Healing the Body, Healing the Mind: The Role of Nutrition in Substance Abuse Recovery

Many factors can affect your mood when eating food. For instance, when you experience nutritional deficiency, your brain loses the capability of working as it should. This, in turn, negatively affects your mood, and your body won’t be able to repair and grow itself satisfactorily.

But when your mind and body are consistently and adequately nourished, your brain will produce chemicals naturally that can help fight depression.

Generally, substance abuse results in a lack of proper nutrition because of eating food that is low in the required nutrients or not eating enough food completely. So, it is important to seek Sarasota addiction treatment and approach healing from any substance abuse holistically and practically.

What is the Connection between Nutritional Imbalances and Addiction?

Research shows that abuse of any substance may result in nutritional deficiency, exacerbating addiction effects, and impacting your overall health. Using substances can easily disrupt the capability of your body to absorb the required nutrients, leaving you malnourished as well as prone to a lot of mental and physical health issues.

How Abusing Substances Disrupt Nutrition

All substances have their own specific impacts on health. However, most of them have the same effects on an individual’s capability to get the required nutrients to recover at a counseling and recovery center. People who abuse drugs are more likely to get either of these symptoms:

• Gastrointestinal disorders
• Organ damage
• Poor eating choices
• Appetite loss
• Hypoglycemia

Recovery and Proper Nutrition

The damage that drugs or alcohol cause is reversible. By nourishing your brain properly, you can minimize withdrawal symptoms as well as have a high chance of recovery, either through inpatient or outpatient substance abuse counseling. Natural food helps to retain micronutrients, macronutrients, and good fats that are important for your body.

At the start of your treatment, learning a few dietary routines or habits is important. For instance, eating fresh food will provide you with all the nutrients you need, including iron, magnesium, vitamin D, and B vitamins. You can acquire these nutrients from nuts, vegetables, fish, and fruits.

What is the Role of Nutrition in Substance Abuse Recovery?

Proper nutrition plays an important role in your overall recovery process. This is because your brain and body get enough supplies of proper nutrients to prevent relapse, heal, and maintain long-term sobriety.

Alongside treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy, you can rebuild your body by repairing all the damage the substance abuse caused. Proper nutrients will help facilitate the process of repairing organs, restoring your overall health, and rebuilding body tissues.

For instance, incorporating antioxidant-rich foods, like leafy greens and berries, will help fight the oxidative stress that substance abuse causes. This, in turn, supports the natural healing process of your body. Apart from rebuilding your body, proper nutrition will also facilitate your substance recovery by:

• Increasing your energy levels
• Boosting your immune system

Nutrition is the first step Venice toward substance abuse recovery and good mental health. You will not just support your brain function by fueling your body properly with the required nutrients. You will also facilitate the recovery process and stabilize your mood.