Diet as a drug detoxification tool is a two-edged sword.

Diet as a drug detoxification tool is a two-edged sword. That's because the same dietary choices that can help you overcome your habit or drug addiction can lift your mood in a way that encourages you to go out and look for more drugs. Do not try a detox diet, if you have not decided to stop smoking, and find the support you need to stop smoking, even if you only have the will power and resources to avoid drugs just for today.

Much of what medical science has learned about diet and recovery from drug addiction began as a study of criminal justice in Texas. Back in the 1960s, epidemiologists were puzzled that 24 Texas counties (later reduced to 11 counties in Texas) had high poverty rates, few resources for community health and law enforcement, and very near the border with Mexico, but the relatively low rates of drug addiction and violent crime. They looked at many different variables and I did not find anything to explain these results. Finally, a scientist said "there must be something in the water", and, in fact, it was.

These 24 counties in Texas, and later found several desert counties in California, have unusually low homicide rates, suicide, rape, robbery, theft, narcotics possession, and juveniles that run away from home, which coincide with high concentrations of lithium in municipal tap water. This discovery led to a clinical trial that found that users of the recovery of crystal methamphetamine (methamphetamine) and heroin that received 400 micrograms (that 400 millionths of a gram) of lithium a day showed demonstrable improvements in mood and cognition. They also gained higher scores on psychological tests that measure energy, sociability and happiness.

Dealing with street drug detoxification

If you are trying to detox from street drugs, you really do not have to go to Death Valley or the Big Bend in Texas to get your lithium, and you do not have to convince a psychiatrist that you have bipolar disorder. Lithium is readily available in some vegetables (incidentally, growing in desert regions) that are cheap and readily available year-round in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Europe.

Lithium is particularly abundant in Irish potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. It is true that chenical solanine in these "solanaceous" vegetables is associated with certain types of inflammation, but lithium deals with a broader issue. Generally speaking, any diet that places more emphasis on fresh vegetables and whole grains (ie, wheat grains instead of wheat bread, cut oats instead of instant oats, corn cobs instead of corn bread, and so on) it is likely to provide lithium, but solanaceous vegetables potatoes, tomatoes and vegetables are the best source.

Drug addiction is not the result of lithium deficiency. Instead, lithium deficiency seems to be the result of drug use, whether or not it is true addiction. The amount of lithium supplied by diet or drinking water is usually less than 1/10 of 1 percent of the standard dose used to treat bipolar disorder, but this is sufficient to allow behavioral changes in users of bipolar disorder. drugs that have resolved detoxification.

The "snack" after consuming drugs, by the way, are the body's way of fighting the depression that occurs when you get off the drug. Eating lots of carbohydrates and sugars increases the amount of sugar in your blood. This "pushes" the amino acid tryptophan through the blood-brain barrier in the brain, where it is used to make mood-raising chemical serotonin. If you continue to get the urge to sting even when you are not taking a medication, the problem is probably not withdrawn, it is depression.

The detoxification of alcohol

For many people, holidays are synonymous with too many sweets and too much alcohol. The combination of excess alcohol and excess sugar sets in motion a vicious circle that can be difficult to overcome.

The fact is that not everyone who drinks has too much more than a hangover (but if you have a problem with hangovers, more about this in a moment). Sometimes people who are not used to drinking heavily deplete the brain's supply of an enzyme called tyrosine hydroxylase. If they are also packing away the holiday treats, the brain's demand for the enzyme rises and there are three unpleasant consequences.

Drinking too much alcohol depletes tyrosine hydroxylase, and the brain can not make the chemical serotonin dthe rising mood in the most efficient way. When there is not enough serotonin, depression looms. Depression encourages more drinking, but because the remaining supply of the tyrosine hydroxylase enzyme works best if the drinker is awake and physically active, the brain responds to other chemicals that keep you alert, and drinking causes both depression and the anxiety. The liver tries to come to the rescue by clearing blood alcohol-by raising blood sugar levels. But if the vacation drinker continues to drink, the result is not just drinking that makes you feel bad, but also the sugar cravings that makes you feel worse.

Third, with cravings for sugar and alcohol at work, it is difficult to get other nutrients that the body needs. If all this is happening in just a week's vacation, it's not likely to have a catastrophic effect on your health (assuming you're not involved in a car accident or something similar), but you can be left with the mother of all the hangovers. So, how do you begin to detoxify?

Even if you still crave alcohol, at least stop eating sugar. Actually, it may be better to pass the dessert table and go to the bar if you can not control both the cravings. You will still have a hangover, but at least you will not have to deal with the sugar slump that follows a high sugar level. If you must drink, then there are no cookies, cakes, no small candies, no cakes.

Even more important is not the mixture of alcohol with a cola made with high fructose corn syrup, for example, rum and cola. High fructose corn syrup interferes with the production of a hormone in fat cells, leptin, which tells your brain that you have consumed enough calories. Without enough leptin to tell your brain that you have eaten enough, and the general disinhibition, caused by alcohol, the combination of fructose and alcohol keeps you drinking and eating more and more as you feel worse and worse.

Then there are some supplements that help your brain produce some chemicals to make up for the interruption by alcohol. The pyriodoxal-5'-phosphate vitamin B, which is the active form of vitamin B6, helps your gastrointestinal tract absorb the amino acids that the brain uses to produce serotonin and dopamine. The 5-HTP supplement provides the amino acid tryptophan that the brain converts to serotonin, and the D-amino acid phenylalanine (which appears in supplements labeled as DL-phenylalanine) produces the "reward" chemical enkephalin. This chemical tells the brain "enough" and deadens the cravings for alcohol and sugar.

What can undo your alcohol detoxification?

If you are a regular drinker, staying away from caffeine will help you stay sober. If your liver has been damaged by alcohol, it can not process caffeine, either. A medical study to be performed at Bromley Hospital in Kent, England found that alcoholic livers have twice the time to process caffeine as non-alcoholic livers. Caffeine combined with sugar aggravates anxiety and increases the need to drink. Do not drink strong coffee to cure your hangover unless the bottles of your favorite alcoholic beverages are out of reach.

And, strange as it may seem, it is possible to perpetuate the hangover by just watching a drink. A psychological research team at the University of Pittsburgh found that just the sight of an alcoholic beverage reduces the reaction times of alcoholic men more than the sight of a glass of water. Just thinking about drinking keeps you drunk. If you are having a hangover in the morning after the party, postpone cleaning until you feel better, and turn off the television, especially the programs that feature alcohol advertising.

Giving your liver a break after alcohol and drug detoxification

The liver is not a moralist. It works just as hard detox prescription drugs and illegal drugs. However, what commentators with an alternative health orientation often overlook is the fact that the liver is not only a detoxification organ, but also a pre-toxifying organ. Some chemicals are not toxic until after the liver has processed them.

These include acetaminophen pain reliever without a prescription, which is the main ingredient in the anti-cancer drug tamoxifen, and a class of diabetes medications called TZD (which is short for), including Actos and Avandia. As detoxification from other drugs and alcohol and liver becomes healthier, some medications actually become more problematic. If you are detoxifying or In the recovery of drugs or alcohol, ask your doctor about alternative medications.

Fortunately there are always alternatives, both prescription and natural, for addiction and drug and alcohol abuse. Your first step is simply to decide, at least for today, you are going to take control over your life and your health.