Nutritional Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder

If this is a concern for you, consider periodic fasting if intermittent fasting isn’t helping you as quickly as you’d like. As previously mentioned, insufficient amounts of zinc can negatively impact your skin and appetite and can also reduce your sex drive. Zinc can help clear alcohol-related toxins from your body while also keeping your thyroid health in great shape. Consider a zinc supplement, or eat plenty of shellfish, beef and pork, oats, cashews, and chickpeas.

Specific Nutrients to Look Out For

Similar to sugar, these foods stimulate the body to release dopamine. Alcoholism is a disease that you can overcome with evidence-based treatment. Alcohol rehab centers are dedicated to assisting you during this difficult time, and a professional treatment team can provide you with healthy foods that can expedite your alcohol recovery. Not getting enough food during this time can make your withdrawal symptoms worse, so it is important for you to try to stay hydrated and eat foods that are good for you. Getting professional help and support during withdrawal can help you deal with your nutritional challenges, and improve your well-being throughout your recovery journey.

• This stage typically starts 3–5 years after you’ve stopped drinking.
• Some of the most common recipes that include cayenne pepper are vegetable soup, spicy marinades, chili sauce, and Indian curry.
• Our ancestors instinctively knew that organ meats have more nutrient density than the popular cuts that we eat today.
• To offset zinc deficiency, consider adding high-zinc foods to your diet.
• It’s also helpful to minimize caffeine intake, as caffeine is a diuretic and can exacerbate dehydration in early recovery.

Impact of Alcohol on Nutrient Absorption and Digestive Health

Some of the key micronutrients for neuroplasticity are vitamin B complex, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, iron, and iodine. These can be found in a variety of foods, such as whole grains, leafy greens, mushrooms, eggs, cheese, seafood, and meat. Cirrhosis is an advanced form of liver damage commonly Best alcohol abuse recovery diet caused by excessive alcohol consumption over a long period of time, leading to healthy liver cells being replaced by scar tissue. With years of constant damage and scarring, the liver becomes swollen, stiff, and incredibly weak, meaning it can no longer carry out its important functions.

Systemic Effects of Stimulants

• The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
• Opiate and heroin use can be linked to nausea and vomiting, serious organ damage over time, and general neglect of one’s health, potentially leading to nutritional deficiencies.
• Our levels of care include medical detox, inpatient rehabilitation and intensive outpatient programs (IOPs).
• In this article, I will discuss my three biggest tips for eating during alcohol recovery.
• Of course, we all want a simple, achievable number for how long we should abstain from alcohol in order for our bodies to fully heal from its effects.
• Micronutrients are just as important, but you don’t need to consume as much of them to stay healthy.
• Alcohol consumption often leads to a vitamin B deficiency because your body cannot properly absorb vitamin B when there is alcohol in your system.

This diet will give you the necessary vitamins and nutrients to build your body’s stores. One critical nutrition and recovery tip is to consider not only what you’re eating, but also how and when. Intermittent fasting means you’ll only eat one or two meals a day, restricting these meals to certain time periods. Autophagy is a bodily process that helps clean up damaged proteins throughout your body and replaces them with healthy amino acids. These minerals, vitamins, and supplements are the ones we recommend focusing on first. For those in recovery, incorporating a variety of lean proteins into the diet is advisable.

• Enjoy a tequila or mezcal on the rocks, with lemon and sparkling water, or with diet ginger ale.
• Nutrition for alcohol recovery is essential to healing both physically and mentally.
• Alcohol has no nutritional value, and instead dehydrates you and can lead to malnourishment.
• Too many people focus solely on psychological healing, only to be brought down later by biochemical imbalances caused by alcohol that can linger for months or years.

Cayenne Pepper For Alcohol Detox

Join us at Acqua Recovery, where healing goes beyond traditional methods, and the journey to sobriety is embraced with care and understanding. B vitamins are involved in many processes that are essential to a successful recovery, and they’re often depleted in people who have been drinking heavily for a long time. B vitamins help the body make energy and play a role in the production of serotonin, and they are essential for healthy nervous system function. So, you’ve quit drinking—and perhaps you’re already starting to feel the health benefits. You may feel fatigued or toxified, struggle with food cravings, or not feel like eating much at all.

Health Categories to Explore

Research has shown that omega-3 fatty acids can improve thinking, memory, mood, and neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons). Some of the best foods that have omega-3 fatty acids are fatty fish, flax seeds, walnuts, avocados, and chia seeds . Increasing your glutamine intake during early recovery can help you suppress your cravings while also keeping your nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea under control. Glutamine is also good for supporting proper gut health, so get plenty of meats, cheese like ricotta or cottage cheese, yogurt, milk, and cruciferous veggies like spinach and cabbage. Shellfish is known for including a fair amount of zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and iron, all minerals and nutrients that aren’t adequately absorbed by the body during heavy alcohol use. For example, without zinc, you can experience appetite loss, rough skin, and mental lethargy, and iron is responsible for helping red blood cells carry oxygen to and from your body’s organs.

By feeding our brains with the right foods, we can improve our neuroplasticity and enhance our cognitive abilities, mental health, and quality of life. Eating these healthy foods makes sure you have a balanced and supportive diet, helping your recovery journey with kindness and holistic well-being. Complex carbs like whole grains and potatoes help prevent swings in blood sugar that can trigger cravings. Complex carbs are also needed to make serotonin, which boosts mood and curbs cravings.