Get the health benefits of red wine in a sober package

Resveratrol is a compound found in red grapes and most notably in red wine. It has been found to help lower blood sugar. Some studies done in animals suggest that
resveratrol may also lengthen lifespan. It also seems to have anti-cancer properties. And, at least if you're a mouse in an exercise lab, it can improve treadmill performance.

All of these findings have led proponents of red wine to promote a glass or two on a regular basis as health-promoting practice. The good news is, you can get resveratrol even if you're no longer consuming alcohol. Here are some sober ways to get more resveratrol into your diet.

1. Snack on peanuts. I know, for some of you, peanuts are probably a food it's not easy to eat in small quantities. You can always sprinkle them on a salad or on top of soups if that's a problem. they're one of the best natural sources of resveratrol outside of wine.

2. Don't forget peanut butter! It's economical, it's portable, and it's easy. I even travel with it, as a backup in case room service is closed by the time I arrive at my destination.

2. Cranberries and red grapes, fresh or in juice, are also good sources. These days dried cranberries are pretty easy to find, and they're wonderful in salads, on top of oatmeal, even sprinkled onto a turkey sandwich if it's not Thanksgiving when cranberry sauce is handy.

3. Eat more blueberries. Blueberries are getting a lot of attention as a superfood so they are pretty easily found. I even saw blueberry juice recently at Trader Joe's. I've seen the dried version cheap at Costco.

Be advised that powdered resveratrol supplements are primarily derived from Japanese knotweed. It is not really known if it is resveratrol alone that has such potent health powers, or if it acts in sync with other compounds in the foods mentioned above. My personal opinion is that it's always best to go with whole foods than it is to assume that a supplement outside of the environment Mother Nature packages it in is equally as productive to use.

Beware the energy drink

Last night I was doing a class at Whole Foods, the topic being better sleep. I got there early to cruise the aisles to get ideas for discussion topics. I think I need to spend an entire afternoon studying energy drinks.

One thing I've learned in addiction work is that people who've struggled with addictions tend to want to control their energy levels--and their emotions--externally. So if they're tired, for example, instead of viewing that as an indication that they need to get their sleep cycle back into balance, they turn to a drink or a supplement for energy.

That can become a vicious cycle.

If you overdo the energy drinks during the day, it may backfire and make it harder to fall asleep at night, setting you up to be even more tired the following day. And when you're tired...you are more likely to crave sweets when you ARE awake.

People who don't sleep well are prone to being insulin resistant, which means they're going to have trouble maintaining their weight.

My message is, beware the energy drink, especially the one that's promoting itself as "natural". Caffeine is natural. Lard is natural. Even arsenic is natural. Don't make the illogical leap of assuming that because a product is natural, or organic, that it is automatically good for you in unlimited amounts. Two ingredients I saw in a lot of these beverages were guarana and green tea. I love green tea, but it contains caffeine. So I always get the decaffeinated kind. Guarana is a stimulant. Which means it's an upper. Which means it can be over consumed, especially by people who were addicted to less "desirable" stimulants in their addiction days.

If you're having trouble with energy, let's figure out why. Are you eating enough? Eating enough of the right things? Focusing on complex carbohydrates that stay in your system longer? Getting enough sleep? Managing your stress? Are you working on caffeine withdrawal? (That one is killer and can take a long time.)

I'll work on a list of ingredients for a later post, but I wanted to start the discussion here since there was a whole aisle of shelf space devoted to these drinks and for many of you, it seemed like, without judicious label reading, could be the "aisle of trouble".

Read those labels and know what you're drinking!

The challenge of restaurants

I worked for several years in an eating disorder treatment center. It was there that I first worked, at least clinically, with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I have a small publication on the topic that I wrote in the days after 9/11. While I was updating it this week, I ran across some information I'd written for this booklet on restaurant eating that may be helpful for people in recovery.

Sometimes, addictions can develop as a way to dull your awareness to the after-effects of trauma. Restaurants can be especially challenging to people with PTSD, because they can be noisy, and chaotic, with lots of sensory input from the sights, sounds, and smells of food, not to mention the people preparing it and eating it. It can be an easy place to start to crave, especially since the visual trigger of a bar and other people drinking is often part of the restaurant experience.

If you're noticing that restaurants are stressful, just aren't as fun, or are triggering cravings, consider trying the following:

--go during an off hour, when there are fewer people and noises
--pick a restaurant with just a few choices on the menu
--be a "regular" at a favorite place so that people are familiar
--if the weather is nice and it is an option, ask to be seated outdoors so that you can focus on other things that aren't quite so triggering
--get a copy of the menu beforehand and at least narrow your choice down to a few possibilities

If you are aware that it's potentially the chaos, and you have several tricks up your sleeve to minimize the chance that this chaos will cause problems, eating out in restaurants can hopefully be enjoyable instead of something to dread.

