
Diamond Tree Health & Wellness Policy
by Jordan BurninghamJanuary 31, 2019 Amino Acid, Evidence-Based, Frontal Lobe Rehabilitation, Holistic, Life Skills, Nutrition1 comment
Diamond Tree Recovery is dedicated to improving your overall health. Our goal is to facilitate improvements to the physiology of your brain and body to sustain long term health and recovery. Research suggests that when all addictive pleasure-inducing substances are removed the brain changes and allows for better impulse control and executive functioning.
Diamond Tree Recovery is unlike any other treatment center because of these 4 areas of innovation:
Wellness Protocols and Treatment;
- Accelerated Healing
- Evidence-Based Nutrition
- Optimal Supplementation
- Radical Well-Being
- Lifestyle Medicine/Healthy Routines
- Eastern/Western Hybrid Medicine
- Frontal Lobe Rehabilitation
- Amygdala/VTA/Nucleus Accumbens downregulation
- Essential Fatty Acids & Amino Acids Supplementation
- Executive Planning & Mindfulness Practice
- Practical Life Management
- Job/Life Skills Training & Affordable Housing
- AfterCare & Alumni Services

We want to help all people suffering from the pains and chains of addiction. That being said we understand that our program is hyperfocused on optimal health and nutrition which includes holistic lifestyle medicine and Organic Plant Based Nutrition to achieve optimal health and accelerate healing we need to remove toxins and nourish the body.
We have evidence suggesting that optimal healing is delayed when cigarettes are consumed. To accomplish these crucial steps of optimal health and recovery it is imperative to stop smoking cigarettes. Facilities that allow you to smoke must ignore the decades of research indicating damage to organs, tissues and cells.
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.
– Robert Frost
We understand how difficult it can be to stop smoking especially while trying to get off other substances. For this reason we have created a protocol and policy aimed to help an individual stop smoking cigarettes.
Nicotine Policy
- Week One, Diamond Tree will supply 1 vape pen (2.1 nicotine, herbal or vitamin vape). Pens last about 500 puffs and are allowed after mealtime cleanup and bedtime. Diamond Tree will administer nicotine patch up to 21 mg (purchased by patient).
- Week Two, Diamond Tree will administer up to 14 mg nicotine patch and allow nicotine free vaping after mealtime cleanup and bedtime.
- Week Three, Diamond Tree will administer up to 7 mg nicotine patches and allow nicotine free vaping after mealtime cleanup and bedtime.
- Week Four, Nicotine free. Herbal/vitamin vaping will be allowed after mealtime cleanup and bedtime.
Accelerated Brain Healing & Wellness Protocol
- Sufficient daily clean water consumption: ½ body weight in ounces
- Organic Plant Based Nutrition
- NeuroAmino SP
- Omega Co3
- A, D, E, K
- Clearvite CHC
- Methyl SP
- Daily Yoga
- Anti-Inflammatory diet
- Journaling
- Proper Sleep Hygiene
Pharmacueticals to Farmaceuticals
We know that most pharmaceutical drugs interact one way or another with the nervous system and neurochemistry. When this happens it can create inhibitory effects on our bodies natural healing mechanisms. In addition, our brain is tricked by synthetic chemicals and the brain is required to adapt to these external chemicals. This neuroadaptation and reward deficiencies are the root cause of most addictions and mental illness. One way or another the brain has adapted to the physical, chemical or emotional stress/trauma that has occurred.
The human body is a complex organism. It may require more extensive rehab post traumatic event. Traumatic events may include poor nutrition, toxic exposure from drugs/environment or emotional/physical trauma. This will eventually cause physical damage to the brain and other organs.
In order to reverse this damage these toxins must all be removed and proper nutrients, water, amino acids and essential fatty acids are required. Our nutritionist is also a Master Herbalist. She can find herbal and nutritional combinations that promote and produce natural healing. Diamond Tree wants to give your body plant medicine that works with your body, not against or blocking to the nervous system.
Radical Well-Being
We recognize that most individuals in residential treatment are battling addictions and mental illnesses that are more immediately life threatening than sugar, nicotine and caffeine. That being said we also know that in order to heal rapidly, create optimal health and repair proper brain function, we need to remove all toxic and addictive chemicals.
