Accelerated Healing in Addiction Recovery
There is evidence that drug addiction shares features with other chronic illnesses, such as 1)heredity – it may run in families, 2)it is potentially influenced by environmental conditions and behavior; and, 3)patients typically respond to appropriate treatment, which often includes long-term lifestyle modification. Addiction, like heart disease, cancers, and type II diabetes, is a real and complex disease.
A frequent and recurring topic of discussion among those responsible for treating chronic addiction is the need for new, effective treatments. Like so many treatment options, when just the symptoms are addressed, as opposed to the underlying causes, results will be limited or lasting only in the short term.
So, while genetic research offers significant promise for our future health prospects, there are other innovative, clinically proven approaches to care that can be effective right now.
Maximizing the patient’s ability to recover more quickly and more permanently, will be well accepted in the continually changing substance abuse landscape. Substance abusers have long been looking for “better care” not just “more care.”
– Diamond Tree
Bring On Accelerated Healing
Because chronic addiction can be so difficult to overcome and the causes so complicated, there really is no singular solution for recovery. But an ingestible, plant-based treatment that can help expedite recovery, regardless of a patient’s underlying disorders, may provide a pathway to that end and is undoubtedly one treatment modality for clinicians in either inpatient or outpatient arena to consider.
It is true that people do choose behaviors that have undesirable results. An essential component of any credible addiction recovery treatment program will include elements of personal responsibility and behavioral change. But add to that program Accelerated Healing as a treatment modality and watch real change begin. Specifically designed to be applied after initial treatment to improve the effectiveness of the initial treatment and to help suppress the possibility of relapse, Accelerated Healing treatment provides vital nutrients that are critical to cell repair and function throughout the body and the brain. It may also increase the effectiveness of other modalities in patients previously unresponsive to addiction treatment.
Many recovery patients are likely (and unknowingly) living with nutritional deficiencies that frustrate treatment protocols from ensuring successful healing. Nearly two-thirds of patients being treated for substance abuse may not reach complete closure, even with long-term care. It should come as no surprise to anyone that cellular regeneration can be achieved by ensuring patients receive nutrients that are critical and essential to cellular functionality and restoration.
If you want to see improvements in your long-term outcome, try this new treatment modality at Diamond Tree Recovery. You will receive organic plant-based nutrient-dense meals, clean water, specialized supplementation protocols and oxygenation of the tissues through fitness. These are some of the crucial keys to Accelerated Healing on your path to recovery.
How Do We Do It?
- Remove the obstacles/dependency inhibiting healing, (Detox)
- Restore of the body to homeostasis (Lifestyle medicine)
- Give the cells and tissues what they need to heal and repair (Evidence-based nutrition)
Diamond Tree Health & Wellness Policy
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
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