New insight has been gained into how the brains of drug addicts may be wired differently. The findings show that while drug users have very strong motivation to seek out ‘rewards,’ they exhibit an impaired ability to adjust their behavior and are less fulfilled once they have achieved what they desire. This disconnect between the craving for a drug and inability to regulate behavior may be key to breaking the cycle of addiction.
Read MoreGut damage, post-addiction depression and serotonin issues related to liver and gut damage are well-known obstacles in spite of managing to quit alcohol. However these health troubles are almost unbearable for many, because now the digestive and mood balancing biochemical markers really become obvious in daily life, when not numbing out from the mental and physical discomfort on the regular with alcohol. Researchers are finding that L-Glutamine plays a critical role in healthy digestion and brain function. Glutamine has been shown in studies to protect against mucosal breakdown in the gut. There are even studies looking into how glutamine can aid in reducing side-effects of chemotherapy treatments.
Read MoreOne of the first things, that will always be affected prior to the relapse, will be a blood sugar fluctuation. Blood sugar is a driver for other biochemicals parameters, such as serotonin and beta-endorphins, which drive addictive behaviors. So what is the takeaway lesson here? Understanding that managing your blood sugar is a constant focus point throughout recovery. Addicts have a very low stress tolerance level, and this translates to being exceptionally sensitive to blood sugar imbalances.
Read MoreSugar, sugar, sugar. Everyone is talking about sugar these days, like a single grain hidden under the carpet will make you drop dead in plain sight. Let's sum up some research that makes for this widespread obsession with the white villain. Just one to two servings of sugary beverages per day may raise your risk of heart disease by 35 percent, diabetes by 25 percent, and stroke by 15 percent. Cutting added sugars can improve health in as little as 10 days, reducing triglycerides by 33 points, and lowering blood sugar by 53 percent. This all seems like the perfect case to drop that sugar like it's hot. Or does it?
Read MoreA study of two opioids used to wean babies born in withdrawal from drugs their mothers have taken shows that buprenorphine is superior to methadone in reducing duration of treatment and length of hospital stay. While buprenorphine is often prescribed for pregnant women who are undergoing addiction therapy, a study in Journal of pediatrics is the first report of the drug being used to treat newborns in clinical practice.
Read MoreAlcohol and drugs deplete the body of B-complex vitamins, zinc, magnesium and other nutrients. A hangover is mainly an acute nutritional deficiency. When we begin drinking alcohol the nutrient deficiencies worsen, and this further increases the cravings for alcohol or sugar. The body can run on alcohol although it is a poor fuel, as it wrecks our body balance over time. Often we will find ourselves going after carbs or sugar when cutting down on alcohol. Alcohol and sugar addiction is closely tied, why it is not uncommon to find food addiction issues surface after alcohol rehab. The biochemical and nutritional aspects of addiction, are still not widely understood in the medical community. Some of the major nutritional causes for alcohol addiction and cravings include nutrient deficiencies, toxic metal excess, adrenal gland exhaustion, blood sugar issues and yeast infection in the intestines.
Read MorePost addiction, chronic inflammation is the key health concern that needs to be addressed. Inflammation of both brain and body is the trigger of a wide range of health issues in recovery - including depression, cravings, hormonal imbalances, bone density issues and low fertility. And let's not forget the often notorious rapid weight gain that happens after beating an addiction due to severe metabolic dysfunction following. This can be the final straw for many, as they struggle through addiction recovery. It is a well-known fact the addicts already have a poor body image, and now weight gain happens. Metabolic dysfunction and the hormones involved in inflammation, such as thyroid, estrogen-testosterone balance, insulin and cortisol, determine how our body reacts in addiction recovery. Another low-cal diet won't matter here, as our body is so out of wack it is not able to enter the "fatburn zone" due to chronic inflammation and hormone imbalance. So, which 4 foods help to provide the distinctly different types of fats needed in recovery to repair hormones, bones, brain and body?
Read MoreWhen we don't sleep sufficiently for our needs, our brain doesn't recharge and our body cannot repair optimally. We feel a bit worn out. A bit edgy. A bit tense. A bit teary. A bit irrational. A bit forgetful. Oftentimes compensating by our lowered stress tolerance by exhibiting some overly neurotic tendencies aka perfectionism. Over time, we exhaust our energy reservoirs and we begin searching for the quick fix. First, if we have no history of addiction, we might reach for something socially acceptable. A fix like caffeine to keep us alert. A fix like red wine to make us feel a bit calmer, when our nerves feel frazzled. Or maybe we pop a Xanax to take the edge off. Many of us will also reach for something edible - our hunger feels insatiable, because it is interwoven with cravings now.
Read MoreIt is hardly surprising that the holidays is a stressful time for many, especially those in recovery from an addiction. Even though Christmas is probably my favorite time of year, it can also be a very painful time in certain seasons of our life. Seasons of our life when things are not going quite as smoothly. Christmas is a time where everything becomes magnified - good or bad. So many triggers can be set off simultaneously, emotionally and biochemically - fueled with anticipation and ideals of perfection. Perfect happiness must happen at 6 PM when we savor the dinner in all-together harmony. No wonder those of us who strive for perfect bliss during this time get a bit stressed out. So how do you navigate the holidays when you are in recovery and temptation for relapse a plenty?
