subject: Understanding The Nutrients That Alcoholics Need During The Recovery Process [print this page] Alcohol dependency is common to people who drink alcohol for a long term and at an excessive amount. As an alcoholic stops drinking, it is essential that his body is able to function without the use of alcohol. The muscle tissue and body organ injuries that he may experience should be fixed through the intake of the proper kind of foods.
Alcohol dependency impacts an alcoholic's health significantly. Because of the habit, he may experience cirrhosis as his liver is damaged. When an alcoholic has completed any drug abuse program and is already in the process of recovery, he may also need to replace calcium in his bones. While diet cannot treat organ issues, certain dietary options are likely to assist in reversing alcohol-related damages to a person's body organs.
Vitamin K Rich Foods
Individuals need vitamin K to prevent too much bleeding and for blood clotting. Alcoholics may have a deficiency in vitamin K. According to drug addiction programs specialists, foods that are rich in vitamin K are helpful in dealing with this deficiency and may help in lowering liver bleeding. Vitamin K can be gotten from beef liver, eggs, broccoli, avocados and strawberries.
Foods With Beta-Carotene
Alcohol addicts may have vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A is essential in preventing more liver cell injuries and infections. But, it can be toxic to dose enough amount of vitamin to fix the deficiency. Beta-carotene, a vitamin A precursor, fixes such deficiency without the toxicity issue. Beta-carotene can be gotten from spinach, apricot, sweet peppers and mangoes.
Foods that have Zinc
Zinc may be helpful in preventing more injuries to an alcoholic's liver that are due to lipids and toxins in his body. As alcohol dependency can increase triglyceride levels, it is likely for the liver to sustain lipid damage even if the alcoholic has quit drinking. Zinc helps in the re-development of new cells in the liver. It can be acquired from pork, fish, beef, eggs, pecans and mushrooms.
Legumes
Chickpeas, lima beans, black beans, lentils and soybeans are legumes that have arginine, an amino acid which is likely to inhibit the release of ammonia in a person's body during digestion. When the ammonia level in an alcoholic's bloodstream is high, this may lead to toxicity to his liver which may stop healing.
An alcoholic may suffer from various damages in his body organs. However, the liver is the most affected part. Because of this, a recovering alcoholic should take in the right type of food that will help in curing the scarred liver.
