Staying sober by ensuring healthy eating habits: Nutrition and recovery

Staying sober by ensuring healthy eating habits is not only good for yourself but also beneficial to your loved ones. Take note of that and seek for professional help immediately.

Did you know that the food you eat could either help you out of your addiction situation? On the other hand the same food can also make you to sink further into addiction. These are two conflicting statements yet they are pregnant with a lot of truth in them. If you are wondering how, then you are just right in time for the commencement of this healthy discussion whose main focus is based on staying sober by ensuring healthy eating habits. Now to begin with, there is the general concern that the escalation of substance abuse is ruining the young, the old and even the unborn children. This is not something to be taken lightly because lives are being lost, manpower in our work stations is reducing and the cost of maintaining the victims in the rehabilitations centers is chocking the economies of our states down to the local villages and to the smallest unit of our families. Doctor Akoury a veteran addiction expert is not left out in this matter and she is saying that as things stand right now, there is mounting evidence which suggests that some of these sweet and appealing food stuff may be the reason why we are ever struggling with all manner of addictions. If this is the prevailing circumstance, the question that begs for an answer is what is the best solution to the problem? This is the one million questions that we want to respond to in this discussion.

Staying sober by ensuring healthy eating habits: The nutritional double whammy

From the professional point of view, the nutritional dilemma faced by recovering addicts is coming in two different categories. The first one being the very act of ingesting drugs or alcohol which is no doubt wreaking havoc on the body of users. Like for instance alcohol is one of the greatest impediments to nutrient breakdown and assimilation resulting in nutritional deficiencies. Opiates on the other hand tend to cause gastrointestinal issues, and more so during opiate withdrawal, severe vomiting and diarrhea can lead to nutrient depletion while stimulants will be suppressing appetite which can ultimately lead to an insufficient intake of calories and nutrients.

In addition to the purely physiological implications of drug and alcohol abuse, there is another factor that results in a less than stellar nutritional report card for addicts and that is change in lifestyle. Professionally doctor Akoury reports that when a person is lost in an addiction, he/she is less likely to eat in a very unhealthy manner. This is so because some of these drugs will cause you to eat too much while on the other hand the others will do the opposite thereby causing you to eat too little. At the height of their drinking, alcoholics often derive as much as 50 percent of their daily calorie allowance from alcohol itself. In most cases, the need for the addictive substance is prioritized over the need for, say, a whole-grain turkey sandwich or other high-quality nutrient-dense food says doctor Akoury.

We spoke to the professionals at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury and they are in agreement that given the nutritional standing of most recovering addicts, it’s surprising that proper nutrition is not emphasized more in recovery programs. And besides that there are mounting evidence pointing to one emerging consensus and that is the significance of nutritional therapy in helping those individuals who are recovering from addiction. It is ideally in order that proper nutrition has the potential to make those in recovery feel much better both mentally and physically. Moreover, various researches have suggested that the inclusion of nutrition education in substance abuse treatment programs can increase participants’ success in achieving recovery and these needs to be embraced by all standards if we are to see any meaningful changes in the fight against substance abuse.

Staying sober by ensuring healthy eating habits: The roles of nutrition in facilitating the healing process

Proper nutrition helps recovering addicts (and everyone else) feel better because nutrients give the body energy, help build and repair organ tissue, and strengthen the immune system. Because recovering addicts have usually damaged vital organs during the course of their drug or alcohol abuse, good nutrition provides them with the nutritional building blocks they need to begin restoring these damaged tissues. Besides that various studies have established that nutrition also plays an important role in mood. Research suggests that changes in your diet can alter brain structure both chemically and physiologically, and influence your behavior. Furthermore, the consumption of certain foods has been tied to increased production of key neurotransmitters like serotonin, which enhances mood.

This means recovering addicts can use food to feel better physically (as their bodies receive the nutrients they need to repair prior damage and operate on a more optimal level) and mentally (as they eat foods that enhance their mood and overall well-being). In many cases, feeling better will reduce the risk of relapse, as demonstrated conversely by the fact that recovering addicts with poor dietary habits are more likely to relapse. Additionally as we had mentioned before that in some cases, addicts may be so unfamiliar with the feelings of hunger, they misinterpret hunger as a drug craving and fall face-first into relapse. This is potentially a very disastrous mistake which can easily be remedied by frequent feeding on healthy meals.

Finally staying sober is the best thing you can do to yourself and to your loved ones. It will not only facilitate your recovery from all sorts of addictions you may have, but it will also bring a lot of comfort, piece and satisfaction in your whole life as a responsible bread winner of your family. We appreciate that doing this may not be very easy, and that is why doctor Dalal Akoury established this facility (AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center) to help you go about any challenges you may be feeling in your struggle with addiction. Therefore if you are struggling with any kind of addiction, you can call doctor Akoury today and schedule for an appointment with her so that all your addiction concerns can be addressed professionally.

Staying sober by ensuring healthy eating habits: Nutrition and recovery

A good blend of Probiotics and Prebiotic could help you lose and be sexy this summer

February 19, 2014

A good blend of Probiotics and Prebiotic could help you lose and be sexy this summer- Did You Know?

