Nutrition & Fitness

Imagine feeling your best. Imagine not feeling tired, anxious, or depressed all the time. Imagine feeling like you can manage your addiction, combat cravings, and find a healthy way to cope with life’s stresses. At Beachside Rehab, we take a holistic approach to addiction treatment and focus on healthy living. Don’t just imagine feeling your best — learn to live your best life.

Why is Nutrition Important in Recovery?

A healthy diet that keeps you full, satisfied, and energized can help your recovery in many ways. By focusing on healthy, balanced meals complete with key nutrients, you can give your body the fuel it needs to fight cravings and lessen withdrawal symptoms.

How Does Nutrition Help with Withdrawal Symptoms?

Drug and alcohol addiction can cause diminished stores of dopamine and serotonin, the two feel-good chemicals that help to regulate mood. Both serotonin and dopamine can help you relax, prevent depression, and eliminate some post-acute withdrawal symptoms. Some of these symptoms include:

• Inability to concentrate
• Insomnia
• Repetitive thinking
• Feelings of depression
• Feelings of anxiety
• Lacking initiative
• Cravings

These symptoms can be lessened with proper nutrition. For example, the amino acid tyrosine is a building block for dopamine production and is found in foods such as beef, fish, eggs, cheese, and turkey. You can help fight symptoms by adding more of these foods into your diet to increase your levels of dopamine.

Addiction Can Cause Vitamin Deficiency

Vitamins play a huge role in your overall health and have a direct impact on your energy levels and brain function. For someone battling addiction, malnutrition can cause a myriad of nutritional deficiencies.

“Deficiencies can lead to an inefficient ability to detoxify,” Beachside’s nutrition counselor Diane Kingsley says. “Nutrient deficiencies can also lead to anxiety and depression, low energy and insomnia, memory issues, and issues with cognitive function.”

Alcohol, for example, can cause a deficiency of vitamin A, B vitamins, folic acid, and calcium.

“Alcohol keeps the body from properly absorbing B vitamins and thiamine, which can cause memory and cognitive function issues,” Diane says. “Other drugs such as opiates can cause deficiencies of calcium, vitamin D, B6, and iron while cocaine addiction can cause low levels of Omega-3 fatty acids.”

Why is Exercise Important for Recovery?

Research shows that exercise, along with a nutritious diet, can aid addiction recovery and is an effective way to prevent relapse. Exercise can help you reach or maintain weight goals, including gaining muscle mass, tone, and strength.  This can help you feel confident in achieving your goals and continue to stay clean.

A healthy and active lifestyle can repair much of the damage done to the body after prolonged substance abuse. It can help bone and joint health and your cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Over time, proper health can even help recovering addicts regain motor skills and balance.

Exercising regularly also releases endorphins and serotonin into your body. These chemicals decrease cravings, aid in sleep, combat depression and anxiety, and help improve your overall well-being.

Fitness and Nutrition Programs at Beachside Rehab

Rehabilitation isn’t just about detox and therapy during inpatient treatment. It’s about a complete lifestyle overhaul. At Beachside Rehab, you’ll learn new healthy routines that you’ll take with you once you leave our facility and implement into your new substance-free lifestyle. You’ll also be able to interact with like-minded people who, like you, are practicing healthy living and avoiding toxic behaviors, making it easier for you to reintegrate into society once you leave.

Here’s a look at the fitness activities we offer at Beachside Rehab:

• Active days at the beach
• Yoga and meditation
• Kayaking
• Paddleboarding
• Workouts with a trainer
• Horseback riding
• Massage treatments

Many addiction facilities don’t pay attention to the nutrition and fitness programs for recovery. We take our holistic approach to recovery seriously with a licensed nutritionist on staff to counsel anyone with specific dietary needs and to teach healthy eating habits. We also have a full-time fitness instructor to help coach you on your physical activity needs.

With our help, you can change your diet for the better while implementing a fitness routine that benefits your mind and body.