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Nutrition in Recovery

Feeding Your Body and Brain the Right Way

What do you eat throughout the day and how often do you eat? When addicted to alcohol or drugs, healthy eating gets tossed out the window and the remaining time and money you have gets spent on cheap, processed foods. At The Raleigh House, our goal is to change that.

To begin the process of breaking the hold of alcohol and drugs, call The Raleigh House today: (720) 891-4657.

No other addiction treatment center covers nutrition as intensely, meticulously or specifically as we do in our inpatient and outpatient programs. We leverage a pro-recovery diet approach that can help to truly heal your body and mind and set you up for sustained, long-term recovery success.

Substance Abuse and Diet

Those suffering from addiction typically have depleted levels of vitamins, minerals, and essential fats and proteins, resulting in multiple mental and physical maladies.

Drugs and alcohol can interfere with nutrition in several ways:

Damage to the immune system: alcohol and opiates can suppress your immune system and make you more vulnerable to ingestion and sickness.

Failing to eat: users can have a suppressed appetite or simply forget to eat while under the influence.

Organ damage: substance abuse can lead to damage to your liver, stomach lining, pancreas, intestines, and more, all of which contribute to digesting and absorbing of nutrients from our food.

Eating poorly: drugs or alcohol user can lead to prioritizing substances over eating properly. This can result in a poor diet that lacks nutrition.

Malnourishment: this can result from not eating consistently or from your body’s inability to absorb and process needed nutrients.

GI disorders: alcohol use can contribute to chronic gastrointestinal inflammation, IBS, leaky gut syndrome, pathogenic bacterial overgrowth, fungal infections in the intestines, and heartburn.

Hypoglycemia: a poor or improper diet can lead to low blood sugar resulting in poor mental and physical performance.

What is the Pro-Recovery Diet at The Raleigh House?

Food and Meals

You feed both your body and brain when you eat. And when you eat the right types of food, you feel healthy, you look good and you’re able to make positive, rational decisions you can’t make when you’re suffering from addiction.

When you come to our wellness lodge, The Ranch, we immediately start you on our pro-recovery diet.

This includes:

• Lean proteins
• Healthy fats, like omega-3s, omega-6s, and omega-9s
• Complex carbohydrates
• Vegetables
• Fruits

Through strategic collaboration between our Executive Chef and a Certified Nutritionist, we have developed healthy, delicious meals from scratch that follow this pro-recovery diet protocol.

From tasty omelets for breakfast to fresh local trout and whole grain pastas for dinner, we serve you gourmet meals and snacks that can restart your body and mind and give you a clean bill of health after addiction.

Targeted Nutritional Supplements

Once we get you going on the pro-recovery diet and eating the right foods, we support your nutrition even more with targeted nutritional supplements. These are natural supplements like fish oil and amino acids that can help improve your sleep patterns, rejuvenate your liver, encourage gut repair and much more.

Benefits of the Pro-Recovery Diet

The nutrition protocol you’ll be on during your treatment at The Raleigh House offers incredible, life-altering benefits.

These benefits include:

• Gut Repair: Addiction can negatively affect your gut and make it impossible for your body to absorb and use any of the nutrients you’re eating. With proper foods and supplements, your gut is able to heal and produce the serotonin needed to help you feel good.
• Stabilized Blood Sugar Levels: Fluctuating blood sugar levels trigger flight or fight responses and impulsive behaviors. Eating the right foods frequently throughout the day can stabilize your blood sugar levels for consistent, positive moods and rational decision-making.
• Improved Mood and Decision-Making: The brain is made up of hormones, or neurotransmitters, like serotonin, dopamine, endorphins and GABA. These are the “feel good” chemicals that can improve your mood and help you make better decisions. Eating the right foods promotes the healthy production of these neurotransmitters.

Tips for Making Healthy Eating Easier During Your Recovery

Limit Your Stress: lowering your stress levels will help you make better decisions about the food you choose to eat.

Don’t Skip Breakfast: research says those who eat breakfast have more energy during the day and maintain a healthier weight than those who don’t. You can keep it simple if breakfast isn’t your thing–try eating a piece of whole-grain toast with peanut butter and some grapes.

Plan Your Meals for the Week: people tend to make poor food choices at the end of the day when they’re tired, resulting in the consumption of more frozen and processed foods. Planning your weekly meals beforehand makes having healthier meals available much easier.

Keep Healthy Snacks at Work: while there may be fewer healthy choices available for you at work when hunger strikes, you can always keep healthy snacks on hand to avoid trips to the vending machine.

Take a Trip to the Famers Market: farmers markets have a great selection of fresh produce and meats which have a higher nutritional content.

Consuming less salty, fatty, and sugary foods will mean improved energy levels, appearance, focus, mood, and better health overall, helping you stay focused during your recovery.

The Pro-Recovery Diet Continues in Outpatient Treatment and Beyond

Once you complete residential treatment at The Ranch, you’ll transition to our outpatient program where you’ll continue on with the pro-recovery diet. This is where you can start to learn more about the importance of nutrition and how to prepare and cook healthy meals for yourself and your family.

Your case management team will continue to help you to incorporate the pro-recovery diet into your everyday life, including the best foods to eat, how to be consistent with the pro-recovery diet and how to meal prep on a budget.

If needed, they will refer you to a top nutritionist that works closely with us here at the Raleigh House to assess and implement personalized dietary programs that address your unique needs and biochemistry.

Our goal is to tailor the pro-recovery diet to your strengths and interests, so you feel more motivated to continue the pro-recovery diet beyond treatment.

Contact The Raleigh House Today to Get Started

If you’re ready to feed your body and brain unlike you’ve ever done before and find lasting recovery after substance abuse, fill out our form or contact us today.