Probiotics

Probiotics are generally safe for children; however you should speak with your pediatrician before giving them to your kids

They are live bacteria in yogurt, other dairy products and pills. Even though probiotics have shown effectiveness in managing certain gastrointestinal conditions, they do not have the same power that prebiotics do. They’re delicate, heat and stomach acid can easily kill them rendering them ineffective even before they are digested. Again, those who don’t eat dairy foods for taste or dietary reasons may find ingesting adequate amounts of probiotics difficult, if not impossible.

What is a prebiotic?

Prebiotic is a specialized plant fiber that beneficially nourishes the good bacteria already in the large bowel or colon. The body itself does not digest these plant fibers; instead, the fibers act as a fertilizer to promote the growth of many of the good bacteria in the gut. These, in turn, provide many digestive and general health benefits.

Probiotics and Children

Probiotics are generally safe for children; however you should speak with your pediatrician before giving them to your kids. They may be beneficial for digestive complaints and diarrhea, but research hasn’t clearly indicated any benefits beyond that.

Kara a researcher says probiotics are live microorganisms found within particular foods that help promote good gut health. Consuming probiotics is thought to increase the “good” bacteria within your gut and assist in maintaining an optimal balance between the good and the bad bacteria that are present.”

Several studies have been carried out and according one published in Bravo 2011, it states that mice that were fed on a particular strain of probiotics showed significantly fewer stress levels, anxiety and depression-related behaviors than those who were not given any probiotics. Besides, they also had lower levels of the stress induced hormone corticosterone.

If you want to lower stress and boost your gut health, with probiotics, then you need to try foods rich in probiotics like yoghurt with live active cultures, kefir (which is often found commercially as a yoghurt style drink), buttermilk, some blue and aged cheeses, as well as non-dairy products such as fermented foods i.e., sauerkraut (fermented cabbage), kimchi (Korean spicy cabbage), tempeh (a fermented soybean product), miso and soy sauce.

The process of manufacturing the food can kill the probiotics strains, which help in improving your gut health, thus, it is important to look out for words like “live” “active” “raw” “unheated” or “unpasteurized”, if you are planning to buy commercial brands from the market.

If you don’t like market products, you can make your own gut boosting products at home yourself, by utilizing simple processes.

On the other hand, Prebiotics are non-digestible, or selectively digestible, carbohydrates that fuel the growth of healthy bacteria in your gut. For this reason, consuming both, foods rich in probiotics, as well as those rich in prebiotics, can be beneficial to your gut health.

Many prebiotics are soluble fibers that are fermented by the bacteria in your gut to produce short chain, fatty acids, which have a range of beneficial effects on your body. These short chain fatty acids are known to reduce inflammation and play a role in digestive health and reduce the incidence of bowel cancer.

Prebiotics have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, slow glucose absorption, and thereby aid with blood glucose control. They can also improve blood lipid (fat) profiles by increasing HDL, your healthy (heart protective) cholesterol, and reduce LDL, your bad cholesterol, and triglycerides (Cani & Delzenne, 2009).

Who needs extra prebiotics and probiotics?
Antibiotics work well at killing off the bad bacteria that make us ill, but they also kill off good bacteria needed for digestion: acidophilus and bifidus, which are both types of probiotics. If you have taken antibiotics in the past, or will need to take them in the future, be sure to supplement with probiotic supplements that contain acidophilus. Other medications, such as the birth control pill and cortisone (used to treat inflammation), may affect gut bacterial balance. In women, recurrent yeast infections may be an indication that the healthy bacterial balance in the large intestine has become compromised.

Supplementing the diet with beneficial bacteria like probiotics and prebiotics stimulates immunity through increased activity of cells (macrophages) that consume invading organisms, as well as through increased production of other white blood cells and cytokines — this could lead to stronger resistance to bacterial and viral infections. In fact, studies have also shown that children attending daycare catch fewer colds and the flu if they are given probiotic supplements containing acidophilus, bifidus or both. Adults have been found to experience the same beneficial effect on immune system function. With benefits ranging from reduced cholesterol and inflammation to improved digestion and weight loss, the right type of bacteria should be a staple in your supplement cupboard (or in this case, fridge).

Getting the healthy bacteria your body needs

Yogurt naturally contains probiotics, but supplements may be more effective if you are looking for a concentrated source. Some prebiotics are naturally found in foods like chicory root, Jerusalem artichoke, onions, asparagus, garlic, bananas, barley, wheat, rye, and tomatoes.

Probiotic supplements should be refrigerated to maintain the viability of the microorganisms, in the same way yogurt, milk and other refrigerated cultures need to be stored. Without proper storage, probiotic supplements may spoil and or lose potency.

Suggestion for those who have trouble digesting some probiotics and prebiotics:

Purchase a coconut milk kefir product to get your probiotics in without the lactose.
Consume a small amount of Greek yoghurt (which typically has most of the lactose pre-digested anyway) but don’t consume it along with other foods.