RecoveryCoachNewYorkCity.com

Category: Hunger

  • Lions, Tigers, Bears and the Yellow Brick Road to Recovery

    This is a guest post by Steve Devlin, a recovery coach from Philadelphia PA, and a long time friend. I chose to post this over the Holiday weekend, because it brings me such joy, and brings back wonderful memories of watching the Wizard of Oz on TV during the 60’s. Thank-you Steve, and Happy Holidays to all of my readers.

    Over the past week, I have been thinking about the Serenity Prayer and its connection to the Wizard of Oz.  Some of you might be looking at your computer and wonder if I have lost my mind.  I beg for your patience and to hear me out.  First a caveat or two.  I represent only myself in this message.  The second caveat is this message was inspired by a share I heard at a 12-step meeting.  The person who said it gave me permission to use it.  So here we go!

    We all know the Serenity Prayer.  “May God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  And almost everyone knows the story of the Wizard of Oz or at least the movie version of the story. Dorothy is not happy with life on the farm, runs away, is swept up in a tornado, lands in a strange place, and gathers three companions on her journey to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard.  On the way, she must deal with witches – good and bad – flying monkeys, and castle guards before she finds she always had the power to grant her wish of returning home.

    So what does this story have to do with the Serenity Prayer, let alone recovery?  We cannot find fulfillment, happiness, or peace in our lives. We run away and just when we realize that we have run too far, we are swept up in the tornado (or drug of our choice).  Its path of destruction destroys the landscape of our lives and carries us far away. Thankfully, when the storm passes we land in a new brightly-colored world filled with sober people singing about the blessings of recovery.  Yet our own work is just beginning.  There is a road we must follow with steps leading to the Emerald City of sobriety.  We also learn that we cannot walk the path alone.  There are still temptations, flying monkeys, people, places, and things calling us back to the darkness.  However, as we follow the path we first find the companion of serenity – the heart to love ourselves and others.  A new heart also gives us the gift of forgiveness and acceptance.

    The second companion is the courage to move forwards even when encountering lions, tigers, and bears.  It is courage which lets us turn over our lives, let go of character defects, and make amends.  It is also courage that lets us pick up the phone or go to a meeting.

    Finally, there is wisdom, which gives us the ability to see choices in our lives and to know what we can and cannot change.  After long periods of feeling tied up like a scarecrow on a post, we are set free to walk a brick road of new life.  Of course, finding these three companions to fight back addiction is only part of the story and the Emerald City is not the ultimate destination.  Our companions bring us to the shining light of recovery, but we must take the gifts back home and use them in our daily lives outside of the rooms.

    I wish recovery was as easy as clicking our heals together.  Finding our way home takes work but with heart, courage, and wisdom we can overcome all the flying monkeys and stay out of the way of tornadoes.  We also learn that the greatest companion of recovery is gratitude which was always just in our own backyard.

    Question: Who are your companions on the brick road?

  • Getting through the tough times

    As a recovery coach, I often see my clients need help getting through the tough times, without using, picking up or acting out. Recently, I personally encountered some rough patches in my life, so, I went to my library of recovery books. Several years ago, when I was experiencing trouble living life on life’s terms, I became an avid reader of Pema Chodron.

    Pema Chodron Celebrates her 80th Year

    Pema Chodron, is a Buddhist nun, she was born in 1936, in New York City, and is celebrating her 80th year. After a divorce, in her mid-thirties, Pema traveled to the French Alps and encountered Buddhist teacher Lama Chime Rinpoche, and she studied with him for several years. She became a novice Buddhist nun in 1974. Pema moved to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1984, ­­­to be the director of Gampo Abbey and worked to establish a place to teach the Buddhist monastic traditions (waking before sunrise, chanting scriptures, daily chores, communal meals and providing blessings for the laity). In Nova Scotia and through the Chodron Foundation, she works with others, sharing her ideas and teachings. She has written several books, and in my time of deep spiritual need, I went to her book “When Things Fall Apart”.

    A Compassionate Tool

    Drawn from traditional Buddhist wisdom, Pema’s radical and compassionate advice for what to do when things fall apart in our lives helped me. There is not only one approach to suffering that is of lasting benefit, Pema teaches several approaches that involve moving toward the painful situation and relaxing us to realize the essential groundlessness of our situation. It is in this book, I discovered a simple breathing exercise, I can use during these chaotic times so I can move into a better space. Pema advocates this tool as a breathing exercise, although this exercise could also be considered a mindful meditation.

    I use Chodron’s tool whenever and wherever life hits me below the belt. I share this tool with my clients. It is all about breathing and consciously repeating words to yourself to accompany the breathing. Since we breathe every day, it is indiscernible whether you are using this tool as you travel on the bus commuting home from work, in a conference room with your boss, or when you are feeling low and want to curl up in a ball and die.

    Breathe

    Breathe. Pema explains in her book, when things get way too complicated; step back and breathe. When the force of the world, the politics of the U.S., Great Britain or Italy start weighing heavily on your mind, breathe. When you look at all the pain around you and feel powerless to do anything, breathe.

    Pema explains, inhale and say silently to yourself breathe in the pain, then exhale and say breathe out relief. Then, inhale, and say silently to yourself breathe in the relief, and exhale and say breathe out the pain. I find I need about 15 minutes of conscious breathing, breathing in the pain and breathing out relief, works for me. After doing this, I find I have new energy or something else crosses my path to move me into a more uplifting space.

