Say No to Salt and Yes to Spices

An important part of your long-term sobriety is learning how to eat a balanced diet – and the best way to do this is to cook for yourself. 

Even so, a lot of so-called healthy recipes rely on salt to add flavor. And too much sodium can up your risk of a variety of chronic conditions, including: 

• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Stroke
• Kidney disease
• Osteoporosis
• Stomach cancer

Luckily, a little cooking creativity can help you cut back on sodium without sacrificing flavor – and you’ll likely reap some extra health benefits, too. Here are a few herbs and spices to always have in your kitchen:

• Basil: Add this robust and aromatic herb to fish, lean meat, stews, salads, soups and sauces.
  Health bonus: Contains powerful antioxidants called flavonoids that protect cells from damage.
• Mint: Adds bright freshness to pasta or chilled grain dishes like quinoa salad or couscous.
  Health bonus: Great source of vitamin C, which helps the body build important proteins that keep skin healthy and hair shiny.
• Cinnamon: This fragrant spice is perfect to sprinkle on fruits or in sauces or in breads and other baked goods.
  Health bonus: Most known for its ability to reduce the rise of blood sugar after a meal.
• Garlic: Best enjoyed fresh, this flavorful and aromatic bulb is the perfect addition to lean meat, fish, soups, vegetables, potatoes and sauces.
  Health bonus: Rich in the mineral selenium, which may help prevent heart disease and cancer
  
• Ginger: This unique sweet and spicy flavor can be used when searing any protein: fish, chicken, pork or beef.
  Health bonus: Aids digestion and eases nausea; decreases inflammation.
  
• Parsley: This nutritious herb can give meat, fish, salads, sauces and vegetables a vibrant taste.
  Health bonus: Good source of vitamin K, which helps blood clot and keeps your bones strong.
• Sage: These grayish green leaves give lean meat, fish, biscuits and veggies a savory flavor.
  Health bonus: May help enhance memory; reduce inflammation.
• Rosemary: This aromatic herb has evergreen-like leaves perfect for sauces, stuffing, potatoes and fish and lean meat dishes.
  Health bonus: Aids digestion; increases circulation.

Nutrition Planning at Complete Harmony
Helping clients plan healthful meals to enrich their body and mind is just one of the many features of our hybrid addiction treatment. By integrating conventional and holistic recovery approaches, we help restore balance to the whole person. To learn more, call: 866-930-4673.

A Good Reason to Get Up

You don't have to spend hours at the gym or have a vigorous sweat session to improve your mood and reduce depression, according to a new study published in the Journal of Health Psychology. Turns out that simply being up and about throughout the day can be healthier than sitting.

This is great news if you lead a mostly sedentary life – and, if you do, you’re not alone. Sitting down for meals, commuting, working, TV watching, sleeping – this can easily add up to as little as one hour per day off your feet! 

“We hope this research helps people realize the important public health message that simply going from doing no physical activity to performing some physical activity can improve their subjective well-being," said Gregory Panza, a graduate student in UConn's Department of Kinesiology and the study's lead author, in a statement. 

"What is even more promising for the physically inactive person is that they do not need to exercise vigorously to see these improvements," Panza continued. "Instead, our results indicate you will get the best 'bang for your buck' with light or moderate intensity physical activity."

Try one of these easy ways to add more movement to your day: 

• Walk faster. Whether you’re walking to your car or down the grocery isle, make an effort to pick up the pace. 
• Take the stairs. You’ve likely heard this advice before and for good reason: Climbing stairs for two minutes, five days a week provides the same calorie burn as a 36-minute walk, according to experts at Reader’s Digest. What’s more, a recent study showed that climbing the stairs can give you a midday boost more so than a cup of coffee. 
• Add walking to your lunch menu. Once you finish eating, get up and get going for a brief walk. Most of us don’t take the full 30 to 60 minutes allotted for lunch to eat. 
• Dance around your house. While you’re doing the dishes or waiting for dinner to cook, turn up the music and get shaking and shimmying. 
• Neaten up daily. Chores like dusting, doing laundry and vacuuming can add up to big activity points. 
• Turn TV time into a workout. Use those commercial breaks to get off of the sofa and do some jumping jacks or stretching.

Exercise to Support Your Sobriety 

At Complete Harmony, we know that fighting addiction is more than simply giving up drugs and alcohol. It’s about creating a new sober lifestyle that supports your health holistically. Our hybrid addiction recovery program offers exercise planning to strengthen your body during addiction recovery. To learn more, call: 866-930-4673.

