Focusing on Health: Nutrition in Recovery

As an individual enters early sobriety, many healing processes begin to take place throughout the body. Chief among these is the recovery of a normal, well-balanced diet—a replenishment of nutrients that are often absent from a typical regimen in active addiction.

Each time we eat or drink, we have an opportunity to nourish our bodies. The choices that we make, over time, have a great effect on our overall health and wellness. In recovery from addiction, the body experiences a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional effects, allowing for nutrition to suffer as it becomes lost in the shuffle.

Creating a healthy foundation of nutrition gives us the capability to create a new relationship with our bodies. Developing a connection between food and the lasting impact that diet has upon the body is an integral part of this foundation.

As the body withdraws from substance use, many physical symptoms emerge. Recovery can affect metabolism, organ function, and mental cognition, among other crucial processes, and the body can require significant periods of time to normalize its daily functions.

Early recovery is often associated with feelings of fatigue. To combat this fatigue, it is important to choose energy-boosting foods that will facilitate healing in the body. Eating habits formed in active addiction can continue to affect health in sobriety; creating new eating habits that will pair with your new lifestyle will lead to increased levels of energy and improved overall health.

Nutritional Tips for Early Sobriety

Addiction causes damage to the body’s physical being; as an individual enters recovery, the body withdraws from substances, and then begins a new phase. The detox that occurs during withdrawal leaves the body and mind in a poor state of communication. Nourishing the body during this crucial period of transition forms a pathway to healing.

The body recovers only if we are nourishing it appropriately. We must be drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, and eating enough nutrient-rich foods. The early stages of sobriety set the stage for long-term recovery, and nutrition plays an important role in lasting success.

Recovery presents an opportunity for spiritual and emotional growth. Though before any inner growth can occur, we must first give our bodies the nutrients they need and deserve.

Healthy habits begin with us. Taking that first step to incorporate a new healthy ritual into our diets is all it takes—as we make choices that are kinder to our bodies, we are in turn being kinder to ourselves, and the people we are becoming in recovery.