    Chodron’s exercise places me in a space I need to be. If I continue to be in that “negative space” of worry or feeling powerless, then absolutely nothing will be accomplished that day. I know we all have something to accomplish every day, whether it is just getting out of bed, taking a shower and brushing our teeth or running a Fortune 500 company, this exercise gets us from zero to ten in fifteen minutes. It is the boost we need.

     So, I invite you to try this simple exercise…and remember…keep breathing

     

  • Ten ways of Improving Your Chances of Keeping that New Year’s Resolution

    calvin-hobbes-new-year-resolution1Make a list and think it through

    It’s that time and everyone is thinking of New Year’s Resolutions. You’re itching to get rid of that bad habit right now, but consider this: think it through. I know you have heard that AA saying “Baby Steps” before…but sticking to a habit change is not trying to be perfect right out of the gate. So before you start trying to change a habit, consider thinking about it thoroughly for a month or two. First, list every reason you want to stop, figuring out what triggers or cues you react to, what routine you fall into as a result of that trigger and experiment with the types of rewards you are looking for from that habit. Write down and record every time you catch yourself doing the habit, and soon a pattern will appear. Maybe checking out a few twelve step programs or a therapy group can give you an idea of outside support options. You will be better prepared to conquer the habit after processing it during the next few weeks.

    2.  Identify your triggers

    By doing this review you will see you do the same behaviors, in the same place, at the same time. If at 3:00, you go on a smoke break in your car, the time and the car itself can become a trigger (or cues as Charles Duhigg author of The Power of Habit calls them). These actions can become a cue to start a habit —sometimes these cues are very subtle to notice. As AA says “Avoid People, Places and Things.” Identify and understand your triggers. These triggers fall into one of the following five categories:

    1. Location, a bar, your ex-girlfriend’s neighborhood, a bakery
    2. Time, 3:00, happy hour, visiting family
    3. Emotional State, Hungry, angry, lonely or tired
    4. Other People, the ex, your Mom, Dad or that annoying co-worker
    5. An immediately preceding action, or what happened just before you picked up that joint? An argument with your spouse? Anticipating that your boss will ream your butt at work this morning for being late? Packing the car to see the folks for the holidays?

    3.  Delayed Gratification and Contingency Management

    There are some other simple psychological tricks you can employ as well, such as delayed gratification and contingency management. The 20-Second Rule is an example of delayed gratification: Make bad habits take 20 seconds longer to start. For example, move junk food to the back of the pantry, or leave the credit cards at home so you don’t over spend on lunch. A program sister suggests a Rule of Five, delaying the behavior until you have 5 glasses of water, or walk for 5 minutes or call five 12 step program people. Consider rewarding yourself for not relapsing, it’s called contingency management. Suggest this to yourself: if I don’t act out for 60 days, I can lead the Sunday night 12 step meeting or if I don’t drink now, later tonight, my wife and I can be intimate, or if I don’t use this week my IOP counselor will give me a free lunch coupon for the Olive Garden.

    4. Reframe that habit thought

    Even if we hate the habit we’re doing, like smoking or over eating, we tend to continue doing it because it provides us with some sort of satisfaction or psychological reward. Catch yourself thinking any positive thoughts or feelings about your bad habits (like: if I have a drink, I will not feel so nervous around my in-laws) and reframe these thoughts to remind you of the negative aspects of your habits. Maybe think this thought instead, “One drink is too many and a thousand drinks is not enough.” That is reframing the habit thought.

    5.  Willpower is in limited supply

    Research has shown that we don’t have unlimited willpower (it didn’t take scholarly research to confirm this for you!) The truth is we’re constantly exercising willpower and self-control. The problem is that willpower is like a muscle, capable of fatigue and a muscle can’t be flexed forever. Researchers placed some study participants in situations in which they had to practice self-control—like not eating chocolate-chip cookies in front of them. While another group could eat as many cookies as they wanted. Then both groups were given a second test that required self-control.

    The results? The group that had to resist the cookies did not perform as well on the second task. The group that was allowed to eat as many cookies they wanted, excelled at this second self-control test. The conclusion was that those who had to exert more willpower in the first task exhausted their willpower strength, and were unable to exert the self-control needed for the second task.

    Just place yourself in a similar situation, think of you controlling yourself from strangling your self-absorbed-narcissistic colleague during a staff meeting, then around to 3:00, a typical smoke break time for you, you are triggered. You want to not smoke, but low and behold, a cigarette seems like just the reward you need.

    6.  Make a plan for relapses

    Chances are you’re going to have bad days. Setbacks are normal and we should expect them. Have a plan to get back on track. Recovery coaches call this a relapse prevention plan (click here to link to Mary Ellen Copeland’s WRAP Plan). Coaches have the client write a relapse prevention plan directly after a slip as a way to understand what happened and how to avoid it next time.

    7.  Harm Reduction Option

    Every recovery coach anticipates a relapse, they acknowledge it will happen and attach no shame or guilt to a slip. Often, choosing an action based on Harm Reduction, (which is most often recognized as distributing clean needles to intravenous drug users to reduce HIV infection) is a good alternative. Some Harm Reduction ideas are: smoke a cigarette instead of a blasting a whole stick, limit yourself to buying a lottery ticket instead of logging on to a gambling web site or eat a cup of fruit yogurt instead of a chocolate chip cookie.

