Papaya helps digestion
Alcohol, drugs and many eating disorders cause damage to the stomach lining. If this is not fixed, discomfort will remain. Digestion disorders always follows addiction. So what can we do to damage control?
Read MoreStart where you are
Our current state of balance, can change yearly, monthly, daily and even minute-to-minute. Knowing our current state of balance is an essential tool for figuring out what needs attention right now. We can then feed those needs, rather than continue in a state of suppression and denial - all of which only leads to further imbalance and built-up. You don't fix needs by ignoring them, you fix needs by listening and caring for them.
Read MoreBalancing the aspects of recovery
Recovery involves a personal recognition of the need for change and transformation. Recovery is a process through which we gradually achieve greater balance of mind, body and spirit in relation to other aspects of life, including family, work and community. Each person’s recovery process is unique and impacted by cultural beliefs and traditions. Our cultural experience often shapes the recovery path that is right for us. The take-away here is that no one single thing is enough to focus on, not the abstinence, not the trauma, not the nutrition and not the spiritual aspects of connecting with self, others and God. Recovery is complex and requires us to focus on all aspects simultaneously in order to get all the legs on the stool stable.
Read MoreIs recovery the same as abstinence?
Recovery is not just about quitting past destructive behaviors and addictions. We might like to think that recovery is simply being abstinent - being clean, not engaging in bad habits and not taking xyz. Recovery that lasts, however, is not passive. It is not us sitting it out, waiting for the craving magically to just disappear over time. The most frequent relapse happens, when we think our recovery is about focusing on just NOT doing that or taking that. This will simply exhaust our willpower over time and we will give in. We will give in to the craving, because we are not creating a space for the recovered new self, we are just abstaining - and life feels empty when we go about it this way.
Read MoreWhy you might want to give up cheat days
I am not a big fan of so-called cheat days. And anyone with a history of addiction issues likely want to avoid this black-white pattern of planning their eating schedule as well. Cheat days easily turn into binge days. And this leaves us in a mental state of feeling like a failure - we went overboard, we felt like we lost control and allowed our impulses to completely take-over. This is a red flag situation for anyone to relapse back into their primary type of addiction. Simply because our MINDSET is now one of "whatever", "I can't control myself" so "I might as well xyz".
Read MoreAbstinence vs. moderation
Is it all or nothing - what do you think? I like to think that most things in life can be enjoyed in moderation. Although learning to embrace parts of something that has once controlled one, can be difficult. And indeed for some substances it is not possible, as the biochemical component is too strong to ever gain a sense of how to enjoy in moderation again. Yet, from my years of having worked in the addiction field, I am convinced that the deeper lesson of addiction is to embrace the gray zone.
Read MoreDo you need to cut out sugar?
Sugar, 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 More3 Tips To Navigate The Holidays When You Are In Recovery
It 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 More10 Truths For Family of Addicts
Addictions 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 MoreThe 3 traits that drive the BREAKTHROUGH
I 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 MoreHow do you know when you're eating right for your body type?
Ask yourself: Does what you eat today make you feel good tomorrow? If not, it's time to consider getting back on track to restore your hunger and appetite switch, in order to actually FEEL good in the skin you are in, and not only look good.
Read MoreWhat to do when you crash in recovery.
Recovery 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 MoreHow do we re-connect when we feel disconnected?
I 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 MoreThe 3 Ultimate Steps To Change Habits That Will Change Your Life
When 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 MoreWhen we just can't stop hating ourselves.
In 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 MoreHow To Start Life From Scratch
Sometimes we need to start from scratch. Rather than overanalyze and try to fix things that are broken and lacking; simply toss out all our bad habits, past baggage and with it our belief-system. This, in order to take action steps to create the person, we want to be in the now. It is essential to understand, that this is a decision we make ourselves. Whether we make it or not; we are completely 100% in charge of letting go of the past, in order to become the person we want to be - body, mind and soul.
Read MoreWhy Did You Stop Eating?
Contrary to our initial reaction to this simplistic question, many of us do not stop eating because we are satisfied. Think about it. Why did you just stop eating your last meal? Is this a reason that repeats itself? What does this mean about you and your ability to listen to your body's signals?
Read MoreYour Body Needs Touch To Heal
Being touched and cared for as an infant is paramount for our later development of self, and the establishment of our psychological self along with our physical self. Many of us today struggle with a sense of being truly comfortable in our body. And that's a real shame. Our relationship with our body will affect any other relationship we are in to some degree. If we are not comfortable with the body we are in, it gets very difficult to share our authentic self in an intimate relationship.
Read MoreHow To Get Bikini Ready
We get so worried about being pretty. Let's be pretty KIND. Pretty FUNNY. Pretty SMART. Pretty STRONG. When we suppress our freedom of being due to external ideals, we sell ourselves short, in addition to sending off a message to others, that love is conditional. An illusion that somehow love is dependent on our physique, that we as humans need to look a certain way to earn love - to be lovable. There is nothing less attractive - and unfortunately also difficult to love ironically - than those of us, who try and try and try to fit in to be loved. The vibration of desperation is something we pick up unconsciously - why we are drawn to some people and repelled by others. Bikini season is the most obvious season to pick up on how body obsessed we have become.
Read MoreWhat Are We Trying To Fit Into?
Do you know what you are trying to fit into? Everyday we make choices and trade-offs based on what we want to fit into - or not - jeans size aside. Whenever we feel lost, disconnected and lonely, it can be traced back to a lack of congruency between our values and actions. When our actions are a reflection of external pressure points; that we simply react based on trying to fit in to a shell-focused society, then we sell our soul. This makes us feel hollow. Never good enough. We fell fake.
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