Aaron Calder: Surviving alcohol addiction by going vegan

The idea is to eat primarily foods which are as close to their natural state as possible. This helps regulate blood sugar because a balanced vegan diet includes a lot of fiber and very little simple sugar. This can help avoid type 2 diabetes later in life and makes maintaining a healthy weight much easier. Eating certain foods high in nutrients may help improve mood while foods low in nutritional value and high in sugar may be a hinderance to one’s mood. Eating a whole foods plant based diet can help stabilize blood sugar levels, resulting in a reduction of sugar cravings as well as alcohol cravings.

I started marathon training in September of last year, so I was adding more miles. I was expecting to feel much more fatigue and soreness and exhaustion, either after fast or long runs or weight lifting days. When I ran my first half marathon distance in 2020, I was like beat the whole day, taking a few days to recover to no soreness. For me the big players in recovery have always been sleep and if I’ve been drinking alcohol. I run 6-7 days a week in about the mile range currently, and I only feel under recovered if I’ve been doing lots of consecutive speed work.

The Beet: So you hit reset on your life, your food and your stress, and gave up alcohol?

Even without an exercise routine, I managed to lose 64 pounds in less than 8 months, and I’ve successfully kept it off since. Compared to where I was 20 years ago, I’ve dropped a total of 140 pounds. Alcohol is a part of many cultures worldwide, playing a part in many people’s social and personal lives. Regular alcohol use does, however, have downsides that sometimes go unrecognized. If nausea makes it difficult for a person to eat solid food, bone broth might be better tolerated and is high in protein and electrolytes.

Vegetables also have a high water content and are packed with nutrients and fiber. Fiber helps keep blood sugar levels steady, which reduces irritability2, anxiety and cravings. Orange and green leafy vegetables are very rich in calcium, potassium and vitamins A, B and C.

What to Eat While Detoxing

If you want more useful information on global cancer risk, then it’s available from the WCRF/AICR Resources and toolkits page 12 . Increase your consumption above 2 drinks a day and you lose your safety net for avoidance of kidney cancer and introduce the risk of colorectal cancer. For me, it’s a big no-no because I wouldn’t want to eat it for health reasons. It’s a good idea alcohol recovery diet for those people in the population who are not going to go vegan, and I suppose it could save millions of animals. I do use plastic and things like that, but it’s about making that conscious effort. If it makes you feel good internally, that’s good for mental health because you’re feeling optimistic, whereas if you do more negative things, that can bring your mood down.

They also include a recommendation that people with diabetes follow the guidelines for the general population for intakes of saturated fat, dietary cholesterol, and trans fat. Plant-based diets are consistent with these guidelines. A 2014 review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials of vegetarian diets in the treatment of type 2 diabetes found a significant reduction in hemoglobin A1c of −0.39 points compared to control diets. This effect is approximately half of that seen with the addition of the first-line oral hypoglycemic agent, metformin, which in a recent meta-analysis was reported to reduce hemoglobin A1c by 0.9 points. A more recent randomized controlled trial conducted in Korea compared a brown-rice-based vegan diet with a conventional diabetic diet in patients ages 30–70 years with type 2 diabetes. Portions, calories, and frequency of meals were not restricted.

Putting Down The Alcohol, Picking Up The Sugar – The Relationship Between Alcohol And Sugar

So I decided to quit by myself and break it down into small manageable tasks. I am impressed that you would seek outside opinion and information about diet for your recovering cousin. This level of sensitivity and care for another will be more supremely important than diet. I have little doubt that with your resources, openness, and care for your cousin, there will be much difficulty. You are right to consider there could be adaptability problems for your cousin who has discontinued an alcohol-centered lifestyle for a vegetable-based diet and lifestyle. Former alcoholic turned vegan blogger Aaron Calder recounts how ditching booze and adopting a vegan lifestyle has helped him heal his damaged liver, kidneys and other functional organs. Contact ustoday to learn more aboutour medical detox programsand to determine if detoxing in a medical facility is the best route for you.

• Instead of obsessing about which produce is the trendy superfood of the week, I eat whole foods and make a smoothie every morning.
• Improving gut health has also been shown to improve the health of the liver and kidneys7— the body’s main detox organs.
• Nuts and seeds are a good source of healthy fats and minerals that are depleted with heavy alcohol use.
• The responses to comments on fitrecovery.com are designed to support, not replace, medical or psychiatric treatment.
• Long-term intake of animal flesh and risk of developing hypertension in three prospective cohort studies.
• If nausea makes it difficult for a person to eat solid food, bone broth might be better tolerated and is high in protein and electrolytes.

It can also help boost healthy gut bacteria and has been shown to relieve headaches. Sprinkling a small amount of cayenne onto your food or sipping on a Mexican hot chocolate is an easy way to help soothe withdrawal symptoms. 12-step meetings traditionally serve sweets and caffeine because those foods temporarily make people in early recovery feel better. However, research shows that in the long run, those foods just make your cravings stronger. High-protein intake during weight loss therapy eliminates the weight-loss-induced improvement in insulin action in obese postmenopausal women. Influence of dietary fat and carbohydrates proportions on plasma lipids, glucose control and low-grade inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes-The TOSCA.IT Study. De Mello VD, Zelmanovitz T, Perassolo MS, et al.

What about lung, pancreatic and skin cancers?

It’s almost impossible to get the exact amount you need of every nutrient every day without supplements. Vegans must pay attention to B-12 and iron levels. There is little question that a balanced vegan diet is a great way to attain the many benefits physical and mental health nutrition provides. A well-balanced vegan diet will include fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Some people refer to this as whole-food plant-based or WFPB.