    8.  Change takes a village

    With making a resolution to change, don’t attach it to the ever failing New Year’s Resolution. Attach it to a positive change within you. Let people know about it. Ask for help, even if it is a nagging wife or over- bearing parent. Better yet, join a 12 step group. Research shows change happens when you have support from others.

    9.  Make a Plan

    Once you have figured out your ‘habit loop’, your cues/triggers, the routine you use, and the reward you expect, you can begin to shift your behavior. All you need is a plan. Open your-self up for improved, healthier routines; such as meditation, an afternoon walk, a talk with a co-worker or new way to drive home. These will become very good sources of generating your rewards and within 30, 60 or 90 days it will become a habit. Just give it time and

    10. Don’t give up! Keep trying!! It’s progress not perfection!

     

    Happy New Year!

    Special thanks to Charles Duhigg author of The Power of Habit for supplying all of this excellent information on changing a habit and to Calvin and Hobbes for making fun of it!

     

  • How can you heal the trauma within?

    manhattan_bridgeTrauma changes you. You might not necessarily like that change. How can you heal the trauma within? You have the ability to transform yourself into a healthier person. You have enormous healing potential; the goal is learning to access it—and then to use that potential to heal the trauma, release the addiction(s), and obtain a glorious new life.

    Without your consent, trauma can change you, often into a person you’d rather not be.                                                -Michele Rosenthal

    Working through trauma can be scary, painful, and sometimes retraumatizing. Because of the risk of retraumatization, this healing work is best done with the help of an experienced trauma specialist. The clinical term for a therapist that has experience in treating trauma  is a trauma informed therapist. The therapist will be able to answer questions as to his/her experience in trauma informed care over the phone. You want to ask if they are experienced in EMDR, Light Entrainment or Somatic Experiencing.

    Treatment for Trauma

    When you are triggered by a trauma memory, your nervous system gets stuck in overdrive. Successful trauma treatment revisits these traumatic memories, and allows you observe the trauma and your “fight-flight-freeze” response. The therapist will establish a sense of safety and help you resolve the past traumas. The following therapies are commonly used in the treatment of PTSD, emotional and psychological trauma:

      • Somatic Experiencing:  Somatic processing of trauma takes advantage of the body’s unique ability to heal itself. The focus of therapy is on bodily sensations or movements (like excessive leg movement, wringing of your hands or profuse perspiration) rather than thoughts and memories about the traumatic event. By concentrating on what’s happening in your body, you gradually get in touch with trauma-related energy and tension. The therapist will encourage you to safely release this pent-up energy through shaking, crying, and other forms of physical release.
      • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): This practice incorporates two paddles that when held in your hands vibrate, and a headset that sends a low tone alternating from one ear and then to the other ear. The tones and the vibration of the paddles distract the conscience mind, allowing for the unconscious or sub-conscience memories to arise. The therapist and you explore these memories and discuss them to attempt to resolve the feelings around the trauma.
      • CLEAR Therapy (Colored Light Entrainment and Re-patterning) Clear Therapy is a method of releasing unresolved core emotional issues using colored light. When a flashing light is emitted into the eyes, the brain adopts the rhythm of the strobe. In the initial intake session, you will look at 11 different colors of flashing light and the therapist is able to pinpoint issues based on what you see in each color. In the following sessions, the feedback from your perception of the colors enables the therapist to uncover core beliefs that drive your thinking, feelings or behavior. CLEAR is coordinated with eye movement (see EMDR), breath work and meridian-based therapies (see EFT) to facilitate rapid resolution of the problem.
      • LST (Light Stimulation Therapy) LST enhances learning abilities and performance by stimulating the eye and brain with light. A LST session has you sitting comfortably in a darkened room, looking at a waveband of colored light which is focused directly on your eyes. It is advised to have 3 to 5 sessions per week until a total of 20 sessions is completed. At the end of the 20-sessions, there is a reevaluation to determine the necessity of further treatment.
      • The Brain and Brainwave Entrainment-The DAVID Device: The senses of sight and hearing, by their very nature, provide a favorable environment for affecting brainwaves. By presenting pulsed audio and visual stimulation to the brain, the brain begins to vibrate at the same frequency as the pulsed audio from the DAVID Device. The device sends flashes of lights into a pair of glasses, and pulsed tones through a pair of headphones to gently guide the brain into altered states of consciousness.
      • The Green Wave Therapy: The Green Wave Therapy is a technique that combines green laser light, micro current energy, and some of the principles of EMDR [Eye Movement Desensitization and Re-patterning], and EFT [The Emotional Freedom Acupressure Technique]. You will rest on a massage table, and a micro current device focuses on the region between your eyebrows. You hold the EMDR paddles in your hands as they pulse rhythmically. You also wear a headset that delivers audio tones in unison with the paddle’s vibrations. The practitioner stands back about 4-5 feet and circles the entire body with green laser light. With every 1-2 minute pass, the clinician checks the level of distress you are experiencing while thinking about the trauma.
      • Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT): Based on impressive new discoveries involving the body’s energies, EFT has been reported to be 80% clinically effective in relieving Trauma. The EFT procedure involves tapping with the fingers on points on the body that are associated with acupuncture pressure points. While doing the tapping sequence, distressful thoughts and/or events are targeted and healing statements are repeated out loud. EFT often works where nothing else will. It is rapid, long lasting and gentle. No drugs or equipment are involved. It is easily learned by anyone in less than an hour. EFT techniques can be taught and be self-administered.

