Diet for the newly sober
 

So everywhere you go, every website tells you to stay away from junk food and eat healthy. I'm eating healthy, but i'm getting sick of it only because I can't bring myself to cook. My depression and anger have been so bad that forcing myself to shower and brush my teeth is a huge event. I wouldn't get out of bed at all if I didn't have to. The only time I cook is when I make an egg for breakfast every morning, or when I microwave a sweet potato or an Amy's frozen meal.

So i'm just curious, what did you guys eat when you were newly sober? I see a lot of people get cravings for sweets but I haven't had that issue. I don't have an appetite at all. I'm just eating to survive.

I've lost count of my days but I know i'm at least 2 weeks sober.

I don't remember exactly what I ate in early recovery. I just know that any time I feel bad, I try to eat 'easy' food, like soup and toast and bananas. Veggies and fruits too. I did indulge my craving for dark chocolate tho, and still do, but my diet is mostly healthy stuff.

Not having an appetite could just be due to being in early recovery. It's a time of things being out of balance, when your body and brain have to readjust to normal functioning again.

If you're concerned about getting the proper nutrition, you could even drink those nutrient-dense drinks, just to make sure you're getting the vitamins and minerals you need.

Another way to get up an appetite is to exercise. Even just moderate walking once or twice a day can help.

I ate whatever I wanted because quitting drinking was super hard already.

Mentally, I felt like I was tired, but physically I had more energy and stamina then ever because the poison was out of my system.

I laid around a bunch, all the time. Naps esp. because I didn't sleep well for several months. But, poor sober sleep is better than a bunch of drunk sleep.

So, eat whatever you want, but try to work out. It also helps with the anxiety etc. Booze alters our chemical balance for a long long time after we quit.

Thanks.

My diet has not changed. I'm still eating the same foods minus the alcohol.

Heya Relena, it sounds super rough for you right now. At this point just getting through the days not drinking is plenty.

I wish you could do more than just survive right now but for many this time is just brutal and survival is really the point. Eat whatever you can get yourself to eat . . .yep, nice if it is healthy but not the biggest deal right now.

Thanks for the replies guys. I also lost my only friend in real life recently so that has made my long seemingly endless boring and awful days even longer.

It's already difficult finding ways to pass the time. If I could sleep for the next 6 months and not have to wake up and have muscle atrophy and all the complications due to sleeping for so long I would choose that in an instant.

Becoming sober is the only thing going on in my life. So i'm trying to do it as perfect as I possibly can, hoping it might speed up the process of my mind and body healing.

I ate whatever the hell I wanted because my diet was the last thing on my mind at the time. My goto when a craving/AV would come around was Oreo cookies and water.

Hi relena. I felt crazy a lot of the time in the beginning, meaning at least the first year. And it didn't just disappear forever.

You describe a few cardinal symptoms of a depressive episode. Loss of appetite/unplanned weight loss are most concerning. How are you sleeping?

I had an extended major depressive episode when I was sober for about eleven years. Food was about as appealing to me as eating cardboard. I dropped from ~155 pounds to a low of 129 ibs. in less than six weeks. Didn't sleep. I was doing the kind of work that I loved at that time. It took a lot of work to work through the depression, but I believed that the effort would bring me to a better place. That's what I'd experienced while struggling through sobriety. Surviving the suffering was a ticket out.

I agree that it's a good thing to worry about your diet after you get some experience being sober; that getting sober is a priority.

You've been through a lot. Treat yourself as well as you're able to, as you would someone you care about.

EndGame i'm not sleeping at all really, and when I do sleep i'm going to sleep after the sun has been up for a few hours already.

I'm really sorry to hear what you've been through. I've struggled with anxiety and depression since I was young. But this is the worst it's ever been in my life. I can't even play with my kid without breaking down into tears and retreating to my room. I don't know what i'd do without my parents. I can't help but feel so discouraged when I hear stories like yours. I wonder what am I doing this for. To be alive just to be miserable and make my daughter's life miserable in the process?

I hate my life.

Hey relena, how about getting professional help? I was just like you 2 weeks ago, now I function better with meds. I have always been taking different supplements as well even when drinking. Your doctor will know how to help. My diet is relatively clean now. I used to eat a lot of crap while drinking (I'm also a double winner as I used to struggle with bulimia a year or two ago, I recovered on my own somehow). Now that I quit the booze, I am mostly attracted by whole foods and I cook again.

So my advice, just do what you can do and feel like doing for the time being, staying sober is already a very brave step ;) And see your doctor, OK?

Hey. I left the wrong impression about my struggles with depression. My father had been diagnosed with lung cancer and I had ended a long-term relationship at around the same time.

I saw a therapist and, after a year without significant improvement, I started with medication. Things changed very gradually and struggling with it did indeed bring me to a better place. I haven't had another episode since that, time twenty-six years later.

I used to treat people with major/clinical depression as well for several years. I'm familiar with the ordeal. Sometimes the act in itself, reaching out for help, can be transformative and can create a boost to keep us going.

I'm very hopeful for people with depression. I believe that working with a therapist can make a significant difference.

Life is difficult for you right now. You're suffering. It sounds like it's been going on for a while.

We're always in a hurry when attempting to shed our fear; some things work out better when we slow things down in our lives.

I spent the last bit of money I had in my account getting blood work done. I don't have insurance or a job and can't work right now.

I went to several different therapists, psychiatrists, did counseling, even spent a month in a hospital being treated for my depression 13 years before I had ever touched alcohol to my lips. I've been on every antidepressant you could think of, antipsychotics, antianxiety meds.

Lucky for me I was diagnosed at such an early age while I still was on my parent's insurance. That they had decent jobs and took my pain seriously. I'm sorry for them it didn't amount to anything.

When I had my longest stretch in sobriety I had a very strict diet of fruits, nuts & vegetables with fish being the only meat I would eat. Also drank tons of water. For exercise I walked all over the place everyday for the first 3 months. Completely transformed me.

I'm usually a very strict, healthy eater but when I am getting off a bender I eat whatever I can until my appetite returns to normal.

If I eat carbs I want carbs from booze. Low carbs from Atkins or whatever it's rebranded to works for me.

I allowed myself to eat what I wanted to for the first three weeks. I had lost some weight during the last of my drinking days, so was happy to gain some back. But, after that, I went back to fairly healthy eating and I also began exercising at the beginning of my recovery. I also had anxiety/depression from my teenage years on. And, I didn't drink at all until my mid-forties. I was never properly diagnosed or treated for depression. I got to a point in my early forties when I turned to alcohol to help me sleep and quickly became addicted. Finally, I was able to find medication that helped me. It sounds like you've tried everything you can think of to help you and nothing has worked. But, I urge you to not give up hope. Maybe there is a medication that will work for you in the right dosage, or maybe a combination of exercise and medication.

Thank you for the tips guys. Puckluck I wish I could do that so badly. I don't know what is wrong with me. I have a really adventurous palate, but I just can't do fish. I've been laying off of meat entirely for now.

Going to let myself have some turkey on Thursday if i'm in the mood for it.

It was difficult at first, for sure! When I started getting compliments and people saying how healthy and good I looked, it really just motivated me more. I did it for 8 months. It's almost hard to look at my pictures from that time because now with the meds I am on, the boozing and not caring about my diet... I've definitely let myself go from where I was at. I'm right there with ya though as I need to get motivated and back on it. I have beyond struggled with all motivation the last two years. The depression has just been soul crushing. :cry2

Oh I was just saying I think fish is completely disgusting.