Recovering from an addiction, whether to alcohol, drugs, or something else, will be one of the most difficult things you ever do because it isn’t just a one-time thing; it’s ongoing. There are all kinds of tools available to help you succeed in the recovery process of your addiction. Among some ways, you can:
- Receive beneficial counseling
- Join a support group
- Work with a sponsor
- Surround yourself with positive friends and family
Even with all of these things working in your favor, addiction recovery is a challenge. You can use all the help you can get, and there are a couple more weapons you can add to the arsenal of your holistic addiction treatment, and they are:
- Diet
- Exercise
A healthy body indicates a healthy mind. Being malnourished, undernourished, or out of shape will only make things more difficult. If your addiction involved substance abuse, you likely created damage to your body. Alcohol and drugs have devastating effects on the human body. They mess up the ability to digest foods, cause damage to vital organs, and skew the nervous system. The good news is that our bodies are incredibly resilient. Now that you have taken the first step in admitting you are powerless over your addiction, it is a great time to repair this damage and recover at the same time.
Many recovering addicts swear by exercise for minimizing cravings, and research has shown that proper nutrition can have the same effect. Both exercise and diet affect your brain and, therefore, your mood. Exercise stimulates the production of certain chemicals in your brain that make you feel good. When you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you look good. It is a cyclical process.
Adopt positive habits to replace the negative. By this stage in your addiction recovery, you know it requires more than simply replacing your negative habits with positive ones. When you make exercise a part of your daily routine, and you make plans to eat well-balanced and healthful meals, you are slowly but surely turning destructive habits into good ones. At the same time, the added benefit, of course, is that you are allowing the damage done to your body to heal.
Besides building up positive behaviors to replace the negative ones, exercising and practicing good nutrition are beneficial for filling up your time. You know how hard it is to face a day with nothing or only a few things to do. Your mind wanders, which can lead your thoughts back to your addiction. The more you can keep your days busy and meaningful, the easier it is to recover. Exercise will give you something to do and will keep boredom at bay. This is especially true if you find a type of exercise that you really enjoy.
Even though recovery from addiction is extremely difficult, you can do it with the right tools and plans. Use diet and exercise as just another one of those tools to give yourself the best possible chance of success. In no time, your body will be as strong as it used to be, which will give you the self-confidence to do just about anything.
