Your doubt is the only thing holding you back.
Recovery from any kind of addiction is a long winded road. It is not straight, nor does it even always go in the right direction - there are many u-turns and steps back along the way.
Read MoreOn repeat.
How many times do you find yourself in the same situation, just differences faces and different spaces? If your answer is more than 3 times, you might want to consider what the shared feature of each situation is.
Read MoreThe perfect time.
When are we ready for change? When the time is right. And the time is always right. Time is the only thing in life we cannot get more of. Nevertheless we tend to wait for that right time, as if only then magic can happen. I don't know many people who truly ever change. I do know many people, who say they are waiting for the perfect time. When the time is right, then they will do it. Whatever that may be.
Read MoreThey say that if you are going through hell...
to just keep walking. Seems pretty solid advice. Yet I wonder how many of us disregard this oh-so-simple advice and instead freeze in the moment, like a deer in headlights. We stay stuck in the pain, we might find ourselves in at times for far too long. So that a moment in pain becomes an eternity. Crippling us.
Read MoreWithout vision for our future, we return to our past.
It is impossible to change and keep lasting change going, if you do not have a clear vision in your head of, who you want to be and what you want you daily life to look like on there other side of breaking addiction. Without vision the people perish, so it says even in The Bible. Whenever someone is stuck and feel stagnant, like they can't move, yet they may say they want to, they often don't have a clear vision on where they are heading. How are you going to get there, if you don't even know where you are going?
Read More3 tips to get through cravings
How do you manage the cravings in early recovery? Do you have a strategy for when those cravings hit? Do you know some easy things you can and should plan ahead to avoid those pesky cravings? Today I am giving you 3 super simple tips on how to manage cravings. Yes it is almost too simple, but they work. Always keep it simple - the important thing is just to actually do it, and not just read about it.
Read More4 Ways To Rebuild Relationships in Recovery
After getting clean many expect an almost overnight change and applaud from their nearest ones as well. The road has been long and winded and often we thought we just wouldn't make it. That this life was not for us. That we didn't have what it takes to live in this skin. Every minute felt like another stabbing pain. Yes, that is how many feel that long road to finally figuring out how to live in this paper-thin skin without relying on drugs, food and alcohol.
Read MoreWhat To Expect From Medication-Assisted Treatment For Addiction
Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), represented typically by Suboxone and methadone, is used to treat opiate addiction and appears to be useful in reducing overdoses and decreasing transmission rates of HIV and hepatitis C. The short term benefits of MAT begs the question, as to what the long-term perspectives are. What happens when the addict needs to come totally clean and face what life without any drugs feel like? Considering that most people admit to feeling numb on any amount of drugs after prolonged time. Being numb will eventually itself lead to depression, thus MAT is only temporary.
Read MoreWhat is Pitta in Ayurveda?
Summer is Pitta season - pitta is also one of the 3 personal constitution types in Eastern medicine: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Each roughly corresponds to what we in Western medicine call serotonin, dopamin and GABA dominant natures. Pitta imbalance is often seen in overeating and binge patterns.
Read MoreAre acidic foods bad?
If you are a vegetarian or rarely eat meat and have a craving for carbs and just don’t feel satisfied until you are filled up on breads, pastas or sweets, you may have unstable blood sugar due to a deficiency of protein.
Read MoreOmega 3 from plant vs. marine sources
In recent years, a "myth" of sorts has sprung up, where people who avoid animal foods believe they can simply consume plant-based omega-3 ALA to meet their needs. But this isn't true and the science doesn't support this assertion. Omega-3s EPA and DHA from marine animal and plant sources are NOT interchangeable. Plant sources that contain omega-3 ALA do not provide the same benefits as the omega-3s you find in marine sources.
Read MoreHer: "I close my eyes and just feel the pain melt away".
Him: "I feel no emotion, that's the reason I do this". Her: *I close my eyes and just feel the pain melt away*. In this doc series you get an insight to what heroine addiction looks like. Anne and Digger are parents and both addicted to heroine.
Read MoreWhat is it that I am so afraid to feel?
All the things we do, eat and take to avoid any uncomfortable emotion. How many of us are guilty of this, even without having what can be diagnosed as a full-blown addiction?
Read MorePapaya helps digestion
Alcohol, drugs and many eating disorders cause damage to the stomach lining. If this is not fixed, discomfort will remain. Digestion disorders always follows addiction. So what can we do to damage control?
Read MoreDo toxins play a role in addiction?
Addictive behaviors, such as certain eating disorders like binge eating, overeating and addictions to sugar, alcohol, smoking, chronic masturbation, sexual addictions, etc. all have their root in the brain. A toxic and nutritionally deficient brain is far more prone to addictive behaviors. Heavy metals like mercury can totally screw up our dopaminergic system and make us more likely to engage in addictive behaviors unable to quit them.
Read MorePrince was addicted to painkillers.
Prince passed away a couple weeks ago, and it is now clear that he too struggled with an addiction to painkillers - likely what killed him. Prescriptions for opioid painkillers have risen by 300 percent over the past 10 years. Deaths from overdosing on these drugs now far surpass those from illicit street drugs.
Read MoreStart where you are
Our current state of balance, can change yearly, monthly, daily and even minute-to-minute. Knowing our current state of balance is an essential tool for figuring out what needs attention right now. We can then feed those needs, rather than continue in a state of suppression and denial - all of which only leads to further imbalance and built-up. You don't fix needs by ignoring them, you fix needs by listening and caring for them.
Read MoreAre you Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired?
Nest time you feel like you are about to do something that you have promised yourself not to do - ask yourself this simple question: Are you Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired? This is one of the most easy tools to begin to replace bad habits, step by step. So simple that many refuse to do it - because "it is just too easy" and thus a waste of time, because everything else in life seems like a battle. This is the lie we tell ourselves to NOT take action: if it is not hard, it must not work. Yet it is the simple things in life that works best.
Read MoreBalancing the aspects of recovery
Recovery involves a personal recognition of the need for change and transformation. Recovery is a process through which we gradually achieve greater balance of mind, body and spirit in relation to other aspects of life, including family, work and community. Each person’s recovery process is unique and impacted by cultural beliefs and traditions. Our cultural experience often shapes the recovery path that is right for us. The take-away here is that no one single thing is enough to focus on, not the abstinence, not the trauma, not the nutrition and not the spiritual aspects of connecting with self, others and God. Recovery is complex and requires us to focus on all aspects simultaneously in order to get all the legs on the stool stable.
Read MoreIs recovery the same as abstinence?
Recovery is not just about quitting past destructive behaviors and addictions. We might like to think that recovery is simply being abstinent - being clean, not engaging in bad habits and not taking xyz. Recovery that lasts, however, is not passive. It is not us sitting it out, waiting for the craving magically to just disappear over time. The most frequent relapse happens, when we think our recovery is about focusing on just NOT doing that or taking that. This will simply exhaust our willpower over time and we will give in. We will give in to the craving, because we are not creating a space for the recovered new self, we are just abstaining - and life feels empty when we go about it this way.
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