At Boston medical center, patients recovering from addiction, become healthier, one plate, a stick and a cube at the same time.
For many years, the hospital offer cooking classes tailored to specific diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, and it runs a food pantry for patients with low incomes who are assigned to fresh food as part of their treatment. The newest class, “Cooking for recovery” and is part of a growing trend towards a more integrated approach to the treatment of drug addiction.
“Good medical care is more than just direct clinical services,” said Michael Botticelli, Executive Director of the Center Grayken medical centre for addiction and former Director of the office of the White house national drug control policies. “Recovery is not only the cessation of the use of alcohol and drugs, how do we restore people’s sense of health and sense of well-being.”
Last Thursday, a dietitian and chef Tracey Burg kept up a continuous stream of recommendations, guiding participants based on chicken, pasta and vegetable dish. Felicha young to join her for the oven in the demonstration kitchen, making quick work of zucchini following statement Burg, to slice it first on the plate, then stick shape, and finally, fresh, cut in cubes. One end of the counter was full of “mood enhancers” — vegetables and whole grains, while the other sported a sign listing “depressors of mood”, such as candy, sodas and fried foods.
“You don’t want to live on French fries,” Burg said.
While drug abuse can leave the body depleted of vital nutrients, self-care and proper nutrition is often overlooked during recovery, Burg said. Many crave sweets, which activate the same brain areas to buy drugs, she said, which can lead to the rise and fall of blood sugar, weight gain, depression and a possible relapse.
“It’s a vicious circle,” she said.
One participant in cooking class told Burge she ate every day two bags of cotton candy, plus a third night to “help her sleep”. The purpose of the Burg is to push participants to make healthy choices such as brown rice or whole grains, which make them feel fuller longer, and also provides vital nutrients.
“A lot of people get over alcoholism or drug addiction, their gut is broken, because all their healthy bacteria has been destroyed,” she said. “But there is fiber actually feeds the beneficial bacteria in the gut … and it helps to bring that a healthy microbiome. Therefore, nutrition plays many roles in the process of healing.”
Young, who was in recovery for about a year and a half, heard about cooking from her doctor.
“I am familiar with the kitchen, but I wanted to go there to get more tips about how to bring the flavor” – she said. “While I’m here, I like it. Just sitting and watching would be boring for me.”
Young said that the program of clinic treatment of drug addiction helped her get her life back on track, but while she was in class, she never thought about how healthy eating can affect it.
“I don’t even know that this could be part of the process of recovery,” she said.
While some addiction treatment centres are using nutritionists, and include nutrition programs for patients, officials at Boston medical center said do not know these cooking classes at other medical centers. But his approach has attracted the attention of new Hampshire Dartmouth-Hitchcock medical center where Perinatal addiction treatment program in a clinic for pregnant women and mothers includes food, a “grab and go” Snack bags of fruits and vegetables and casseroles for the patient to take home after a recovery group meetings.
The food pantry is run by upper Paradise Valley, a nonprofit organization in Vermont which offers food, shelter and other support to people struggling with poverty. Officials there called for the Boston test kitchen and food pantry for inspiration. Daisy Goodman, advance nurse in Dartmouth-Hitchcock, said that women often to the clinic with a doughnut or high-sugar coffee drink in hand.
“Obviously, they don’t eat much high calorie food,” she said. “We really started to focus on providing food that is immediately and easily available, because women come in hungry.”
Instead offer cooking classes, Dartmouth-Hitchcock works with patients, a cookbook of healthy recipes, said Goodman. But she said that the basic principles of leadership in Boston and new Hampshire programs.
“I think the main question we should ask when we think that we provide service for patients, is that service really work?”, she said. “This is a really good comprehensive programs that provide a variety of services in one place.”
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