    Trauma Recovery Tips

    Recovering from emotional and psychological trauma takes time. Give yourself time to heal and to mourn the losses you’ve experienced. During your trauma therapy here are some self-help strategies to keep you healthy and continue the healing between your therapeutic sessions:

               1: Don’t isolate

               2: Stay grounded

               3: Take care of your health

    Don’t try to force the healing process. Be patient with your pace of recovery. Finally, be prepared for difficult and volatile emotions. Allow yourself to feel whatever you’re feeling without judgment or guilt.

     

  • What kind of training do I need to be a recovery coach?

    What kind of training do I need to be a recovery coach?

    manhattan_bridgeI published my book Recovery Coaching – A Guide to Coaching People in Recovery from Addictions in 2013. Since then, recovery coach or peer recovery specialist training has become one of the fastest growing aspects of the coaching field. So what kind of training do I need to be a recovery coach?

    In 2013, the organizations that offer recovery coach or peer recovery-specialist training numbered around 50. Today, the number has grown to 250. Many state certification boards have established recovery coach and peer recovery support specialist certifications.

    Many of the organizations that offer addictions recovery coach training or peer recovery support specialist training are listed on my web site: http://www.mkrecoverycoaching.com/recovery-coach-training-organizations/. For many people interested in being a recovery coach, the training costs, deciding on the best training organization and the training necessary to fulfill the certification requirements can be confusing. So I would like to attempt to clear up this confusion and will answer these questions in this post:

    • What are the guidelines I must meet to apply for recovery coaching training?
    • What kind of training do I need to be a recovery coach?

    What are the guidelines to apply for recovery coaching training?

    Applicants must meet the following guidelines to apply for a training course in order to be a recovery coach or a peer recovery support-specialist. These guidelines are shared by many training organizations and certification boards across the nation as a standard for what a potential recovery coach must have before applying for recovery coaching training:

    • High school diploma, GED or higher
    • Minimum of one year of direct knowledge of sponsorship and 12-step programs
    • Minimum one year of sobriety from substance use or one year sobriety in co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (self-attestation)

    What kind of training should I look for?

    Certification boards require the coach to receive outside training that fulfills the requirements mandated by the state board. These requirements are often a certain amount of hours training in topics such as addiction recovery theory and models, coaching ethics, motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, nicotine cessation, suicide prevention and HIV-AIDS education. Each state and organization has different requirements. So first check with your state to ensure the course you take will be accepted by the state credentialing board.

    There are trainings offered that can give a coach more information that may not be on the state certification board list, but are very helpful. The kinds of training I found helpful as a new recovery coach were: conflict management, anger management, intervention training, co-occurring disorders, behavioral addictions, the pharmacology of addiction, and psycho-pharmacology as well as knowledge about coaching families in relationships with addicted persons. There are also training organizations that offer three different levels of recovery coaching training: novice, intermediate and master-level coaching certificates.

    The places in which you receive this training are quite diverse. In the links section of this web site, I list over 250 organizations offering recovery coach training. The courses can be online, or in a classroom. The costs for this training is diverse as well, from free (in Ohio) up to $4,000 per course. The length of the course could be three days or four months.

    At no time does taking a recovery coaching course give you an immediate state certification board recovery-coaching credential. It gives you a document (called a certificate) that says you completed the training. There are many coaches who do not seek state board certification, and use this document or certificate from a training organization as adequate proof they are knowledgeable in performing the duties of a recovery coach.

    There is one international credentialing organization, the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium, commonly known as the IC & RC(http://internationalcredentialing.org/) that runs many state credentialing boards and has developed an exam for a Peer Recovery (PR) Certification. The IC & RC suggests applicants check with their state credentialing board for specific test taking guidelines.

    Are there any additional requirements for recovery coaching certification?

    NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, and the National Certification Commission for Addiction Professionals (NCC AP) http://www.naadac.org/NCPRSS offer the Peer Recovery Support-Specialist Certification. Similar to the requirements of the IC & RC, the NCC AP recommends, in order to receive certification, a coach read and sign a statement on the application affirming adherence to the Peer Recovery Support-Specialist Code of Ethics. Credentialing boards require supervisors of the coaches-in-training to sign a document verifying they have supervised the coach during the period of the coach’s training. Letters of recommendation are also items required by some credentialing boards. Other state boards require a recent photograph. As always, check with the state credentialing board for specific requirements for credentialing.

    Next week’s post will review what certification is required to be a peer-to-peer support-specialist working with people in mental health recovery.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • What kind of certification do I need to be a recovery coach?

    What kind of certification do I need to be a recovery coach?

    manhattan_bridge_post_versionI published my book Recovery Coaching – A Guide to Coaching People in Recovery from Addictions in 2013. Since then, recovery coach or peer-recovery specialist certification training has become one of the fastest growing aspects of the coaching field. So what kind of certification do I need to be a recovery coach?

    In 2013, the organizations that offer recovery coach or peer-recovery specialist training numbered around 50. Today, the number has grown to 250. Many state certification boards have established recovery coach and peer-recovery support specialist certifications. Yet, for many people that seek to be a recovery coach the qualifications, the training, the requirements for certification, or credentialing seem baffling. So I would like to attempt to clear up this confusion and will answer these questions in this post:

    • What is the process for certification as a recovery coach or peer recovery specialist?
    • What kind of certification should I be focusing on?

