"In the 21st century, treatment of mental health issues [alcoholism, depression, anxiety, drug addiction, violent mood swings, etc.] will focus on physical, holistic healing through biochemical restoration, repair, and balance."

 

The HRC Hypoglycemic (Anti-allergy) Diet for Alcoholics

This diet is extremely healthy. It is high in complex carbohydrates and temporarily eliminates dairy products and wheat. Before you begin, read the following instructions:

• One meal each day should consist largely of vegetables. Big salads will do the trick.
• When buying food, read labels carefully. Most canned soup and juice, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, salad dressing, and canned vegetables contain sugar and/or starch. You can get sugar-free products at food co-ops or health-food stores.
• Do not use any food that lists sugar among the first four ingredients on the label.
• Throw out junk food containing refined sugar. You will be snacking on healthy foods frequently so you won't feel hungry.
• Substitute soy milk or fresh goat's milk or Rice Dream (Imagine Foods, Palo Alto, California) for cow's milk. Some HRC clients are afraid that goat's milk will taste terrible, but most find that it tastes just like cow's milk (but, I admit, it depends on the goat).
• Avoid aspirin compounds including Anacin; Empirin, cold tablets; Midol, Trigesic, and medications containing alcohol (read the labels). Bayer aspirin is caffeine-free and may be used.

Suggested daily menus can be found in the book, Seven Weeks to Sobriety.

 

Shopping Tips

• Choose foods that are as close to their natural state as possible: fresh vegetables and fruits; fresh meats, fish, chicken, and eggs; raw nuts and seeds; and fresh salad greens.
• Avoid canned, processed, dyed, chemically flavored, frozen, additive-laden foods.
• If you can't find millet bread or brown rice bread at your super-market, try a food cooperative. Some health-food stores also carry these whole-grain substitutes for wheat bread. Before you buy rye or oat bread, read the label. Wheat is usually the first ingredient listed.
• Don't buy roasted nuts. The process of high-heat roasting cause undesirable changes in the natural oils the nuts contain. In the body, this altered oil can promote formation of free radicals, dangerously unstable molecules capable of damaging healthy tissue and promoting the development of cancer. Choose only raw nuts and seeds.
• Pass up luncheon meats (Spam, bacon, ham, bologna). They are loaded with refined sugars and cancer-causing nitrates.
• You can find fruit-sweetened jams at a food co-op or health food store.
• Drink flavored sparkling water (read the label to confirm that it is sugar free).
• Cut your salt intake by using lite salt, which is half potassium (needed for cellular energy) and half sodium.

 

Meal Preparation Tips

• Peel fruits and vegetables or remove outer layers to avoid pesticide residues.
• Steam your vegetables (if you cook them in water, you will lose much of their vitamin and mineral content). You can get a steamer that fits inside any pot in most houseware departments. Cook vegetables until they are almost tender, not soggy.
• Raw vegetables are your best choice; they also make excellent snacks.
• Use fruit juice on cereal if you don't have soy, rice, or goat's milk (The ban on cow's milk is only a temporary measure until you have had your allergy test.)
• Keep a lot of assorted nuts, sunflower seeds, apples, oranges, carrot sticks, celery, and other raw vegetables on hand for snacking.

 

The HRC Modified Diet for Carbohydrate Sensitive Persons

Many alcoholics prove to be so reactive to simple sugars that the preceding diet is not suited to them.

Over the last few years Health Recovery Center has discovered another effective approach that addresses carbohydrate sensitivity thereby reducing the overproduction of insulin. Insulin is the prime cause of hypoglycemic reactions, i.e., mood swings, dizziness, fatigue, inability to concentrate, headaches, irritability, and depression. And the overproduction of insulin is the number-one reason you can't lose weight. Insulin is the fat-storing hormone.

The new low-fat craze has tricked many into trading fat for sugar. Every package that proclaims low fat or no fat has increased the carbohydrates to replace the missing fats. To the hypoglycemic, this is a disaster because more carbos mean more insulin. Actually fats do not trigger insulin. They convert, slowly and steadily, to glucose, the brain's fuel. And natural fats, not the partially dehydrogenated man-made fats, are essential to our emotional stability. The gray matter of our brains is composed mainly of essential fatty acids (EFAs) made from fats. We need these EFAs to prevent depression, to create a sense of well-being, to control hormonal distribution, and to regulate cholesterol metabolism. Good fat can protect against heart disease, diabetes, hyperactivity, arthritis and PMS.

Additional information can be found in the book Seven Weeks to Sobriety, chapter 7:

• Suggested Daily Menus with a specific breakdown of safe foods and foods to avoid
• A carbohydrate addiction screening test to determine if you are a candidate for the Low-Carbo Diet
• The foods to consume and the foods to avoid on the Low-Carbohydrate Diet.
  

Information on this website is reprinted from the book, Seven Weeks to Sobriety by Joan Mathews Larson, Ph.D. (ISBN 0-449-00259-4) ©1991-2000. All rights reserved. This information may not be reproduced without permission from Villard Books, a division of Random House Inc. and Joan Mathews Larson, Ph.D.

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Opening Page

The Health Recovery Center

Seven Weeks to Sobriety: Testimonials | Joan's story | The Best-Kept Secret | Its Not All In Your Mind | The Difference in Drinkers | Alcoholism's Genetic Link

Replacement Formulas: Aggression, Anger, and Irritability | Anxiety | Fatigue | Insomnia | Memory loss | Pain Control | Stress | Tremors/ Shakiness | Short Attention Span / Poor Concentration | Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

Biochemical Traps That Block Recovery: Test Yourself for Chemical Sensitivities | How to Turn Off Chemical Reactions | Food Allergies | Compulsive Eating Disorders | The Elimination Diet | Breaking Food Allergy /Addiction | Total Load Concept of Stress | Building-Block Theory of Immune System Breakdown from Stress Overload | Candida Albicans | The Nature of the Yeast | Alcoholics and Candida | Treating Candida

Liver Repair, Histamine & Thyroid: | Liver Repair | Thyroid Function | Serum Zinc | Serum Histamine | Paranoia/Low Histamine | High Histamine | Compulsive/Obsessiveness

Biochemical Depression: | How Can You Tell If You Are Depressed | The 7 Kinds of
Alcoholic Depression | Neurotransmitter Depletion and Depression | A Word of Caution
About 5-HTP Tryptophan | St.-John's-Wort (Hypericum) | Unavailability of Prostaglandin E, and Depression | Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency and Depression | Hypothyroidism and Depression | Hypoglycemia and Depression | Food and Chemical Allergies and Depression | Candida-Related Complex and Depression | Suicide and Depression

Correcting Chemistry: Hypoglycemia and Alcoholism: Glucose Patterns in Health Recovery Center Clients | Hypoglycemic Symptoms | The Hypoglycemic Cycle | The Role of the Adrenals | The Dry-Drunk Syndrome = Masked Hypoglycemia | Controlling Hypoglycemia | The Diet | Key Nutrients That Block Sugar Cravings | Caffeine and Nicotine Have to Go | The HRC Hypoglycemic (Anti-allergy) Diet for Alcoholics | Shopping Tips | Meal Preparation Tips

Planning The Future: Physical Strategies That Heal | Kicking the Cigarette Habit | Your Diet During Recovery | The Rewards of Exercise | Your Maintenance Nutrient Program | Psychological Strategies That Work | Build Yourself a Support System

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