Why an Anti-Inflammatory Diet in Recovery is Essential
Anti-Inflammatory Diet in Recovery
I don’t know about you, but when I was drinking, I was not at all conscious of what I was eating. I went out to eat a lot and ordered whatever I felt like—which was usually something fried or otherwise “heavy.” Whatever it was, I always ate too much of it.
After cultivating this habit for a while (haha), I acquired belly fat I couldn’t shake off and increasingly stubborn digestive issues. I was never able to get good sleep, and needed some sort of stimulant at all times to feel okay.
When I first began experimenting with sobriety, my round-the-clock cravings for food, nicotine, caffeine, and sugar were sky-high. I never felt at ease, and this constant hunger in my early recovery became my trusted friend. The only time I felt comfort was when I was eating, having my coffee next to me, or smoking. No matter what I did, I could not be free of these cravings, and my sobriety didn’t feel so great. Looking back now, I see the definition of a hungry ghost.
What my body was telling me about inflammation
What I also realize looking back was that my extreme cravings were part of a cycle of chronic inflammation that was wrecking my health.
I learned from the great Paul Pitchford that when we consume things that aren’t nutritious—soft drinks, alcohol, trans fats, artificial colors and flavors, food chemicals—our immune system perks up, recognizing interlopers, and kicks into high gear.
The manifestation of an immune system out of balance is inflammation. At its most basic, we experience inflammation as swelling, heat, and/or pain. Similar reactions could be triggered by hay fever, a sprained ankle, acid reflux, or eating foods that disagree with us.
Chronic inflammation is now believed to be an underlying cause of obesity, asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, ulcers, and even Parkinson’s disease and cancer, among other maladies.
According to Medical News Today, “All Inflammation is a natural reaction [of an immune system] to injury or infection. … It is important to remember that inflammation is an essential part of the healing process. However, sometimes, inflammation can persist longer than necessary, causing more harm than benefit. … Although damaged tissue cannot heal without inflammation, exposure to a low level of a particular irritant, such as a chemical in a food, drugs, industry chemicals, etc, that remain in the system, over a long period, can cause chronic inflammation.”
If you have any of the following symptoms, you might be dealing with chronic inflammation, just like I was:
Body pain
Constant fatigue and/or insomnia
Depression, anxiety, or other mood disorders
Gastrointestinal issues like constipation, diarrhea, & acid reflux
Substantial weight gain or weight loss
Frequent infections
Uncontrollable cravings and hunger
3 big reasons people in recovery are at higher risk of developing chronic inflammation:
01. Alcohol and drug use.
These culprits alone—as well as the stress that accompanies them—can trigger inflammation.
02. Crap eating
In his landmark book—and one of my bibles—Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition, Pitchford writes that diets containing high amounts of salt, meat, certain fats, poor quality and synthetic hydrogenated oils, and chemicals help generate inflammation in the body. Lilli B. Link, MD cites research in Kris Carr’s book Crazy Sexy Diet that confirms this view and describes sugar, refined grains, and trans fats as “the worst inflammatory offenders.” So even aside from alcohol or drug use, if you’re not eating healthfully, you’re setting yourself up for problems with inflammation.
03. The vicious cycle
Most interestingly to me, Pitchford’s research suggests that intoxicants like alcohol and drugs—as well as stimulants like coffee, tobacco, and refined sugar—temporarily relieve the distressing symptoms of inflammation. Think of how your pain, fatigue, or anxiety are (or were) eased by that drink, cigarette, or donut.
He adds that “desires for strong substances that lead to addictions originate with imbalance”—usually in the form of inflammation. We crave these strong substances in order to feel better, but ultimately, the problems they cause us in the long run outweigh the immediate relief they offer.
Are you seeing how the vicious cycle develops?? We addicts have built-in cravings, which can migrate to focus on everything from caffeine to vodka. We might have these cravings in part due to preexisting imbalances, or we might be seeking to right the imbalances that our addictions created. In any case, if we seek sugar (for example), we binge on sugar, we feel worse for having binged, and then we seek more sugar to ease our pain. UGH!
The lesson here is that we the recovering need to be aware of our increased risk of health problems caused by inflammation. Whether we were eating (and drinking) in a way that promoted inflammation and have just continued that poor diet after achieving sobriety, and/or if we’ve replaced our alcohol addiction with more socially acceptable substances like fried food and e-cigs, we are walking, talking targets for outsize inflammation, poor digestion, weight gain, insomnia, low energy, and mood problems.
What to eat, drink and do to reduce chronic inflammation
Learning about anti-inflammatory health habits that fit your own individual lifestyle is an important step in healing cravings and inflammation-related health issues in recovery. That’s why it’s a big focus of my work as a holistic nutrition counselor. In my experience, however, this type of personalized education and planning is often lacking in the recovery process. (So I’m glad you’re reading this!)
The big secret-not-secret to the anti-inflammatory diet? It’s plants, people!
