Diet is key to quitting your vices
MOST of us think nothing of using potentially addictive substances such as coffee, sugary snacks, cigarettes or alcohol to help us cope with life’s stresses and strains.
So far so normal – until we discover we’re dependent or that our consumption’s gone beyond socially acceptable limits and what we once enjoyed is damaging our health or relationships.
Whatever the vice, quitting often turns into mission impossible for millions.
One in four in the UK are thought to be addicted or dependent, but most fail to quit – derailed by a range of withdrawal symptoms that can include cravings through to depression, anxiety, and sleeplessness.
Now new hope is promised by a small team of experts who claim to have found the missing key to overcoming addiction, whether its to alcohol and tobacco or prescription or illegal drugs.
Nutritionist Patrick Holford has joined forces with two addiction specialists to reveal an addiction-beating diet and lifestyle plan in a new book, How to Quit Without Feeling S**T.
The breakthrough, he claims, is the recognising the effect on the brain: “The trouble is the substance you’re addicted to mimics the feel-good chemicals that our brain produces.
“The substances hijack the brain so that it gradually produces less and less natural feel good chemicals, called neurotransmitters, so you need more and more of the drug to feel normal.
“In effect, the brain becomes programmed for craving and addiction. So however much willpower you have, giving up becomes nigh on impossible.”
The good news, he claims, is that by feeding your brain the exact nutrients that are needed to make its own feel-good chemicals, the abstinence symptoms and craving go away.
They have identified specific supplements depending on the addictive substance and a nutrition plan that aims to reduce cravings, and boost health and wellbeing, and suggest lifestyle changes.
* How To Quit Without Feeling S**T by Patrick Holford with David Miller and Dr James Braly is published by Piatkus, priced £16.99.
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