According to the to dietary guidelines set forth by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, a nutritious diet should include a variety of foods from each of the five food groups. Vegetables are important sources of vitamins and minerals, and you should eat a wide variety of them in order to get plenty of the various nutrients they contain.

Try to consume two and a half cups of vegetables each day. Over the course of a week, strive to eat a wide variety of veggies from each sub group. Like vegetables, whole fruits provide high returns in a range of nutrients.

Fruit can be eaten raw or cooked, and it can be purchased fresh, frozen, canned or dried. Strive to eat around two cups of fruit each day. Over the course of a week, eat a variety of fruits in a rainbow of colors. Eat around six ounces of grains each day, at least half of them whole grains.

Whole grains are those that contain the entire kernel, including the endosperm, bran and germ. Refined grains are those that have had the bran and germ removed, which strips them of iron, dietary fiber and other nutrients.

Brown rice, quinoa, oatmeal and popcorn are examples of whole grains. Whole grains are also found in a number of products, including breads and pastas. If you eat refined grains, such as white bread or refined cereals, choose products that are enriched, which means that iron and four essential B vitamins—thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and folic acid—have been added back into the mix.

Milk, yogurt, cheese and fortified soy milk are included in the low-fat dairy food group. Low-fat dairy products contain essential nutrients like calcium, protein and potassium, but they contain less fat and fewer calories than full-fat varieties.

Aim for three cups of low-fat dairy each day. The protein food group is comprised of a large variety of foods from both plants and animals. Plant protein sources include nuts, seeds, beans, peas and soy products.

Animal sources include seafood, meat, poultry, dairy and eggs. Choose lean cuts of meat and low-fat dairy products. Avoid processed lunch meats and cheeses and choose low-sugar yogurt.

Strive to eat around six ounces of protein foods each day, including eight ounces of seafood each week. The recommended daily intake of healthy oils is around five teaspoons each day.

Canola, olive, safflower and sunflower oils are good choices for healthy fats. An important rule of thumb when it comes to eating healthy food, whether for recovery or not, is to choose whole foods over processed foods.

Whole foods are those that are in their natural state: nuts, seeds, an apple, a bag of brown rice, a pound of salmon. Processed foods are those that have been altered in some way. Lunch meats, pastries, ice cream and bread are examples of processed foods, as are frozen dinners, boxed mixes and packaged foods like chips, crackers and soups.

Highly processed foods contain loads of added sodium and sugar; artificial colors, flavors and preservatives; and a lot of chemical ingredients that are hard to pronounce. Other processed foods, like low-fat, low-sugar yogurt and whole grain breads, are less heavily processed and can be part of a healthy diet.

Whole foods should comprise the bulk of your diet. You should eat it in moderation. Restaurant food—especially fast food—generally has more calories , fat, salt and added sugar than the food you cook at home. Eating out too often can lead to unhealthy weight gain and poor nutrition.

Cooking at home requires some basic culinary skills, but these are easy to learn. Once you master the basics, including the various ways to cook meats and vegetables, you can make an endless roster of simple, healthy recipes.

If you often eat on the go, keep plenty of healthy snacks on hand, such as fresh fruit, carrots and hummus, boiled eggs, yogurt, nuts and seeds. It takes patience, practice and effort. Trying to revamp your entire diet all at once sets you up for failure, but implementing changes slowly can help them not only stick, but also become quite enjoyable.

You might begin by drinking more water each day and replacing the refined breads, cereals and pasta you eat with whole-grain versions. Once that has become a habit and a preference, add a couple of extra pieces of fruit to your daily diet.

When that becomes natural, focus on cutting out as much added sugar as possible and eating an extra serving of vegetables each day. Small changes over time will help your new way of eating become a habit, and each change will bring benefits to your health and recovery as well as inspire even more healthy lifestyle choices.

Reduce your stress. Stress can lead to unhealthy food choices and over-indulging. Keeping your stress levels down will help you stay clear-headed and mindful of the food choices you make.

Meet with a dietitian. A dietitian can evaluate your current eating habits and make recommendations for dietary changes to optimize your health. Always eat breakfast. Most of the time, strive to eat healthy food. The occasional indulgence is good for the soul.

Plan ahead for the week. Planning your weekly menus ahead of time—and doing your grocery shopping for the week in one trip—will make healthy meals easier and more convenient to make. Hit the farmers market. The U. Department of Agriculture touts the benefits of buying fresh, locally grown foods from your neighborhood farmers market, where you can find a huge selection of fresh meats, dairy and produce.

