After stress, drugs or alcohol your brain and central nervous system suffers greatly.

Many in recovery feel like their nerves are raw. When you talk to them, you can almost feel how exposed they are. They have no filter. They have no tolerance for anymore stressors.

They are naked.

This is not a great feeling - pretty stressful in itself actually. This explains why many go back to drugs, foods, alcohol to try to numb out again. I mean how would you like it if you felt like someone was constantly scratching your naked skin? This is, for many, what recovery feel like in the early stages - a constant discomfort; an anxious, itchy sensation.

A key remedy to help restore strength, stamina and satisfaction, including being a memory and intelligence enhancer, is black sesame paste.

You want to take it, after it has been grinded into a paste, because sesame is difficult to fully digest, when it's a small seed.

Difficult to digest foods can actually aggravate stress in the body.

Why brown rice and excess amounts of raw foods is not recommended, if you are a bit on the anxious side or have digestive issues. These foods are not nurturing nor nourishing - they are cleaning and aggravating. They have their place, but not when your body is on the brink of exhaustion.

Think about it, when you are sick - do you want steamed foods or loads of raw foods?

Your gut wants foods that it is able to digest. Your gut is influenced by your state of emotional being, so if you are living a stressed life in any way, eating foods that are super hard to digest is going to take too much energy away from repair and recovery mode. It is pretty logical when you think about it.

If you can't digest it fully, because of your current state of physical or emotional health or stressed lifestyle, you will not benefit from it.

This is disregard whatever amounts of nutrients there may be in it. The question is: How is your digestion? And what does that mean in terms of what you should be eating to support that.

The texts of Ayurveda have described medicinal properties of sesame. It is known as “tila” in Sanskrit. Ayurveda describe three varieties of sesame based on colour of seeds. They are red, black and white. Black sesame is used for medicinal purposes in Ayurvedic Medicine specifically for recovery after illness, stress and drugs. It is healing and helps to reduce elevated stress in the body.

During recovery our central nervous system is wiped out.

Breathing exercises to regulate cortisol + eating foods to repair our central nervous system is of utmost importance to restore strength and thrive again - body, mind and soul.

You can use black sesame paste as spread on toast, drizzled onto oats with raw honey or mixed into your smoothie. Or simply dip pieces of fruit into black sesame paste and eat as a snack. It is available in Asian supermarkets and online via Amazon.

It is a good idea to include 1-2 tbsp. of black sesame paste into your breakfast to replenish your brain and central nervous system from the get-go every day for the first year following recovery.

Sesame is also a highly bioavailable source of calcium by the way - great for nails, hair and bones.

Reference: Lav V. 2002. Textbook of Ayurveda: fundamental principles. Ayurvedic Press.