Mineral Detoxification 

Substance use disorder creates imbalances throughout the body that leave you in a malnourished state. The detox process works to flush drugs and alcohol out of your system and any accumulated toxins. Mineral detoxification offers the best of both worlds, strengthening the body’s natural detox mechanisms while also helping it repair and rebuild. These benefits can go a long way towards making the detox process easier.

Addiction and Nutritional Deficiencies

If you abuse drugs or alcohol on an ongoing basis, you’ll likely fall into a lifestyle that’s drug-centric. Eating habits change, maybe you’ll exercise less, and sleep may come less easily or not at all. All of these changes impact your nutritional levels and your body’s ability to extract nutrients from food as it should. Under these conditions, nutrient deficiencies will develop over time.

Now that you’re considering detoxing, replenishing the body’s nutrient supply is essential to recovery. When the body lacks the building blocks it needs, this condition only aggravates withdrawal symptoms, leaving you feeling exhausted, depressed, and anxious. Mineral detoxification provides the nutrients the body needs to heal and rebuild as you work to get your life back on track.

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Vitamin & Mineral Needs for Mineral Detoxification

Detox can be a draining process for the body. The healing and rebuilding that takes place put a serious strain on your available nutrient supply. If you’re already in a malnourished state when you start to detox, you’ll be totally depleted once detox ends unless you replenish along the way. Mineral detoxification supplies your body with the vitamins and minerals it needs to become healthy again.

Different types of drugs tax the body in different ways. Over time, nutrient imbalances can make it difficult for the body to extract and absorb nutrition from food. By ensuring your mineral and vitamin needs are met, you’re supporting the metabolism processes that deliver needed building materials to the body.

While you can take supplements to replenish the body’s minerals and nutrients, the foods you eat every day offer the healthiest, most natural sources. Here are a few types of foods to consider adding to your diet during detox.

Fermented Foods

The first step in helping the body make the most of the food you eat is doing what you can to boost your gut health. Your gut or digestive tract produces the chemicals and hormones that support both physical and mental health. In turn, a healthy gut makes mineral detoxification even more effective at clearing toxins from the body.

Fermented foods, such as miso, tempeh, and kimchi increase the population of good bacteria that reside in your gut. These are vegetables that have gone through a fermentation process, which creates beneficial bacteria. A healthy population of good bacteria will help support the systems in the body most impacted by drug abuse, such as the central nervous system and blood sugar processes. Fermented foods also help support the body’s natural ability to flush out toxins.

Protein

Protein is an essential material that’s used to rebuild damaged cells. Your body also uses the amino acids found in protein to manufacture brain neurotransmitters, which regulate thinking, emotions, digestion, and many other processes. For these reasons, proteins make up a central part of a mineral detox regimen.

Here are a few protein-rich foods to consider:

• Meats
• Eggs
• Seafood
• Almonds and cashews
• Sesame and sunflower seeds
• Bananas
• Milk

B Vitamins

Drinking and drug use play a number in the body’s B vitamin reserves. The B vitamins include thiamine (B1), pantothenic acid (B5), folic acid (B9), inositol (B8), and niacin (B3). Your body needs B vitamins to convert sugar into energy. They also help in manufacturing new blood cells and support nervous system health. Niacin, in particular, has the type of cleansing properties that can speed the detox process along, which makes it a detox vitamin on its own.

B vitamin-rich foods include:

• Beans, lentils
• Whole grains
• Fruits
• Dark, leafy vegetables

Water

Staying hydrated allows the body to flush out toxins on an ongoing basis. Water also keeps your organs working as they should. For these reasons, water should be a staple in your mineral detox efforts.

A healthy body requires at least a half-gallon or eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day to keep its systems running smoothly. During detox, flu-like symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhea, can quickly leave the body in a dehydrated state. While not everyone likes water, drinking sips of water throughout the day can help the detox process along.

Multivitamin

If you’re coming off a chronic substance use disorder problem, you may well benefit from the added support of a multivitamin. This is especially true in cases where drug or alcohol use severely compromised your appetite while you were using. A multivitamin can help your body manufacture your body’s energy so needs during detox while replenishing depleted nutrients.

Eliminate Sugary Foods

Refined sugar, one of the most unhealthy foods on store shelves, can cause real problems during the detox process. Here are just a few of sugar’s harmful effects:

• It strips the body of essential minerals
• It throws off your blood sugar levels
• It damages your immune system
• It causes premature aging of cells and tissues

Your body is already in a weakened state when you enter detox. This means sugar will only make your withdrawal experience worse. Fresh fruit offers a healthy substitute and provides much-needed nutrition during detox.

Consider a Detox Treatment Program

While following a mineral detoxification plan can definitely make detox easier, stopping drug or alcohol abuse for good requires added supports that address the mental and behavioral aspects of a substance use disorder problem. When addiction is present, the mind’s mental dependence on drugs remains long after drug or alcohol use stops. A detox treatment program will address both the physical and mental aspects of addiction, including a diet that meets the body’s nutritional needs. If you want to be done with drugs and alcohol once and for all, a detox program can put you on a solid path to recovery.

Sources:

• todaysdietitian.com – Substance Use Disorder and Nutrition
• umassmed.edu – Fermented Foods for Gut Health
• medlineplus.gov – B Vitamins