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Title: Beat Addictions = Naturally Post by: Daniel Franklin on November 03, 2007, 03:01:12 PM Why is an addiction is so hard to break? Why is it so hard to throw away the last cigarette and quit? Recent research has proven people become addicted to things because there are abnormal levels of certain chemical messengers in the brain (too many of some messengers, not enough of others). This leads to chronic imbalance in the body, which causes a person to want to eat more, drink more, or take drugs. But the drugs will only help the imbalance for a short time, and before you know it, you will need to take more and more of them, causing an addiction. The better way to bring the messengers to their required level is with proper diet and nutrition. You will be pleased to discover that it is almost the usual recommended diet. Lower sugar intake - Sugar leads to a temporary high and then a crash, which causes mood slumps and a craving for alcohol, drugs and more sugar. Increase grain consumption- Eat more raw or lightly cooked fruits and vegetables, use brown rice instead of white, and eat oatmeal for breakfast. Eat protein when snacking - This will help balance blood sugar. Try eating hard-boiled eggs, cheese, nuts, peanut butter and apples every two or three hours. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to break the addiction by just changing the diet; it will take a long time and a lot of dedication. This is why natural methods have a higher success rate. This does not include the 12-step programs, where you introduce yourself and state that you have an addiction, and then your peers are supposed to help you by making you feel badly if you fall off the wagon. Those programs do work, but they are not affective by themselves. In fact, 70 to 85 percent of addicts will relapse within 6-12 months of leaving the step programs. With holistic methods, professionals will do tests to check liver and kidney function, and nutritional status. Then they perform psychological surveys to see what brain chemicals are not functioning correctly. Different vitamin levels will be prescribed for each person. Vitamins are then put into the system intravenously, bypassing damage to the gastrointestinal system that would limit the ability to absorb nutrients. The vitamins most often needed are Vitamin C, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, and Vitamin B. The Vitamin IV is usually recommended for six to ten days. This seems like a much better way to cure an addiction than to put someone on another drug, like sedatives or stimulates. It will have a life-long affect on your health, and probably a side benefit of natural weight loss. If you are interested in learning more, try to find a Health Recovery Center in your area, or a Holistic Health Clinic. Because vitamin deficiencies are the main cause of cravings, the vitamin therapy can stop the withdrawal that leads to relapse with other programs (like the 12-step programs). Once brain chemistry is re-balanced and the body absorbs the nutrients on its own, patients can start taking vitamins orally along with nutritional counseling. Holistic programs claim to have a 85 percent success rate in curing addictions, so they are definitely worth checking into. Articles Source - Free Articles About the Author For more information on Drug and Alcohol Addiction visit:http://www.clean-sober-forever.com This article may be reprinted if all content is unchanged and all hyperlinks remain active. |