My Mini-Mexican Health Food Vacation

One of the things that's hardest for me about choosing what I eat...is choosing what I eat. I love food, of all kinds, and to narrow it down to just the few I need to get through the day, can be tough. A few years ago I started doing something fun that helps me with that task.

I had moved into a new condo, and after moving 14 years worth of old "stuff" from my former apartment, decided to methodically clean and organize. I started with my old Sunset magazines, which I kept because they each had a recipe I wanted to try some day but never got around to. I tore out the recipe pages, and created a monthly file for each one. So when May came, I pulled out my May file and flipped through my pages of ideas.

I found this great recipe for beet salad, which called for a Mexican cheese called "queso fresco." Living in Phoenix, I assumed it would be easy to find queso fresco. Was I ever wrong. After unsuccessfully visiting 5 stores in my neighborhood, I consulted with the Cheese Goddess (that's actually her title on her name tag) at the store on the corner. She immediately suggested a store in the Hispanic section of town, but warned me, "You'll feel like you're walking right into Mexico--even all the overhead announcements are in Spanish!"

Which, of course, meant this was a must-do outing for Saturday.

Am I ever glad I ventured! If Mexico City has high-end grocery stores, this is what I envision them to be like. There was a huge seafood section, a fresh juice bar with all kind of tropical fruits, and a gorgeous produce section where I saw at least 18 kinds of chiles, two kinds of coconut, exotic vegetables I'd only read about, and exotic fruits I'd never even heard of.

What was really interesting was how, in stepping out of my comfort zone, things I probably walked right past in my neighborhood store, popped out at me as ideas for things to eat. There were also some interesting alternatives to favorite foods I'd never seen in my neighborhood store. One example I brought home, was canned tuna with vegetables mixed right in.

Psychologically, I think my mini-Mexican vacation reminded me that eating healthier is not always boring or about deprivation. A lot of the foods I saw in this store are foods I readily eat when I'm on vacation, (like shrimp), but never think to choose when I'm back at home.

If you're someone who tends to shop in the same store, with a standard efficient route that allows you to get the regular foods in a minimum of time, consider opening up your world--as well as your eyes--by stepping into a new store. A cultural experience like mine is fun if you have the time and interest, but you can even challenge yourself by stopping by your favorite store in a different location.

Oh! Before I forget, here's the beet salad recipe I mentioned, from the May 2006 Sunset Magazine.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1611626

Alcohol Substitutions for Cooking

When cooking food that calls for alcohol, use the following suggested substitutions:

Amaretto: Use almond extract-about 1/4 teaspoon extract mixed with enough water to equal the amount of alcohol per 2 tablespoons amaretto
Champagne: ginger ale
Cointreau: orange juice, fresh or frozen concentrate
Cognac: juice from peaches, apricots or pears
Dry red wine: broth or broth mixed with red grape juice or cranberry juice
Kahlua: 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee mixed with 2 tablespooons water for each 2 tablespoons Kahlua
Kirsch: syrup or juice from cherries or berries

Summer's here! Stay cool without tipping the scales

As beautiful as the weather is here in Phoenix right now, it's clear, summer is just around the corner. It always catches me off guard in the spring, when it's so beautiful outside and I want to spend as much time as possible out there...but it's not warm enough for me to be aware of the fact that I'm losing water to the atmosphere. It's only when my eyes start to burn that I realize I've allowed myself to become dehydrated.

This past week I worked with a client who learned the same lesson the hard way. In the month since I'd seen her, despite following a very healthy diet, she gained weight instead of losing the weight she'd wanted to. As we chatted, it became clear that the problem was not in what she was eating, it was in what she was drinking. With our record low humidity readings, it would have been a challenge for anyone to stay hydrated. But in her case, she is also on medications that were increasing her thirst. And she was coping with it by heading to the refrigerator and drinking as much as she could of anything she could find that would quench her insatiable thirst.

Her experience is not unusual. Many people in recovery are also on psychiatric medications. And many of those medications increase thirst. If you compound that with a change in weather, you've got to really be smart about your choices.

Here are some of the rules we discussed, which I hope are helpful to you all as well.

1. Read your labels! Many beverages are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, which adds calories and can promote the development of diabetes. You've already got more of that risk if you're on many psychiatric meds, so don't double the trouble.

