As an alcoholic or drug abuser, the habit must have taken a major toll on your body.
So since you have made a decision to desist from excessive consumption, it is going to be a gradual process.
One fact you must have at the back of your mind is that your nutrition must be one of your priorities on the road to recovery.
It is understood that it is hard to recover from alcoholism, but you making the decision to take this route is the first step. We then move on to the detoxification stage, which requires careful monitoring, medications, and support.
As a social person, it might be difficult to avoid alcohol in the course of everyday socializing. But note that food is vital in helping your body rebuild and maintaining good health.
Let me help you break your situation down. This happens to you when you are involved in the abuse of alcohol and drugs.
1. You consume less food (except with marijuana use)
2. Your choice of foods are less nutritious, or you may skip meals
3. The level at which your body uses its energy increases.
4. There is an increase in the loss of nutrients through vomiting and diarrhea
5. You are likely to have damage, which could make it hard for you to absorb the nutrients in food properly.
The Importance Of Food For An Alcoholic
Food is an essential thing for anyone, not to now talk about an alcoholic who often skip meals. Eating good food has a positive effect on your brain.
In a situation whereby you starve your body of the required food intake, your body fails to produce enough brain chemicals (neurotransmitters), leaving the chemicals in your system out of balance. This makes you feel irritable and anxious.
This way, you can suffer from food cravings, anxiety and eventually have a sleep disorder. Such stress can have a massive effect on your memory and make you paranoid, tired, dissatisfied, or depressed.
The Solution To Food Imbalance For An Alcoholic And Drug Abuser
As you embark on recovery, ensure you eat a diet that will balance your hormone levels in order to get enough relaxation in the brain.
So, the solution to this is the consumption of foods high in carbohydrates. The food with complex carbohydrates found in starchy foods includes legumes (e.g., beans, lentils, and peas), root vegetables (e.g., potatoes and carrots), pasta, and bread. Merging these types of food with pretentious content will keep you at your best.
Alcoholics usually lack B-complex vitamins such as thiamine, folate or folic acid, and B12. Due to the habit, your body inadequately stores B vitamins and vitamin C frequently.
Being a chronic alcoholic can cause a lack of minerals like zinc, magnesium, and calcium in your body.
During the first year of your recovery, there is a need to give your nutrition a higher priority as the needs are higher than normal. To do this, ensure you eat good food daily.
While eating a healthy, varied diet and using drugs and alcohol, your body has fewer nutrients to satisfy its nutritional needs. This is because a lot of those nutrients are being used to detoxify your body.
Short And Long Term Effect Of Alcohol Usage
As a result of malnutrition during alcohol use, you can be very tired and have a weaker immune system. In this way, you’re likely to have infections regularly.
Other symptoms as an alcoholic include dental problems, digestive problems (e.g., diarrhea, constipation, and gas), skin conditions, and changes in how foods taste in your mouth.
If you continue further, you are likely to suffer brain damage, nerve damage, liver disease, heart, and pancreas problems. Certain types of cancer are not left out. So, on your way to recovery, you needed to identify these problems and treat them. This will be done ideally by a team of health care professionals.
How To Eat During Early Recovery And Detoxification Stage
Now that you have decided to detoxify your system in order to aid your recovery, introduce meals slowly. This is because, as an alcoholic and drug abuser, your body might not be used to digesting food.
So, begin the process with small and frequent meals. You might even begin to gain weight – this should be managed by a nutritionist.
Diet Needed For Recovery From Alcoholism
1. Ensure complex carbohydrates.
2. Take dairy products or other foods rich in calcium.
3. Ensure moderate consumption of protein (15% to 20% of calories). Take two to four ounces twice a day of meat or fish.
4. Ensure fatty foods that contain 30% calories.
Important Health Tips for Recovering Alcoholics
1. Evaluate the costs and benefits of drinking
Drinking might help you forget your problems at the moment you are into it, have fun and help you relax from a stressful day, but reducing it significantly or abstaining is likely to improve your relationship with others, make you feel better mentally and have more time and energy for people or activity you care about.
So, once you weigh these, you will discover a need for a change in recovering from this.
You can set a goal by deciding when you will quit or chooses to stop drinking or weekdays or while at work.
Once you decided the days and time, you want to take alcohol, be committed to it, and work like magic. It’s all about discipline.
2. Don’t be tempted
To avoid temptation, remove all alcohol, barware, and other alcohol-related paraphernalia from your home and office.
3. Make your goal known to others
This can be done by announcing your plan to friends, family members, and co-workers. Let them know that you’re trying to stop or cut back on drinking. Ask for their support in your recovery by urging them not to drink in front of you if they like drinking.
4. Be firm about your decision
Since you have to remove anything that will remind of drink in your home and offices, let it b clear to others that drinking won’t be allowed in your home. You can even make it known that you might stop attending events where alcohol is served.
5. Move away from bad influences
As part of your recovery process, avoid moving with people who don’t support your efforts to stop drinking or respect the limits you’ve set. This requires some social distancing, which means giving up certain friends and social connections.
6. Reflect on your past
By this way, you learn from your past. Reminiscing previous attempts to stop or reduce your drinking can help you know how you can do things differently this time around to avoid pitfalls.
7. Healthy Living
To continue your recovery; exercise regularly, make time for recreational activities and hobbies; eat regularly well-balanced meals; get ample and quality sleep; practice relaxation strategies (mindfulness meditation and yoga).
8. Focus on other things
To get distracted from alcohol consumption in order not to have a setback in your recovery, you can focus on your finances, and other family needs as well. Add it to your healthy living routine. This helps you maintain a schedule, build healthy relationships.
In a situation where you can’t do this alone, you might need medical supervision to withdraw from alcoholism safely and comfortably.
If that’s the case, you can speak to your healthcare provider to know the plans that work for you.
