When it comes to recovering from substance use and mental health conditions, nutrition plays a significant role. Patients often arrive in treatment with bodies and minds that have endured the toxicity of drug and alcohol use. Unhealthy or irregular eating habits have likely contributed to and even perpetuated a person’s level of impairment. Eating healthy meals — and learning how to care for your body — is instrumental in achieving long-term wellness.
Emphasizing Nutrition and Wellness in Recovery
Food is so much more than food. It’s energy, it’s nutrients, it helps you replenish your body. What we put into our body is what we’re going to get out of our body, so it’s important to put very energizing and nourishing items into our system — especially during the treatment process.
For most of our patients, this requires a perspective shift: Instead of seeing the body as a thing to be used or simply to medicate, a person begins to see the body as a vessel to respect, nourish, and care for. You can’t neglect the body and expect to function successfully. This is one reason why we make nutrition and wellness a focal point The Meadows Malibu.
Marissa Ayala
Head Chef
Going Beyond the Kitchen
It’s more than just serving healthy, delicious food and having a private chef on-site every day. It’s about taking patients to the farmers’ market, it’s about having a garden right outside, it’s about a weekly Creative Cooking class that teaches patients how to prepare healthful meals for themselves once they return home.
Our chef takes into consideration not only our patients’ dietary needs and restrictions, but also their personal preferences and requests. She cooks with organic, non-GMO foods and utilizes the yield from the garden as much as possible.
