A healthy diet with sound nutrition is a foundation for wellness. Those in recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction don’t always know where to begin to create healthy habits. After years of drugs and alcohol being the only priority, knowing where to start to maintain healthy diet and nutrition can be a challenge.
As you gain more health in your recovery journey, you may wonder how to learn some of the basics of self-care. One great area to expand your knowledge is with cultivating a healthy diet and nutrition. The basics are simple. Eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and legumes (peas, beans, and lentils). Here are 5 specific skills for maintaining healthy diet and nutrition everyone needs in recovery:
- Learn to read product labels. There are many great tutorials available on youtube and online to teach you how to read labels. There are two key ideas you can keep in mind when reading ingredients. If you don’t know what something is or can’t pronounce it, it most likely isn’t going to aid in sound nutrition. Another idea is to stick with products that have 5 or less ingredients. As food processing increases, nutritional value decreases. Stay away from super processed, chemically laden foods.
- Shop the perimeter of the store. In the perimeter of the store you usually find fresh fruits, vegetables, lean dairy, and lean meats. In the center you find sugar cereal, top ramen, and other highly processed foods with little to no nutritional value.
- Plan meals. Planning meals helps you plan your time, reduce spending because you won’t be throwing food away, and eases stress when you are driving home with a growling stomach. You can start small by just planning dinner.
- Eat the rainbow. Vitamins and minerals that our bodies need are found in a wide variety of food. See how many colors of food you can get in each meal. You might make a chicken stir-fry with broccoli, carrots, red chard, red bell pepper, corn, and spinach. Make sure you are getting plenty of green leafy vegetables
- Prep food one day of the week. You can make a batch of brown rice, chop veggies, and roast a chicken. Having some of your food already prepped and cooked increases the likelihood of making healthy choices. You can try making a large batch of chili for lunch for the week.
After years of negligence, cultivating healthy choices in recovery takes practice. You do it one step at a time. Pick one to start with and practice for 3 weeks. You will find new habits form much quicker than you think.
Serenity Oaks Wellness Center provides a 5 week long rehab program to men and women seeking to make their lives more beautiful through recovery. Let treatment at Serenity Oaks be the beginning of your beautiful life of recovery. Start today by calling us for information: 844-720-6847