Otherwise you could use your next regular meal after the session as your recovery nutrition. Some people may benefit from splitting their recovery into two parts with a small snack soon after exercise to kick start the recovery process followed by their next main meal to complete their recovery goals.

Everyone is different in what they like to eat, what their appetite is like and what sits comfortably in their stomach in the hours after exercise but in general foods should:.

Dairy foods such as flavoured milk, smoothies or fruit yoghurt can be a great option as they can provide carbohydrate, protein, fluid and electrolytes ticking all of your recovery goals in one handy option.

Some other options that you may like to choose include:. Athletes should consume ½ gram of carbohydrates per pound of body weight, which is 75 grams for a pound athlete. Repairing damaged muscle: During exercise, muscle is broken down, and the foods consumed afterward can aid in tissue repair, as well as rebuilding and strengthening muscle.

Eating grams of high-quality, lean protein after a workout will maximize protein synthesis to repair muscles and enhance muscle growth. When participating in tournament play or multiple workouts in a day which leave less than 2 hours to recover, athletes may want to forego eating protein until after completing the events or eat a smaller amount.

Knowing how your body reacts in these circumstances will help you choose what works best for you. Rehydrating: Athletes can lose a large amount of electrolytes and fluid through sweating.

For each pound of lost water, an athlete should consume ounces of liquid. Water is often sufficient, but sports drinks containing electrolytes and carbohydrates can help replenish what the body has used up during the workout, especially those lasting over 60 minutes.

Staying well-hydrated in conjunction with exercise involves drinking fluids before, during, and after working out. To avoid dehydration, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends ounces of water hours prior to working out, ounces every minutes during workout, and ounces for every pound of lost fluid after workout.

When to Eat for Recovery Because your muscles are thought to be most receptive to nutrients like carbohydrates and protein for about 30 minutes after a hard effort, you want to aim to begin recovery eating within this period. One serving size nutritional protein options include: ½ cup beans lean beef Low-fat string cheese 1 oz.

Trying to revamp your entire diet all at once sets you up for failure, but implementing changes slowly can help them not only stick, but also become quite enjoyable.

You might begin by drinking more water each day and replacing the refined breads, cereals and pasta you eat with whole-grain versions. Once that has become a habit and a preference, add a couple of extra pieces of fruit to your daily diet. When that becomes natural, focus on cutting out as much added sugar as possible and eating an extra serving of vegetables each day.

Small changes over time will help your new way of eating become a habit, and each change will bring benefits to your health and recovery as well as inspire even more healthy lifestyle choices. Reduce your stress. Stress can lead to unhealthy food choices and over-indulging.

Keeping your stress levels down will help you stay clear-headed and mindful of the food choices you make. Meet with a dietitian.

A dietitian can evaluate your current eating habits and make recommendations for dietary changes to optimize your health. Always eat breakfast. Most of the time, strive to eat healthy food. The occasional indulgence is good for the soul. Plan ahead for the week. Planning your weekly menus ahead of time—and doing your grocery shopping for the week in one trip—will make healthy meals easier and more convenient to make.

Hit the farmers market. The U. Department of Agriculture touts the benefits of buying fresh, locally grown foods from your neighborhood farmers market, where you can find a huge selection of fresh meats, dairy and produce. By talking to the farmers and ranchers behind the table, you can discover new foods and get advice for choosing and cooking your selections.

Eating locally is also good for the environment and benefits the local economy. Always have healthy snacks on hand at work. Hunger at the grocery store is responsible for many bad food choices. Get into a mealtime routine. Having a routine surrounding mealtimes can make things go more quickly and smoothly.

Enlist family members to help prep, set the table and clean up after meals. Use the slow cooker. Your slow cooker can be your best friend in the kitchen.

Simply prep your meal the night before and put it in the fridge. In the morning, toss the ingredients into the slow cooker and turn it on. Walk away for six to eight hours, and when you come back, dinner is ready to eat.

The changes you implement in your diet will improve your energy levels, appearance, concentration, mood and overall health, and it will help you stay in recovery for the long-term. My stay at Silver Ridge has been wonderful. The atmosphere in the house was very pleasant.

ALL the staff was always willing to help with any matter. My therapist was able to recognize my issues and help me to find the correct tools to work through them.

I was referred to Silver Ridge by a friend. This was my first time in any kind of rehab or recovery. The holistic approach to alcoholism and recovery was very thorough and impressive. After my stay, not only did I feel prepared and ready for this change in my life, but I had been provided additional contacts and outside resources to assist in my road to recovery.