Read MoreHumans were designed to worship. Designed to worship? Seriously what. Did you inhale too much "California grass", I hear you thinking. Nope. Think about why you want more money, designer shoes etc. Think about why you go to the bar at night. Think about why you watch the game every Sunday. Think about why you watch gossip celeb tv. Think about why you do the things you do. In each one of our lives, is an element of worship. Humans were designed to worship. This is not something that most of us ever think about, yet realize. Most of us do not even realize, that we are worshipping something. So what are you worshipping and how might that be affecting your life?
Read MoreAddictions can include mind-altering substances such as drugs and alcohol, as well as mood-altering addictions such as eating disorders, compulsive over-spending, smoking, porn, being “glued” to the internet, gambling or codependency in relationships. To care for an addict is often as debilitating as the addiction itself: watching someone play mind-games with themselves and others all the while slowly self-destructing. In order to survive as a family member of an addict there are a couple things to keep in mind to keep one's own sanity and also not become an enabler for the addict.
Read MoreWhen we are addicted to something... anything... we lose ourselves. We wear so many masks to hide our insatiable hunger for our fix of choice, that we become merely a shadow of our former self. This feeds into the feeling of emptiness and that there is a void which we must fill up with something outside ourselves, because we feel hollow. For every addiction there is abandonment at the root of the self-destruction and distraction.
Read MoreI am currently attending TEDMED 2015 in Palm Springs, where the focus is on how on to BREAKTHROUGH in health and medicine. For those of you not aware what that is, TEDMED is the annual TED event for the medical community. It is pretty awesome as it gathers up-and-coming entrepreneurs, scientists and young and seasoned minds: All focused on how to innovate, excel and expand health care to encompass all aspects of our health - including preventative health care and insight on how to inactivate genes of disease etc. Breaking through is also a key component of breaking an addiction - we are breaking through to our essence: to who we really are at our core. Those of us who do not master the part of breaking through in our recovery process of letting go of addiction, will get stuck in the hamster wheel. So which 3 traits are linked to mastery of the breakthrough?
Read MoreRecovery is not a linear process. It is important to be aware of what we can expect in recovery. If we are not mentally prepared of the rocky ride of breaking an addiction, it is easy to get stuck in black and white thinking and give up. We will do this because our default mode of thinking is one of the addict. This means that we often struggle with the gray zone. This is the area where change happens: at the border of our comfort zone. Not inside it, yet not outside it. The problem arises when we don't follow the path of HOW WE THINK recovery should be - then, we feel like a failure. We will easily give up, because we feel that we are not "doing it perfect".
Read MoreLast week we went over the specific aspects of the form of B3 vitamin called niacinamide - not to confuse which Niacin. Both forms of vitamin B3 have important therapeutic functions for recovering addicts; especially concerning alcohol and serotonin-mimicking drugs. Today we will be focusing on Niacin. Many of you will know, that this is the form that causes the intense flushing sensation in the skin. While it is completely harmless, it is important to know what to expect reaction wise, as this is a quite distinct skin-tingling rush. The niacin flush helps to increase circulation, detoxification and nutrient absorption, so the flush is a welcome reaction.
Read MoreNiacinamide is a specific form of vitamin B3 that has shown to address many of the issues addicts need to rebalance post addiction - and a key nutrient for alcohol addiction recovery. It specifically targets liver damage, blood sugar, brain health, rapid aging, aggressiveness, anxiety and sleep. So how much should you take? And how does it work at a biochemical level exactly?
Read MoreAfter en addiction it's safe to say, that we have experienced a traumatic level of stress - psychologically as well as physically. The thing is, that just because we no longer expose ourselves to the original stressors, we often get caught in the negative stress-response feedback loop which is the underlying biochemical cause of what we call "Chronic stress". When we get caught in this negative feedback loop, we continually pump cortisol into our system. So how do we break the loop?
Read MoreI was doing an eating disorder group workshop last week and this question was asked. What do most of us do when we feel disconnected? Some of us obsess over our iphone, others have randomn sex, some of us eat too much, drink too much, take too many drugs while others constantly instagram their ABS while living in the gym addicted to social media and being "liked" for their outside, all the while they feel hollow and unloved on the inside. And yet others simply stop eating to numb the emotional pain, in attempt to feel in control in a world that feels chaotic and scattered oftentimes. So how do we reconnect when we feel disconnected and we just want to distract from the unease of being human - of feeling uncomfortable emotions?
Read MoreWhen we break things, we do so only when we replace them with other things. The key to this is to understand WHAT to replace unwanted behaviors with, otherwise it becomes a willpower struggle that will not last in the long run. Humans do not run on willpower very long - it is just not sustainable.
Read MoreIn this TED talk, poet Shane Koyczan talks about the perception of beauty. It is hauntingly, heartbreakingly beautiful. The essence being, how we need to understand that our words... the way we speak.... is what sets off every other domino effect in the world... in our own and other people's lives. Our choice of words has lasting impact on our own sense of self and those that cross pur path. Yet, we often find ourselves using words so carelessly... as if it's only words. Only words.
Read More