New Study on Drug Craving

New research sheds light on how craving works in the brain, according to a new article published in JAMA Psychiatry. Scientists at the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas are the first to propose a model that focuses on the intense, urgent feeling of needing or wanting drugs. 

"Craving is considered one of the strongest predictors of relapse," said Dr. Xiaosi Gu, who runs the Computational Psychiatry Unit at the Center for BrainHealth, in a statement. "Even after an individual has broken the cycle of compulsive drug taking, craving can still persist. Although current treatment can handle a lot of the behavioral aspects of addiction, especially physical symptoms, craving is difficult to treat because it is a subject state ... We aim, with this new framework, to begin to separate craving from reward- or drug-seeking behavior."

Dr. Gu, along with Dr. Francesca Filbey and Bert Moore Chair, are collaborating to identify which regions of the brain encode craving and to lay the groundwork for quantifying craving, its effects and ways to target treatments to counteract it. Of course, time will tell how this research can impact treatment for alcohol and substance abuse disorders as well as binge-eating disorders.  

3 Ways to Fight Craving

• Change your surroundings. Go for a walk, bike ride or drive. The goal is to change your surroundings to eliminate any triggers, including sights, sounds and smells.
• Seek support. Call a family member, trusted friend or sponsor to help you calm down and ride out the craving.
• Engage in a “clean” activity. Watch a funny movie, do a puzzle, play a video game or try a new Pinterest project.

Relapse Prevention at Complete Harmony
Many things trigger relapse, including events, places and negative relationships. Our relapse prevention and aftercare planning offers holistic relapse strategies to empower you or someone you love to slowly eliminate the dangerous urge to self-medicate. To learn more about our holistic treatment facility and programs, call: 866-930-4673.

6 Ways to Boost Your Mental Health

Happy Mental Health Month, led by Mental Health America (MHA). This year’s theme is “Risky Business,” and the 100-plus year organization is hoping to educate people about habits and behaviors that increase the risk of developing or exacerbating mental illnesses, including risky sex, prescription drug misuse, internet addiction, excessive spending, marijuana use and troublesome exercise patterns.

If you’re healing from a past addiction to drugs or alcohol, taking the time to learn positive strategies to support your mental health is essential. If you don’t learn how to deal with stress, anxiety and depression in a positive way, you are at risk of relapsing and turning to drugs and alcohol to self-medicate.

So the next time you’re feeling blue or overwhelmed with life, consider trying one or more of these tips from MHA: 

• Go off the grid. Shut-off that smart phone and spend time doing something fun with someone face-to-face. Have a cookout, go to a park, or play a game. People are 12 times more likely to feel happy on days that they spend six to seven hours with friends and family.
• Put on your creative cap. Try a new recipe or Pinterest project or write a poem or paint. Creative expression has been linked with higher overall well-being. 
• Show love to someone special in your life. Having close, quality relationships can increase your chances of a happy, healthy life.
• Soak up the joy. Being optimistic doesn't mean ignoring the uglier sides of life – but focusing on the positive as much as possible.
• Track gratitude and achievement. Start a journal and include three things you were grateful for and three things you were able to accomplish each day. 
• Work your strengths. Build your confidence by doing something you’re good at – and then tackle a tougher task. 

Find Happiness in Sobriety 

Have you been using drugs and alcohol to achieve fleeting moments of happiness? Are you seeking a more lasting, healthy sense of well-being? If so, the holistic therapies at Complete Harmony can show you the way to a more meaningful and satisfying life. Begin the journey to mindful sobriety by calling our caring, compassionate team at 866-930-4673 today!

How to Beat Your Midday Slump

Need an afternoon pick-me-up? You might consider putting down that cup of coffee and hitting the stairs instead. According to new research from the University of Georgia, walking up and down the stairs at a regular pace for 10 minutes can make you feel as energized as drinking 50 milligrams of caffeine (about a can of soda). 

"We found, in both the caffeine and the placebo conditions, that there was not much change in how they felt," said Patrick J. O'Connor, a professor in the department of kinesiology, who co-authored the study. "But with exercise they did feel more energetic and vigorous. It was a temporary feeling, felt immediately after the exercise, but with the 50 milligrams of caffeine, we didn't get as big an effect."