    What is the process of being qualified, getting training and then credentialed as a recovery coach or peer-recovery support specialist?

    If you are investigating becoming a recovery coach, I suggest you follow these steps:

    1. Research the training organizations that offer recovery coach training you can afford. Go to http://www.mkrecoverycoaching.com/recovery-coach-training-organizations/ for a list of addiction recovery coach training organizations
    2. Verify that you meet the qualifications to apply for the course (e.g. be 18-years-old, have a GED or high school diploma, one year sobriety from any addiction)
    3. Take and pass the course, retain the coaching certificate for future purposes
    4. Research places like Recovery Community Organizations or treatment centers to work or volunteer as a recovery-coach-in-training
    5. Apply to your state certification board for recovery coach certification (a fee may apply)
    6. Complete the recovery-coach-in-training supervised practice hours that are required by the state board
    7. Send in your application with paperwork verifying the completion of practice hours to the state credentialing board with a certification fee (fee varies for every state, from $100-$250)
    8. Receive your recovery coaching or peer-recovery support specialist certificate
    9. In the next 2 – 5 years take the required courses for renewing this certificate. Refer to your state board for more information on courses and renewal time frames. A renewal fee will be required.

    What kind of certification do I need to be a recovery coach?

    For an addiction recovery coach, the certification and training is prefaced with the terms: peer-support specialist, certified peer-recovery practitioner, recovery coach or peer-recovery specialist. Every state is different and every state uses different names for these certifications. Look for courses that offer the training needed for an addictions coach and a peer working with people in mental health recovery certification. It is the exact same training, in the same exact classroom, for two different jobs descriptions! It may be confusing now, and quite possibly the content and descriptions of  these courses may change going forward. But I would have to have a crystal ball to predict that for certain.

    I suggest you first take a certification training course. You can make the decision after the training is completed to apply for state board certification. As a coach if you are interested in being your own business person, certification by a training organization should be adequate. If you want to work in a treatment center, with a recovery community organization, social services agency or hospital, certification issued by the state’s certification board or the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) is required by the institution hiring you. If you want to carry professional liability insurance, or be reimbursed by Medicaid for your services, certification by a state certification board is mandatory.

    What is a state certification board?

    The process for receiving a certificate as a recovery coach is overseen by a state’s certification or licensing board. A state certification board tests and renews practitioner’s (coaches, therapists, nurses, etc.) certificates to ensure their knowledge is up to par. Also, that they have the ethical knowledge to practice in their profession. These processes for certification, such as training, educational requirements, exams and renewal guidelines, varies from state to state. These certification standards are recognized by health care companies, insurance companies, Medicaid, Medicare as well as companies that hire these practitioners.

    These state certification boards are the same boards that issue licenses or certifications for drug and alcohol counselors, and therapists. Some states have combined licenses and certifications boards all in one office, so it could be the same office in which nurses or hairdressers receive their licenses. I suggest you search the Internet for drug and alcohol certification for your state. Then search for the state board website for recovery coach or peer-recovery support specialist certification. As of May 2008, thirty state credentialing boards had developed criteria for the training and deployment of recovery coaches and peer-recovery specialists, so you should have no trouble finding these boards on the Internet.

    What is Reciprocity?

    Reciprocity is a term you will see used often on these board sites. When you are certified through your home state’s certification board, you may have the ability to transfer that credential to another state. This is called reciprocity. State certification boards may offer reciprocity to certified coaches in other states. The state boards have the authority to set reciprocity requirements for coaches to practice in their state. Not all certifications are eligible for reciprocity. It is vitally important that you investigate reciprocity guidelines prior to relocating to another state, because it can be a very complicated process.

    There are national and international recovery coach certifications available. In 2013, the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) developed a peer recovery credential. The application for the peer-recovery certification appears on the IC & RC web site. An IC & RC credential is accepted by many agencies and treatment centers when they are hiring recovery coaches.

    In next week’s post I will review what kind of training you need to have in order to apply for recovery coach certification.

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  • I am hungry — Why do I want to eat flour and sugar compulsively?

    There are several reasons why flour and sugar spike a desire to eat more. There is also a variety of reasons flour and sugar relax us, make us sleep or damage our immune system. Let’s explore those reasons.

    Comfort foods
    Many food addicts describe eating a high-carbohydrate load of pasta or bread and then feeling relaxed, calmed and satiated. The mere term “comfort food” has an impact on this role our brain has in making us eat certain foods like meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, or Mom’s apple pie.

    By eating your mother’s favorite meal, you are reminded of good times, idyllic family settings, safety, and well, comfort. So in these cases your brain is convincing you of how you feel after ingesting a Thanksgiving dinner and then telling you to fall asleep during the football game. These emotional attachments to certain foods are as diverse as are my readers and too complicated to cover in a short blog post, so let me move on.

    Candida Albicans infection
    Candida Albicans infection is an improper colony of flora in your intestines. Candida Albicans is a fungus that can appear in your gut, your vagina and your toes! It can comprise good microorganisms that live in the human mouth and gastrointestinal tract. C. Albicans lives in 80 percent of the human population without causing harmful effects. However, with an oversupply of sugars and starches it can blossom and overcome the good flora in your gut. The result is that you feel odd, hungry, anxious, tired and perhaps, frightened. Once you add more sugar and starches to the mix, you feel better. So, soon a person learns to eat more sugar to “feel” better. When in actuality, sugar and starches are the cause of the problem. For more on this go to: http://drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/CANDIDA.htm.