Green, chlorophyll-rich vegetables are essential foods for counteracting inflammation. Even now, years after drastically changing the way I eat, when I get too busy and forget to have my morning green drink for a few days (or, oops, weeks), or I skimp on the green veggies, I begin to experience the return of the living dead (aka my cravings) and a feeling that something is not right in my body—and even in my mind.
Chlorophyll is the substance that makes foods look green, so it’s easy to identify which ones have the most. All plants (even oranges) contain some amount, but the greener the plant, the more chlorophyll it contains. Use that easy rule of thumb when you go food shopping! And remember that adding more green color to your diet is one of the best things you can do for your health in general and to counteract inflammation in particular.
Recommendations to get your daily chlorophyll fix:
Eat green vegetables with every meal.
Choose from kale, collard greens, broccoli, broccoli rabe, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, asparagus, artichokes, green beans, peas, arugula, mesclun, watercress, mustard greens, romaine, sprouts, micro-greens, and seaweeds. Enough variety for you?? Here’s my favorite way to prepare many of the above.
Try other chlorophyll-rich foods.
Experiment with wheatgrass or barley grass juice powders (I use a scoop in my green drink every morning), spirulina (I add a teaspoon to my a.m. drink), wild blue-green, and chlorella.
Mind your omega-3s
Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid, which means our bodies cannot produce it, so we need to get it from our diet. Like chlorophyll, it plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy levels of inflammation in the body. It’s quite easy to become omega-3 deficient if we’re not mindful of what we eat, so set your sights on flax seeds and flax seed oil; chia, hemp, and pumpkin seeds; walnuts; cold-water fish like herring, mackerel, salmon, anchovies, and sardines; and high-grade fish oil.
Savor anti-inflammatory flavor notes.
Spice up your food with anti-inflammatory herbs like garlic, ginger, and turmeric.
You can also download my free starter guide The First 3 Steps to Health in Sobriety, where I talk about other important factors in achieving optimal health in recovery. The tips in this guide helped me heal post-addiction, reduce my cravings, and improve my digestion during the early days of my sobriety—and they continue to serve me in my recovery today.
When I work with clients one-on-one, we look at the other pieces of the anti-inflammatory puzzle—good sleep, a fun exercise regimen, proper breathing, and an effective awareness practice—and I help them craft a totally personalized, achievable plan for ditching inflammation issues for good and getting on with life.
Get relief—for real, for good
When I began stepping down my alcohol consumption, I was already in therapy and had begun attending AA meetings. I was also beginning to exercise and practice yoga. While all of these things were great and my life was starting to look up, the constant hunger, the stubborn weight, and my struggles around food and other non-alcohol substances were not getting much better.
Eventually, I realized I needed support in this area of my life as well, and found a nutrition counselor who helped me see my cravings differently and taught me how I could use food in my post-addiction healing process. Highlighting anti-inflammatory foods was a big part of her work with people—and the same is true for me now.
When I started nutrition counseling as a client, I was like a sponge, soaking up every word my coach would share with me. I was so ready to make moves! Almost overnight, she changed the way I was eating. No more pain au chocolat or bagel with cream cheese for breakfast—I giddily made the switch to a wheatgrass and barley grass green drink with a brown rice, broccoli, egg, and avocado bowl. I didn’t care if my coworkers thought I was weird for bringing my own food to the office in funny-looking stainless steel containers when our cafeteria offered an abundance of free food throughout the day (we’re talking the full monty here: an all-you-can-eat buffet for breakfast and lunch, dinner if you stayed past 7:00 pm, and snacks up the wazoo—yes, I had one of “those” jobs). I knew what I needed. My teacher, my body, and my mind were all showing me the way.
When we begin to live and eat in a way that helps reduce inflammation, we experience fewer cravings for the most commonly abused food substances, and improve our overall health. Can you imagine not needing to reach for that extra cup of coffee or grip of cookies in the afternoon? Shedding the spare tire around your middle? Easing your struggles with constipation, heartburn, or IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)? If you’re loving how all of that sounds, I’m happy to tell you that the future is here.
When you begin eating an anti-inflammatory diet, your cravings for too much sugar and caffeine will naturally begin to dissipate. Your digestion will start to improve. And you’ll almost certainly start to sleep better and generally feel better. The best part? These changes start to happen quickly, and they last long-term. The opposite of the vicious cycle!
Eventually, for me, the relief I had felt when I binged on junk food was replaced by a different, better kind of relief: an increasing feeling of freedom from cravings, and a natural state of being in which I wasn’t constantly trying to gain comfort from grabbing unhealthy food, overeating, or running to other stimulants like cigarettes and coffee. Of course, I had to address other factors in my life to enable this bigger shift to occur (everything in the Sweet Science 5), but now I know that the anti-inflammatory diet was a cornerstone of the foundation that was helping me to feel better and better every day—and still does.
Anti-Inflammatory Recipes
Enjoy!
I’m Elena Singh, founder of the Sweet Science wellness program. I’m a certified nutrition counselor, science-based health coach, and addiction survivor. I help people in recovery heal their bodies and minds so they can learn to love sober life—not just survive it.