The study, which was published in the journal Physiology and Behavior, also linked stair walking with a small increase in motivation. Though there’s still much research to be done on the specific benefits of exercising on the stairs, especially for just 10 minutes, admit researchers.

More Caffeine-Free Energy Boosters

Try these ideas to get out of a midday slump. 

• Sing a song. Singing increases energy and decreases tension, especially if you choose a tune that you can’t help but sing at the top of your lungs. For even more energy-boosting effects, be sure to stand up as you belt it out. Studies show that standing can provide an instant surge of energy.
• Breathe fire. A technique from kundalini yoga, Breath of Fire requires you to take short, quick breaths through your nose. This forces your diaphragm and belly to contract and increases energy by flooding your system with oxygen. 
• Take a power nap. Aim for 20 to 40 minutes to improve mood, alertness, and performance, notes the National Sleep Foundation.
• Let out a laugh. A good guffaw will increase your breath and cause your pulse and blood pressure to rise. The result: more energy and a better mood!
• Chug some water. Even a little dehydration (just 1.5% loss in normal water) can cause fatigue, lack of concentration and poor mood, according to studies.

Healthy Living for Lasting Recovery
At Complete Harmony, we utilize cutting-edge addiction treatment and holistic therapies to offer you the best chance for a lasting recovery. To learn more, call: 866-930-4673.

Are You Making These Meditation Mistakes?

By now you likely know the numerous benefits of meditation for people in recovery from a substance use disorder. To recap: It will help you stay focused on drug-free healing; enhance self-awareness; improve impulse control; quell anxiety; push away thoughts of self-criticism and blame; find a deeper spiritual connection; and more!

Still, especially when first starting out, many people struggle with some meditation mistakes. Here are four common ones:

• You’re doing the wrong kind of meditation: Just like no two recovery paths are alike nor are two minds. This is why it's important to find a meditation style that works for you. For example, you might benefit from transcendental meditation over guided visualization or mindfulness over Qi Gong. The best way to find out is to experiment and see which technique best helps you meet your meditation goals.
• You’re not giving it enough time. Meditation is a lifelong practice and you may need a little practice to make it work for you. Don’t give up: Take a week and schedule it into your every day and you’ll likely start reaping some of the many benefits.
• You’re expecting to completely clear your mind. Unfortunately, you can stop thoughts from coming to your mind, but you can learn to not react to them. Think of yourself as an air traffic controller, say experts. The goal is to learn how to choose what you focus on and what you let go of in order to stay mentally healthy.
• You’re not convinced that meditation really works. We said it once and we'll say it again: Meditation is really good for your recovery. Give it a chance and let it work its magic for you!

Finding Holistic Treatment 

At Complete Harmony, we specialize in different cutting-edge techniques to help patients recover from addiction, including meditation, yoga, massage therapy and acupuncture. To learn more about our programs and rehab facility, call today: 866-930-4673. 

Still Smoking? Exercise May Help!

While smoking has been on the decline over the past 25 years, nearly one billion people still smoke daily, according to a new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease study. Researchers found that one out of every four men still smoke daily, as do one out of every 20 women.

Smoking is the second-leading cause of death globally. According to the study findings, more than 11% of all global deaths in 2015 were attributed to smoking, totaling 6.4 million. And over half of these smoking-related deaths took place in just four countries: the United States, China, India, and Russia.

"Robust tobacco control efforts have led to progress in reducing the deadly habit of smoking in much of the world, but much more can be done," said senior author Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou, Professor of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle. "Growth in the sheer number of daily smokers still outpaces the global decline in daily smoking rates, indicating the need to prevent more people from starting the tobacco habit and to encourage smokers to quit."

How Exercise Can Help You Quit 

If you’re trying to quit smoking, exercise can be a powerful part of your quit-smoking plan. This is because it can help you curb cravings and withdrawal symptoms during and up to 50 minutes afterward. Other benefits include: 

• Fewer thoughts of smoking
• Improved stress management
• Better mood
• Less weight gain
• Decreased appetite
• More energy

Meditation & Holistic Rehab Treatment 

As you pursue a lifestyle free of chemical substances, including cigarettes, you'll likely be faced with many events, places, and situations that trigger the desire to use. Taking a few moments to meditate at work, in the car, or before stressful situations can lead to more mindful decisions and more strength to remain sober and nicotine-free. To learn more about the addiction treatment at Complete Harmony, call today: 866-930-4673.