    Serotonin and Dopamine enhancement
    Did you know that 90 percent of the serotonin in your body is produced in your gut? Serotonin and dopamine are neurotransmitters found in the brain and elsewhere in the body and they cause pleasurable sensations, reduce stressful feelings as well as reduce anxiety and pain in the body. Eating certain carbohydrates stimulate the production of serotonin and dopamine in the body. Again, a person learns to eat carbohydrates to feel good; however, this is only a temporary feeling.

    Hypoglycemia
    This is a common metabolic imbalance that causes energy fluctuations throughout the day and can cause many other symptoms such as anxiety, nervousness, mental confusion, tremors, shakiness, headaches, and even depression.

    Basically, the body is no longer able to regulate its blood sugar level perfectly, so you can experience times during the day when your blood sugar dips too low. Hypoglycemia is low energy production and a low glucose level in the cells. The symptoms are caused not only by low glucose in the blood cells, but also by any number of imbalances that affect the body’s ability to burn glucose at the cellular level.

    Eating something sweet or perhaps, starchy, is a quick fix for this condition. Just think about that 3pm hypoglycemic low you feel at work and running to a vending machine. It is easy to believe that one “needs” a soda or candy bar as a quick fix to the symptoms of hypoglycemia.

    Unfortunately, eating sweets, in particular, but also many starches, just makes the condition worse because most refined foods are lacking the vitamins and minerals needed for the body to adequately regulate its glucose metabolism.

    Unfortunately, the blood sugar soon decreases again, causing even more cravings for the carbohydrate foods, and the beginning of a vicious cycle. To break that cycle one needs to eat adequate protein and most likely, quality fats and oils. But these usually will not give the instant pick-me-up one gets from flour and sugar. In addition, most people need targeted vitamin and mineral supplements and a complete healing program to restore the body’s sugar-handling ability. At least 70 percent of the American population suffers from some degree of hypoglycemia.

    A need for insulin
    I am going to keep this section brief, as I am not a doctor nor knowledgeable about diabetes. Simply said, eating sweets and starches stimulate insulin release. This may have a pleasurable effect on some people, especially if insulin levels are somewhat low and resistance is present. Non-diabetics can experience fluctuations in insulin levels, just as a diabetic can.

    Chronic fatigue syndrome, Adrenal exhaustion, fast and slow oxidation
    Are you tired? For some of us, eating sugars gives us a boost in energy. The causes of fatigue are varied. There is a theory of health and disease treatment that is called the bioenergetic approach. It is theorized that if you have nutritional balance in your body, you will be well. Here the goal is not to diagnose any disease, nor is it to cure anything. Instead, the focus is on raising the body’s adaptive energy level.

    Adrenal exhaustion is a very common reason for low energy and chronic low blood sugar. Cortisol and cortisone, the hormones secreted by the adrenal glands, function to raise and maintain the blood sugar level. When these hormones are low, a person will experience chronic low blood sugar and fatigue. The condition is temporarily improved by eating sugars, fruits, juices or other items containing sugar. Once again, the effect is very temporary, and it can set up an addictive pattern of eating to feel better.

    Fast or slow oxidation is when carbohydrates and amino acids are oxidized too slowly (“slow oxidation”) in one cycle or too quickly in another cycle (“fast oxidation”). In both cases energy production is reduced. People that experience fast and/or slow oxidization suffer from inefficient energy production, but for opposite biochemical reasons. The most common symptoms of a fast or slow oxidative rate are fatigue, emotional duress of some type, lowered resistance to infections, a low body temperature, gall bladder or liver problems, and being over or under weight. Your oxidation rate is influenced by both genetics and by your diet. Thus, what you eat affects your rate of oxidation and energy production, which in turn affects your mental, emotional, behavioral, and in some cases, physical characteristics.

    The need for essential nutrients
    Protein, fat, zinc, manganese, vanadium, chromium, and inositol, are essential nutrients that are often missing in a food addict’s diet. We are so nutritionally depleted that we develop unusual food cravings, in part because we are seeking various essential nutrients that are not present in high enough concentrations in our daily diets.

    This can definitely explain some cases of overeating. It is thought, for example, that a deficiency of inositol may cause people to crave sugars. It is well known that deficiencies of zinc and chromium, and perhaps manganese and vanadium, may be involved in sweet cravings due to the need for these nutrients in the metabolism of sugars or glucose. A low intake of protein can cause carbohydrate cravings in slow oxidizers. A low intake of fats and oils can cause carbohydrate and sugar cravings in fast oxidizers.

    Caseomorphins and Gluteomorphins – the food opioids
    Both caseomorphins and gluteomorphins are morphine-like opioids, which we derive from dairy and wheat respectively, and are critical to our understanding of the power of these two foods in our health and well-being. These morphine-like substances, casomorphin and gluteomorphin, can be very sedating and addictive and help to explain why 75 percent of the calories in the standard American diet come from wheat and dairy, alone. Food addiction is a very real thing and these opioids play a huge role.

    Caseomorphins are formed during our attempt to digest casein, the protein that makes up 80-90 percent of the protein content of cow’s milk. It is this same protein that can cause damage to the lower intestinal lining and a malabsorption syndrome similar to that seen in celiac disease, or gluten intolerance. Borden uses casein to make Elmer’s Glue; think what it does to the walls of your intestines.

