Significance Of Nutrition In Addiction Recovery

When an individual decides to get help for addiction, one will start a long process of recovery that comprises of numerous stages during drug & alcohol treatment in San Jose. Often the initial stage of addiction recovery engrosses detoxification where the person gets all of the drugs out of his system and goes through any potential withdrawal side effects, all while under medical supervision.

During this stage, medical professionals will actively screen an individual’s overall health and nutritional intake, helping his body to become stronger and better able to recover from the addiction.

The next stage of recovery generally involves rehabilitation where the individual engages in different sorts of therapies, with the aim of helping the one getting acquainted with both how the addiction developed and how it can be managed and any other possible psychological concerns in the future. Numerous addiction centers realize the significance of nutrition in the recovery process, and thus offer multiple kinds of nutritional counseling along with traditional psychological-focused therapy.

An individual may obtain therapy from dieticians about ways to integrate healthier eating habits into his life. During drug and alcohol treatment in San Jose, CA one will even learn the significance of staying hydrated and eating meals regularly, as these habits can further strengthen one’s body and help him trounce drug and alcohol cravings.

The final and ongoing stage of recovery is returning to normal life, where the individual must use the skills he learned in therapy to live a drug-free and healthy life. In this stage, the individual should practice the good nutrition habits he learned in therapy, and should work to keep his body as healthy and disease-free as possible to keep him on the path of recovery.

Addiction leads to multiple health concerns, both short and long-term.

• Stimulants – Common stimulants include cocaine and methamphetamine that decrease appetite, making people with stimulant addiction more likely to be underweight.
• Marijuana – The most common nutrition-related side effect of marijuana is an increase in appetite, making people addicted to marijuana more likely to be overweight.
• Opiates – Common opiates like heroin, morphine, and codeine damage the gastrointestinal organs, often causing constipation during use and diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting during withdrawal.
• Alcohol – It damages several organs especially the liver, which flushes out toxins from the body, and the pancreas, which controls blood sugar levels and fat absorption.