When it comes to overcoming addiction, many aspects of your life need to change. Habits, behaviors, thinking patterns, and even the way you eat. Everyone knows that eating healthily is essential for your body and mind, but we often overlook it. It is easy to grab a bag of chips or order a pizza, especially while in the throes of an addiction or feeling sick while hungover. But now that you’re changing your life and becoming sober, it is essential to step up your food game and learn more about dietary health and how healthy eating can improve your life.
Focusing on Brain Health
Addiction can cause a host of issues to the brain and brain health. It rewires the brain’s chemistry and untangling this can take time and causes unpleasant side effects. Eating healthily is just one of the many essential tools of overcoming addiction so that your brain receives all of the vitamins and nutrients it needs to work hard and adjust back to its normal state.
Our Dietary Wellness Program enhances recovery by focusing on brain health in the following ways:
- Menus are curated to increase Omega 3s by including fresh seafood and grass-fed meat and creatively incorporating nuts, seeds, and other Omega 3 rich foods. By increasing the intake of Omega 3s, we significantly reduce the inflammatory Omega 6 fat sources, which have been shown to block the uptake of healthy Omega 3s.
- We have chosen not to use soybean, vegetable, canola, or corn oils
- Instead, we feature avocado, olive, and coconut oil in our cooking
- Our talented chefs work with a wide array of seasonal produce, serving unique vegetable dishes and fresh, beautiful salad options at every meal. This ensures that our diet provides an abundance of naturally sourced vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients that are crucial in healing our brains and bodies.
Lowering Stress Levels
Successful, long-term recovery from addiction is centered around keeping stress levels low. When stress levels rise, anxiety and depression can creep back, and relapse becomes more likely. One of the ways you can keep stress levels low throughout recovery is by eating healthy. Many foods can cause stress levels to rise, including:
- Caffeine. There’s nothing wrong with a cup or two of coffee in the morning, but do your best to limit caffeine and sodas, and they can make adrenaline levels rise and make a stressful situation feel more intense than it is.
- Sugar. Sugar can weaken the body’s ability to fight stress, causing you to feel extra frazzled. It can also cause headaches and issues with blood sugar, making you more stressed out for no particular reason.
- Carbohydrates. Carbs increase serotonin levels, making you feel pretty happy and relaxed while you’re eating them. However, they cause a quick spike and crash in your blood sugar. Reach for whole grains if you’re in the mood for something carby.
Giving Your Body Optimal Fuel and Energy
These are the best foods for your dietary health:
- Avocado
- Fish
- Whole grains
- Fiber
- Nuts
- Citrus fruits
- Probiotics
Healthy Choices Beget Healthy Choices
When you wake up every morning, you have the power to make healthy choices right from the beginning, and it often starts with breakfast. By beginning the day by eating a healthy breakfast, you set yourself up to make more healthy choices. Usually, when we are feeling stressed, we reach for comfort food that might temporarily make us feel better but make us feel worse. Sound familiar?
A healthy breakfast is so much more than just a meal. When you eat an unhealthy breakfast, you are more likely to become lazy, skip your daily workout, overlook responsibilities, or become stressed out. This leads to higher stress levels and a higher likelihood of relapse. When you choose a healthy breakfast, you are more likely to positively carry on with your day and accomplish all your goals.
About The Pointe Malibu Recovery Center
At The Pointe Malibu, we invite you to have a different, more collaborative relationship with the food you eat, from cooking classes with our skilled chefs, to addressing individualized dietary needs, to nutrition consultations with a Registered Dietitian. This way of eating and nurturing a healthy relationship with food is not only pleasurable for you. Still, it has been clinically proven to restore balance in the body, decrease post-acute withdrawals and alleviate cravings. We work from a model that acknowledges the power of the food we eat in promoting internal healing, lowering stress, reducing depression and anxiety – and increasing joy.
Meals at The Pointe Malibu are served gourmet style in a community table setting. Our courteous, experienced wait staff works to make every dining occasion a genuinely celebratory event that all of our clients pleasantly anticipate. We strive to give each meal an excellent balance of delicious nutrients that will keep you fortified and satisfied. Should you have any special dietary, cultural, or religious requirements per certain foods or ingredients, we will be happy to find an appropriate alternative for you.
Various healthy snacks, juices, and other beverages are available to you to appease your mood and appetite throughout the day. Good, nutritious food is one of the critical elements that we believe enhances your healing journey for the mind, body, and spirit.
If you’re ready to start your journey to long-lasting recovery and dietary wellness, we are here for you.
