve damage, liver disease, heart disease, pancreas problems, and some forms of cancer.
Marijuana
One of the chemical compounds of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), ignites the appetite. Even the average user gains excessive weight as they commonly crave sugary, high-fat junk food while they are under the influence. Binge eating, or “having the munchies,” is a well-known part of using marijuana.
The super-charged appetite and high caloric intakes come with the standard set of consequences of uncontrolled eating. This includes a host of risks: excessive weight gain, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and sleep apnea.
Nutrition for a Sober Life
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