    The gluteomorphins are derived from gliadin, one of the main proteins found in gluten grains (wheat, barley, and rye). Gluten is also used to make industrial adhesives, as are soy and corn. All five of these foods are capable of damaging the lining of the intestinal tract and leading to the malabsorption of calcium, iron, B complex, C, and trace minerals (e.g. zinc, magnesium, lithium, boron, and more). This malabsorption or leaky gut syndrome contributes greatly to the ill health of the brain and immune system, setting the stage for the action of these food-derived opioids.

    Dependency on carbohydrates are a major contributor to symptoms of IBS, thyroid dysfunction, fibromyalgia, neuropathy, arthritis, depression, chronic fatigue or other typical signs associated with food intolerance. And because of these food opioids, withdrawal from these foods can lead to classic drug-withdrawal symptoms.

    These sedating compounds are also the single biggest contributing factor to post-meal drowsiness. Throw alcohol into the mix and you have a tragic situation just waiting to happen.

    Amylopectin A, Agglutinin and Gliadin
    Gluten research is coming up with more and more reasons not to eat wheat. U.S. cardiologist Dr. William (Bill) Davis and author of Wheat Belly, contends that wheat’s content of the readily-digested starch amylopectin A, is highly disruptive to blood sugar levels. The lectin (a toxin) in wheat known as “wheat germ agglutinin” can cause inflammation in the gut and elsewhere, and Gliadin, another component of gluten in wheat, has among other things, drug-like effects.

    Dr. Davis’ research shows that gliadin might not be fully digested in the gut, and may give rise to small protein molecules known as “polypeptides.” These can sometimes penetrate the gut to gain access to the bloodstream, after which they also have the capacity to make their way across the “blood-brain-barrier.” Once in the brain, gliadin polypeptides can bind to opiate receptors in the brain. Opiates receptors are also similarly bound by the addictive chemicals of morphine, heroin and opium.

    The body can generate chemicals which bind to opiate receptors termed “endorphins.” However, when a substance comes from outside the body, it is termed an “exorphin.” Gluten-derived exorphins can induce a feeling of mild euphoria. This might explain why tearing off a piece of a freshly baked baguette or digging into a bowl of pasta can seemingly be so intensely pleasurable for some. It might also explain why some struggle with giving up wheat.

    So in reading this you can see that sugar, carbohydrates and other gluten-containing foods have addictive qualities that affect quite a lot of individuals. It seems to be a very real phenomenon and there’s no doubt that eliminating or dramatically reducing sugar, flour and gluten consumption usually leads to a significant improvement in well-being, energy levels, mental function and usually, weight loss. It also explains why we want to eat more after we ingest flour and sugar.

    I want to remind you that information and advice contained in this blog should not be used for diagnosis or as a substitute for medical advice. Always consult your doctor, nutritionist or healthcare professional before beginning any new treatment.

    Research for this post came from:

    Food Addiction Institute
    http://foodaddictioninstitute.org/fundamental-concepts/am-i-a-food-addict/2011/01/

    Lawrence Wilson, MD
    http://drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/ADRENAL_BURNOUT.htm

    Dr Jeremy Kaslow, Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology and Internal Medicine
    http://www.drkaslow.com/html/oxidation_rates.html

    Dr John Briffa- A Good Look at Good Health Blog
    http://www.drbriffa.com/2012/05/17/wheat-opiate-of-the-masses/

    Dr William Davis- The Wheat Belly Blog
    http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

    Dr Joseph Alaimo, Alaimo Chiropractic- Blog
    http://drjosephalaimo.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/caseomorphins-and-gluteomorphins-%E2%80%93-the-food-opiods/

  • I am hungry — What’s wrong with flour and sugar?

    What’s so bad about flour and sugar? Flour and sugar are the two most common substances to which food addicts identify as being addicted to. Although some food addicts report addictions to fatty, salty and excess food volume, I am going to focus on flour and sugar in this post.

    If you think you might be a food addict, then you need to know a lot more about what foods are the most likely to be addictive, even though you may not want to give them up. Most food addicts don’t want to give up flour or sugar; they just want to avoid the consequences of eating.

    The simplest way is to find out if you are addicted to flour and/or sugar is to use the self-assessment provided by the Overeaters Anonymous on their website, Is OA for you? You can also check out the Food Addiction Institute’s self-assessment questions, Am I a food addict?

    Phillip Werdell, from the Food Addiction Institute, suggests using an assessment of different kinds of “eaters,” if you are looking for a way to distinguish between a psychologically-based eating disorder and a food addiction. H. Teresa Wright, a registered dietitian from the Philadelphia area, with over a decade of experience working with compulsive eaters, suggests to her clients that they read two books: Geneen Roth’s Feeding the Hungry Heart, as a good read on emotional eating and Breaking Free of Compulsive Eating, a book focused on addictive eating. In addition, she suggests Kay Shepard’s Food Addiction: the Body Knows or Anne Katherine’s Anatomy of a Food Addiction.

    Both Wright and Werdell suggest letting you decide what type of eater you are, so you can come to your own conclusions. If you try any of the self-assessments and you think you need to make major changes in the way you eat, my strong recommendation is to do this in consultation with a doctor, dietitian and/or therapist.

    Sugar
    Sugar is a carbohydrate. Perhaps we only use the white or brown stuff, but sugar is also a natural part of many other foodstuffs such as lactose, which is a sugar found in milk, maltose in grain, fructose in fruit, and sucrose, a refined sugar. Brown sugar is simply white sugar with a bit of molasses added or it is colored with caramel.