Toxic or addictive substances may include:
- Drugs ie. Illicit, Pharmaceutical, synthetic
- Alcohol
- Cigarettes, tobacco
- Refined Sugar
- Packaged/Processed Food
- Gluten
- Dairy
Evidence-Based Nutrition
Diamond Tree receives a lot of positive and negative feedback about its strict nutrition protocols. Nutritionists, cooks, and herbalists have put together meals that provide optimal nourishment for healing and vitality! It’s difficult to feel happy and vibrant when you eat packaged, processed and toxic food. Most of the feel-good chemicals are produced in the gut so what you put in there drastically affects the way you feel.
Frontal Lobe Rehabilitation
Our ability to make better decisions comes from our ability to weigh out pros and cons and think through potential consequences of that decision. Neurologists have identified that the frontal lobe of the brain is where we process information logically and executively. This part of the brain is really what separates us from the beasts of the earth. When we are in active addiction the frontal lobe becomes deactivated or hijacked by the primal midbrain. The midbrain is impulsive and only thinks about short term or immediate consequences. Motivated by pleasure, this part of the brain becomes overactive while in active addiction and starts to control your decisions based on getting immediate pleasure.
Diamond Tree wants to provide treatment that truly creates physiological changes in the brain to produce long-lasting success. In order to truly change the brain, we need to desensitize the primal brain. By removing all instant gratification and chemical stimulants we can reduce activity in that area of the brain. We then increase consequence activities and proper nutrition to build the frontal lobe. This will improve decision making and allow you to have control over cravings and to make better life choices. This will also help you build the mid-frontal cortex which controls our ability to empathize and be compassionate to others. The selfish and impulsive drug addict can recover into a healthy, logical, compassionate individual.
Life / Case Management
When an individual becomes addicted they tend to make poor decisions. These poor decisions tend to get them fired from jobs, kicked out of housing, burn bridges with loved ones and fall behind in all areas of life. It is imperative for a treatment plan to include proper case management.
At Diamond Tree, we take case management to the next level and we consider it whole life management. Diamond Tree contacts the people closest to you to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. We use that info along with personal information and help you find work that you will excel at and enjoy. We help you develop skills and passions. Whether you need help coordinating court requirements, repairing relationships, budgeting, resume building, job searching, aftercare planning or transitional housing, Diamond Tree does what’s necessary to help each individual set up the best chance for success possible!
Passion & Purpose
Along with Life Management comes the important role of passion and purpose in creating a life full of health and happiness. Passion comes when you participate in an activity that you enjoy so much that you can lose track of time. These activities are crucial to find because it gives us things to look forward to and reasons to do the work. Diamond Tree puts a large emphasis on exploring passions and purpose for each individual. We want to help you schedule, in your life, activities that light your fire and motivate you to be your best! As we help you discover your passions and purpose we can then help you schedule your daily routines to be in line with your purpose.
If we can help you remove toxins and detox, accelerate healing with optimal nutrition, create radical wellbeing with healthy routines and Lifestyle Medicine, restore proper brain function with Frontal Lobe Rehabilitation and help you manage your life to allow you to pursue passions with adventure therapy and connect to a purpose that connects to your soul we can create a life that allows for the best chance of success and long term recovery!

The Missing Link to Overcoming Addictions
Nutrition: Essential Fatty Acids and Anti-inflammatory nutrients
Have you ever noticed how behavior in children changes dramatically when they are hungry? This is even more true of addicts, who, over time, have starved their brains of vital nutrients critical for optimal brain function, thereby exacerbating their behavioral disorders and inhibiting effective recovery.
Alcohol is not the only abused chemical, but perhaps the most and yet surprisingly unacknowledged worldwide cause of brain damage, cognitive impairment, and dementia. Many substances abused over years cause mental impairment. And let’s just state the obvious, when your brain isn’t working, you will struggle with mental illness.
Interviewing many of our patients, they tell us their addiction was about just needing something to get through the day, then fall asleep at night. Sometimes that was alcohol, cigarettes, or cannabis, other times it was harder substances like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines. Still, others were on prescription medications, like antidepressants or benzodiazepines, and had no idea how they could possibly live without them
Upon entering the program at Diamond Tree Recovery, nutritionist Amanda Kotter, MH, CN, author of “Mother Nature’s Medicine”, provides nutrient-rich meals to patients, most of whom would rather have a hamburger and fries. Very soon, however, they begin to feel differently. Their attitudes shift as they feel their health returning. Often times they assist in the food preparation and planning. By the end of their stay, they are asking for her cookbook.
Celery is not cookies. Essential nutrients are needed to help minimize withdrawal symptoms during detox and reduce cravings during recovery. Any plan for long-term abstinence must include an optimal nutrition plan.