I arrived seeking peace from emotional trauma, gaining personal spiritual insight, redirection in feeling chronic pain, and tools for developing emotional connection with my wife and children. Self-medicating interfered with those aspirations, and denied me joy. Silver Ridge helped me resolve those issues.

Silver Ridge will always feel like a second home. We understand the challenges of this stage of life, and our program is specifically built to serve the mid-life adult in a meaningful and individualized way.

Our holistic approach supports your physical, mental, and spiritual health through a range of evidence-based treatment modalities. Our staff are highly trained with dual mental health and substance use licensing. From gourmet cuisine to our spacious, 10, square foot estate, Silver Ridge provides a tranquil and peaceful setting for recovery.

Phone: Fax: Toggle Navigation Get Help Now Search for:. Search for:. View Larger Image. Not too much. Mostly Plants. Nutrition Basics: Micronutrients and Macronutrients Nutrients are substances in food that help your body build and repair tissues, provide energy, fight disease and facilitate numerous other body functions.

Vitamins Vitamins are organic compounds that are needed to maintain normal bodily functions like metabolism and immunity. Minerals Minerals are non-organic compounds that the body needs for functions like maintaining normal blood pressure and bone health.

Water Water is absolutely essential for optimum health. The creative process of cooking can be a great relapse-prevention tool. Cooking can serve as a source of inspiration and self-worth and help you from getting bored and turning to alcohol or drugs instead. Cooking is also an opportunity to be social without using substances.

The act of cooking and sharing a meal with others can help you learn how to develop and rebuild positive relationships with friends and family. You may find yourself gravitating to the repetitiveness of certain cooking techniques and the structure of cooking in general.

This can be a source of relaxation and validation, making the cooking process feel therapeutic. Even baking can be therapeutic, bringing the body and mind to focus on something tangible and beneficial. Sharing your creations with friends can feel good as well. You can also practice mindfulness around a healthy diet and nutrition, which is also helpful in recovery.

Cooking brings you into the present moment. Paying attention to the smells, sounds, touch, and tastes involved in preparing food can be a form of mindfulness. You can also do this with eating your food. Can you taste the different ingredients? What does it smell like? Chew slowly, take your time, and savor your meal.

There is a sense of responsibility that comes with preparing your own food. For some people , cooking helps them develop a greater sense of obligation to look after themselves and care for others.

All of this fosters an atmosphere of positive mental health, keeping the threat of relapse at bay. Relationships with loved ones are often strained from addiction.

Cooking with people you care about can build bonds and become a source of learning and growth for everyone. Cooking helps promote a healthy diet and lifestyle, and positive behaviors.

People in recovery with poor dietary habits have a higher chance of relapse than those who make long-lasting positive changes in their eating habits. A healthy diet supports long-term recovery and overall well-being. Eating a healthy diet may sound like a lot of work at first, but with time and practice, it will become second nature to you.

Tips for Good Nutrition in Recovery. Nutrition Is Critical to Recovery. Research shows that: Poor nutrition is common in people with drug and alcohol addiction. Nutritional deficiencies due to alcohol and drug abuse can impact physical and mental health, making it harder to resist substances in recovery.

Vitamin deficiencies can impact body composition and hormone regulation in addicted people. Read more: Simple nutrition tips for runners. A study in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports found that marathon runners who consumed tart cherry juice before and after a race experienced less inflammation and better recovery in muscle function than the placebo group.

Drink a serving of tart cherry juice natural, no sugar added after a hard speed workout or long run in order to recover better. One small serving after a hard workout is enough—no need to sip on cherry juice all day long. According to a study in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism , daily consumption of blueberries reduces oxidative stress and increases the amount of anti-inflammatory cytokines regulators in the body that promote healing in runners.

Spices such as ginger and turmeric also have anti-inflammatory effects on the body and have been linked to the reduction of delayed onset muscle soreness DOMS. Some studies, including one in the European Journal of Applied Physiology , found that the compound in turmeric known as curcumin reduced pain associated with muscle soreness hours after exercise.

Like tart cherry, turmeric is easily available in chewable or pill form as well. Ultimately, no one food will make or break your recovery and training. When you eat after a run matters just as much, if not more than what you eat. Running uses glycogen stored carbohydrates for energy and causes microtears in your muscles.

If you take the right steps to replenish your glycogen stores and start the recovery process for those microtears, you will improve as a runner. The best thing you can do to replenish your glycogen stores and jumpstart muscle recovery is to eat within 60 minutes of completing a run.