    The food industry has developed enormous sidelines of “diet” foods, usually labeled “Sugar-Free.” Given the many different varieties of sugar; derivations of sugar such as Splenda; sugars formed from alcohol (not surprisingly, these can be very addictive); chemical sweeteners (the “polys”); artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharine, etc., the label “Sugar-Free” usually means the food contains a different kind of sugar. For some food addicts, these non-sugars can have the same result as refined sugar—the inability to eat it in reasonable amounts. Although some artificial sweeteners have no caloric value, their impact on our bodies can be just as deadly as sugars with calories, if we cannot stop consuming it. A single can of soda contains 12 teaspoons of added sugar. That’s 120 percent of the USDA’s recommended daily intake of sugar. Just think how expertly the food industry has glamorized diet soda, and how powerfully addictive artificial sweeteners are when linked with caffeine.

    What is bad about sugar is how it works in our body. Sugar is rapidly converted in the blood to triglycerides. Triglycerides are a type of fat (or sometimes called a lipid) in your blood, which can increase your risk of heart disease,obesity, and diabetes. Sugar is devoid of vitamins, minerals, or fiber; it is an empty food. Its main use in the food industry is as a stabilizer, flavor enhancer and an appetite stimulant.

    Today, the per capita consumption of sugar and other highly refined sweeteners (such as high-fructose corn syrup) is 158 pounds a year. That is a 30 percent increase in the past four decades, and during the same time period, the number of overweight Americans increased by nearly 20 percent. The culprit? Sugar.

    In 2005, researchers examined the effects of sugar on the immune system. A published study at the National Institute of Health documented sugar’s impact: Sugar steals the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria. White blood cells are known as “phagocytes,” and phagocytic tests show that a couple of teaspoons of sugar can sap their strength by 25 percent. A large helping of pie and ice cream renders your white cells 100 percent helpless. This effect lasts from 4 to 5 hours. Consider a 900 ml serving of processed and packaged orange juice or one 683 ml of cola—either of these will depress the immune system by 50 percent, 30 minutes after ingestion and this will last for hours! If you have sugar at every meal, which many do by eating processed foods, alone, your immune system is constantly impaired.

    For food addicts, who binge on enormous amounts of sugar, eat meals consisting of large amounts of processed food, or diets consisting almost completely of convenience foods, the impact could be exponential. For us, to eat this way is to die. 

    Flour
    Many food addicts are willing to give up sugar, but not flour. Paradoxically, it is because we believe that not having bread in our house, or never having a birthday cake makes us different. We fear appearing “different” when we already appear very ill with food addiction.

    Flour has been embedded in so many foods, we may have more difficulty surrendering flour than the more obvious of the two, sugar. Unfortunately, the food industry is willing to subscribe to “gluten-free” advertising. It is considered a niche market and many food stores see catering to people with Celiac disease (a wheat allergy) and gluten allergies as a revenue boost. Some food addicts have these medical issues, but really what makes flour addictive is the issue of bioavailability.

    Bioavailability defines the ease with which something is absorbed from the digestive tract. The higher the bioavailability of a food, the greater the total absorption and rate of absorption. The faster a food is absorbed, the more quickly it turns to glucose in the body, producing a jump in blood sugar.

    Whole grains have been in the human diet for thousands of years. Milling, grinding and refining grains is a relatively recent endeavor. Unprocessed, whole grains take much longer to digest than refined flours, for example, hot oatmeal for breakfast is better than a slice of wheat toast. Many food addicts find that flours made from other grains are just as bioavailable. Rice flour is likely to trigger the same reaction in a food addict as rice syrup: both are highly refined. We may initially be persuaded by “faux foods,” e.g. “whole-grain bread,” “flour-free bread,” etc. The fact is that such breads are all made from refined grains. It is a matter of definition on a nutritional label. Reading the glycemic index of such foods tells us the truth about their composition.

    The more refined a flour is, the more bioavailable it becomes. And the more quickly it turns into a spike of blood sugar followed by a drop in blood sugar. Which is the main reason we want to eat something at 10am and 3pm, when we are feeling lethargic and need a boost of energy.

    Sugar and flour are both carbohydrates. Other high carbohydrate foods are fruit, sweet juices, ice cream, pies, candy, potatoes, flour tortillas, pasta, rice and beans.

    So why am I addicted to flour and sugar? We will explore more of this in next week’s post.

    Information and advice contained on this site should not be used for diagnosis or should not be used as a substitute for medical advice. Always consult your doctor or healthcare professional before beginning any new treatment.

    Research for this post came from:

    Food Addiction Institute
    http://foodaddictioninstitute.org/fundamental-concepts/am-i-a-food-addict/2011/01/

    Lawrence Wilson, MD
    http://drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/ADRENAL_BURNOUT.htm

    Dr Jeremy Kaslow, Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology and Internal Medicine
    hhttp://www.drkaslow.com/html/oxidation_rates.html 

    Dr John Briffa- A Good Look at Good Health Blog
    http://www.drbriffa.com/2012/05/17/wheat-opiate-of-the-masses/

    Dr William Davis- The Wheat Belly Blog
    http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

    Dr Joseph Alaimo, Alaimo Chiropractic- Blog
    http://drjosephalaimo.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/caseomorphins-and-gluteomorphins-%E2%80%93-the-food-opiods/