– Amanda Kotter – MH, CN

In his book “End Your Addiction Now”, Dr. Charles Grant, physician and psychiatric consultant, says, “Unless the biochemical imbalances which are the true causes of substance problems are corrected, the benefits of psychological counseling will be marginal for most people.” (1)(2)
Recent studies reveal that drugs physically change the structure and function of the brain, which can lead to cravings. (A full list of studies is available for download at the end of this article.)
Several studies show a relationship between vitamin and mineral deficiencies and metabolic imbalances that tend to create addictive cravings. One such study by Dr. Roger Williams, the biochemist who discovered pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), showed that rats deficient in certain vitamins consumed more alcohol than those not vitamin deficient. But when those vitamin deficiencies were supplemented, alcohol consumption decreased.
It is well-established that nutritional deficiencies affect brain health in critical ways:
- abnormal neuronal development
- disruptions in regulatory processes, such as the sleep-wake cycle
- sub-optimal performance in global measurements of cognition, motor skills, and social-emotional behavior
- cognitive deficits associated with reductions in learning capacity and productivity.(3)
Ultimately, these nutritional deficiencies can cause fatigue, depression, and irritability, all triggers that can block recovery and lead to a relapse.
The good news is those high-quality bioavailable nutrients that are so important to combating and correcting all of this are readily available to us in good foods and supplements. Contact Diamond Tree Recovery today for more information!
1. Grant, Charles, M.D., Ph.D. and Greg Lewis, Ph.D. End Your Addiction Now. (NY, NY: Warner Books, Inc.), 2002
2. Nutrition in Addiction Recovery – Many Hands Organic Farm http://www.mhof.net/sites/default/files/Addiction%20and%20Recovery%20Report.pdf
3. NIH Public Access Neurodevelopment and Childhood Behaviors http://www.talkingaboutthescience.com/studies/Hibbeln2014.pdf
For a list of studies supporting brain nutrition, click the button below
Download References
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Amino Acid Therapy for Addiction
If you have ever experienced an addiction, you may remember the addiction was not so much about what you were addicted to, but more about why you were addicted to it. Recent research indicates the brain and its functions play a much more significant role in addictive behavior than previously believed. In fact, it is nearly impossible to overcome chemical dependencies without physically changing the way the brain is working.
Experts today typically argue that addictions are more a psychological problem than a physical. The controversy continues; is addiction a disease or a mental illness? However, endlessly debating what causes addiction or arguing why a person made certain choices isn’t immediately helpful to those grappling with its effects right now. Effective treatments need to be discovered without delay to help these individuals function in daily life, or, in some cases, save their life.
Enter Amino Acid Therapy
An incredibly promising holistic treatment known as Amino Acid Therapy has been demonstrating positive results in the lives of those afflicted with addiction. Aimed directly at repairing areas of the brain negatively affected through the years by substance abuse, Amino Acid Therapy can restore damaged tissue to normal.
Most addicts have been nutrient depleted from years of substance misuse. Their chemical dependency has taken a severe toll on the body and has left the brain in a state of disrepair. By replenishing vital nutrients, these patients can help their bodies and brains recover, and key among these nutrients, are amino acids. Amino acids directly influence the neurotransmitters of the brain improving perception, mood, and focus. When left in disrepair, our brains are confused as to what brings pleasure, subject to wide mood swings, and can launch a recovering addict into early relapse.

Neurotransmitters are those things in our brains that often influence our mood and increase our cravings. Those we hear of most include serotonin and melatonin, which influence our sleep, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine that drive our adrenaline or could leave us with depression or anxiety.
Most people don’t understand that neurotransmitter imbalances are often responsible for dramatic changes in our health or that they can cause or exacerbate conditions such as depression, anxiety, migraines, insomnia, cravings, increased appetite, low pain tolerance, hot flashes, mood swings and frequently provide a stimulus for relapse.
Studies show that treatment for substance abuse without treating the brain is less effective, and the results are short-lived. Those who strengthen the brain’s neurotransmitters with a steady stream of amino acids are rebuilding and restoring important decision centers within the brain. They are freeing themselves from the cycle allowing other treatment modalities to take hold.
If you’re looking for an addiction treatment center you can trust, Diamond Tree Recovery can help you through treatment from start to finish. Amino acid therapy from Diamond Tree can help you finally beat your addiction. Our cutting-edge treatment options are available to anyone and are an essential component of our success formula!
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