The old idea of being what you eat isn't entirely without value, particularly for those who are emerging from addiction, in which being defined by what one indulged in led to the problems of substance abuse in the first place. So the importance of nutrition in early recovery cannot be discounted.
When first emerging from rehab treatment, your entire internal system is going to be in a more fragile state than usual. After all, after an unknown amount of time abusing your body with addictive substances, you then entered rehab and likely underwent a harsh but necessary detox process that left your system further reeling. Now you’re emerging from addiction with a chance to reset your system and restore your body to where it should be and proper nutrition is a part of that process.
First, there’s the obvious. Setting habits and routines is important in the early recovery process and returning to the old standby of three square meals a day can definitely help there. Regular meals, particularly breakfast, help give you the energy and strength you’ll need each day to re-enter your old life and resist temptations and cravings along the way.
But they need to be good meals, mind you. Eating three meals that consist of sugary doughnuts for breakfast, greasy fast food burgers for lunch and cheap TV dinner trays for dinner won’t do you any good. Such a diet will hardly give you the energy you need and can dangerously become habitual in a bad way, until you’ve simply replaced an addiction to some dangerous substance to something nearly as bad, if not as quickly lethal: sugar. A diet heavy in junk food will only harm you further in the long run.
It’s not that you can’t indulge in a glazed pastry one morning or grab some fast food fries at lunch once a week or so. But it’s important to eat such things sparingly, as part of a balanced diet.
After all, you are recovering from an illness and, much like any other recovery process, you need to eat properly to recover faster and grow stronger.
You don’t need to only eat green, leafy vegetables or take on some diet of nothing but thin liquids. You’re looking for proper nutrition, not fad diets.
You may wish to consult with a dietician, or at least your general physician, about what sort of foods you should be eating to best regulate your bodily rhythms, get the most energy you need for these early recovery days and find the most nutrition to improve what may be a shaky health in the wake of rehab.
A recovery center such as Good Landing Recovery can provide the right tools and instruction to find the best nutrition guidance and dietary suggestions to eat properly and find the right balance for your eating habits as you seek to restore your health and best resist cravings in the early recovery process.
Giving them a call and getting their advice and further treatment could do wonders not only for your diet but your entire recovery.
Don’t neglect the importance of nutrition in early recovery. Do what you can to eat right and find balance in your post-addiction routines.