|
Dr.
James Cocores
“When you eat, you’re not just
refueling your body, you’re
feeding your brain”
Dr. James Cocores.
|
|
Nutritional and Lifestyle
Aspects of Alcohol
Detoxification and Recovery
Alcohol becomes one of the
deadliest drugs when
frequent users quit “cold
turkey.” For this reason,
alcohol cessation should
only be attempted under the
supervision of a physician
experienced in alcohol
dependence. Otherwise,
fatalities are much
more likely to occur
during the first
three days of
abstinence and most
often on the third
day of being “on the
wagon” due to marked
electro-chemical
activity in the
brain, commonly
known as alcohol
withdrawal seizures.
|
|
 |
|
Seizures occur
because alcohol
temporarily calms
brain
electro-chemical
activity, which
produces a serene
feeling in most
users (but not in
others, such as many
of Japanese
heritage). This only
lasts about an hour,
however. After the
chemo-serenity wears
off, the brain
starts rushing, much
like an employed
person who has slept
an hour past her or
his morning alarm.
Milder increases in
brain
electro-chemical
activity or mild
withdrawal is why
even social drinkers
sometimes can’t fall
asleep on nights
after drinking wine
or beer with dinner;
the makers of
novo-sleeping pills
such as Ambien and Rozerem might be
more instructive if they
mentioned this and other
common causes of insomnia in
their package inserts.
|
As far back as 1984, Dr.
Cocores has been asked by
thousands of people
undergoing medical
detoxification and
rehabilitation from alcohol
addiction, “Which foods
should I eat, and which
foods should I avoid?” For
this reason he developed an
alcohol detoxification and
withdrawal diet to help
reduce the uncomfortable
feelings associated with
alcohol withdrawal and
recovery, such as
depression, attention
deficit, obsessive worry,
irritability, anxiety,
tension, impatience,
intolerance, overwhelming
frustration, and many other
toxic feelings that help
drive people to their next
drink. A form of the alcohol
withdrawal diet was
published as the “Sobriety
Diet” in The 800-Cocaine
Book Of Drug And Alcohol
Recovery by Villard Books, a
division of Random House, in
1990 and then again by
Fireside, a division of
Simon and Schuster, in 1991.
A more elaborate version was
published in the medical
textbook, The Clinical
Management of Nicotine
Dependence, by Springer-Verlag
in 1991. The alcohol
detoxification and recovery
diet that follows is derived
from
BRIGHTFOODS: Discover
the Surprising Link Between
Food and Learning, Memory,
Mood, and Performance,
published in December 2006.
Although uncomfortable
withdrawal and recovery
symptoms associated with
alcohol detoxification and
treatment can greatly
improve by following the
Alcohol Detox Diet, it is
not a replacement for
medically supervised alcohol
detoxification. It’s just
what the doctor ordered,
however, when used in
conjunction with a medically
supervised drug
detoxification and recovery
program.
|
|
