Sometimes we eat because we find it comforting. And sometimes the comfort foods we choose are not the best for our overall health. We might over-indulge in sugary or salty treats. We might eat more carbohydrates—bread, pasta, doughy pizza, and the like—than we normally would. Or we may simply consistently overeat in an effort to distract ourselves from feelings or thoughts we don’t wish to address. People in recovery may even eat to excess as a way to battle cravings for drugs or alcohol.
Comfort eating might seem like it is working well. You feel better for a bit, and you’ve protected your sobriety. But comfort eating is a short-term solution that can have negative long-term effects.
That said, eating can, in fact, make us feel better if we focus on the right kinds of food. These foods are seldom the sort we turn to for a quick fix. Instead, they are part of a change to our overall diet that can lead to improvements in health and mood. Those improvements, in turn, support ongoing sobriety.
Don’t Eat Your Feelings. Eat Well to Feel Good.
We tend to think of serotonin—an important neurotransmitter—as something in our brain that helps, among other things, to regulate our moods. But the vast majority of the serotonin in our body—as much as 95 percent of it—is produced in our gastrointestinal tract.
Once we grasp that important fact, it becomes easier to understand how our food choices can be directly tied to our moods and our ability to manage them. Good gut bacteria work to protect us from toxins as well as to limit inflammation and to facilitate the absorption of nutrients. These good bacteria also smooth the way for serotonin transmission from our digestive system to our brains.
The food choices we make every day impact the health of our gastrointestinal tract and thereby affect our moods—positively or negatively.
So What Should Be on the Menu?
You have probably noticed that everyone seems to have different ideas about what we should and shouldn’t eat. It can be confusing. So confusing, in fact, that it becomes extremely easy to tune out the advice and just eat what we want. Habit is a powerful thing, so if we have become accustomed to a certain diet, it can be very difficult to make a change, especially if we’re understandably confused about what sort of change to make.
But there is some evidence that might point us in a good direction, helping us to separate foods that fuel the body in positive ways from those that do not.
Over the years, the Western diet has come to include many processed foods, high levels of refined sugars, and significant amounts of meat and dairy products. Much of this transformation of the Western diet has been a result of so-called “convenience foods” that don’t require much (or any) preparation and can be consumed on the go. Our increasingly fast-paced lives seem to demand this convenience at the cost of nutritional value. Over time this has had a negative impact on our overall health.
But other approaches to eating lead to different outcomes. Studies show that diets like those favored in Japan or in the Mediterranean lessen the likelihood of depression by a significant degree. This is worth noting since depression can threaten the sobriety of those in recovery.
And what are folks eating in these areas of the world? Their diets generally include significant amounts of fruits and vegetables, fish and other seafood, and unprocessed grains. They eat lean meats and consume dairy products, but generally in lesser amounts than those who indulge in the common Western diet. This approach to eating also includes natural probiotics, which are important for the creation and maintenance of the good bacteria in our gastrointestinal tracts.
See What Happens When You Make Changes in the Kitchen
It’s easy to fall into a rut when it comes to choosing foods, especially when we are using food as a way to find comfort or to combat cravings.
If you still have a hard time believing that food makes a difference, why not test the theories? See what happens when you eliminate or significantly reduce processed foods and sugar from your diet for a period of time—say, up to three weeks. At that point, you should have an excellent sense of whether this change in diet has had a noticeable effect on your overall mood.
The benefits may well be so obvious that you are motivated to make the change to your eating habits permanent. In the long run, you will have improved your physical health, given a boost to your mental health, and increased the likelihood that you can maintain your sober lifestyle over the long term.
Food for Thought: We Are Here to Help
A carefully managed diet can help you maintain your sobriety. At Northern Path Recovery Center, we can set you on the path toward that sobriety as we guide you through detoxification, rehabilitation, and ongoing treatment. We will personalize your care and make sure you have the resources—and the motivation—to make choices that will keep you both healthy and sober.