2. Watch out for fruit juices. Even though they've got vitamins, antioxidants, etc., they also have calories. Read the serving size on the label and stick to one serving at a time. I like to freeze fruit juice into ice cubes and then use those cubes in mineral water. I also throw a shot of fruit juice into a smoothie to help intensify the flavor. You can also add juices to marinades and salad dressings if you like to cook and feel creative. It's just not the best idea to drink large quantities right out of the bottle.

3. Look for mineral waters and waters flavored with essences. One of my current favorites is Metro Mint, which tastes like a liquid mint candy. Essences are calorie free, and it's a great way to get flavor in what you're drinking without calories, sugar, or artificial sweeteners.

4. Have fun with herbal teas! There are dozens of flavors, and you can mix and match to create your own concoctions. Here in Arizona a favorite is sun tea. If you have a big glass jar, fill it to the top, add some tea bags, and let the sun brew it over the course of a day.

5. Green tea is one of my favorites. It's full of antioxidants, and it also helps to increase blood flow to the brain. Be sure to look for the decaffeinated version to be sure hydration and sleep don't interfere with each other.

6. Get creative! Just before I sat down to write this blog, I took some decaf green tea I'd brewed in my coffee maker earlier today and then refrigerated, and poured a shot of Metro Mint water in it to wake it up a bit. Mmmmmmm.....!

7. Beware of caffeinated drinks. Caffeine not only makes it hard to sleep, it can promote insulin resistance. And both insulin resistance AND caffeine can promote weight gain. That's a double whammy you absolutely don't want on your plate.

8. Decaf ice coffees, as long as they're not Frappabinos with extra whipped cream, are ok...but remember, even decaffeinated coffee has a little bit of caffeine in it. If you are an all-or-nothing kind of person and tend to go over the top with things you perceive to be "good", then you still might overdo it in the caffeine department.

9. Be sure to eat lots of fruits and vegetables. They are high in water content and can help to keep you hydrated.

10. Drink lots of smoothies and eat lots of soups. Again, it doesn't matter if you "eat" or drink your liquids, it matters that liquids get into you!

And Who Am I!

Hello everyone,

I'm another member of the team producing this blog. I'm a dietitian and an exercise physiologist. But I also belong to a family where addictions have taken their toll. Even though I have the degrees and the experience and the connections that on paper make me credible...what drives me to do this is that I love someone very much who struggles with behaviors that interfere with our relationship. We haven't spoken in years, but he's in my daily thoughts. This is my way, I guess, of turning all those academic credentials into a labor of love, and hopefully of using my personal experience to benefit others.

A few months ago I'd actually started to contact treatment centers in Los Angeles about coming over to introduce myself and tour facilities. And the first trip I actually had an appointment scheduled was completely disastrous. I ended up having to cancel. I felt horrible about having to call and apologize for the waste of time. But the people were so nice about it. I had this odd sense of not worrying, and that the time would come when I'd be able to pursue that connection.

Fast forward to last month. I reconnected with my co-author, a friend for many years who lives just around the corner, but who I rarely see. It turned out she's had similar goals. So I think the cancelled tours were not so much about my getting out to LA and getting to work as much as creating intentional thought and watching things pull together in a much bigger way that I didn't even envision back then. I was ready for what I thought I wanted, but not for this...at least then.

But I am now, and I'm very excited about what lies ahead! Starting with this blog, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this all weaves together. Lots of what I had to know and do before feeling qualified to take on this venture took years of work and patience. And it finally feels like it's the time to take it on.

I hope to see you back here again, as we pull together our thoughts, information, and best wishes for all of you in your recovery journeys.

Who am I?

I'm Sharon, a registered dietitian with a special interest in recovery. I'm the adult child of two alcoholic parents, the sister of a cocaine addict, and the mother of two daughters in recovery. In other words, I have a lot of close up personal experience with addiction and recovery. My mother was an active alcholic for most of her life. She died at age 67 from complications related to Alzheimer's. Until her death, she was a pretty healthy woman despite her years of heavy drinking. For some reason that defies common sense, my mother always had a hearty appetite and ate well regardless of her alcohol intake. I think, had she not suffered from Alzheimer's, she would have lived to a ripe old age even though longevity is not common in our family. I attribute her healthy constitution to her diet. She ate lots of vegetables, fruits and a hearty serving of chocolate every day. This was before we knew what an antioxidant was so she didn't eat that way for health but because she liked it. One daughter was an active heroin addict for 15 years-now with three years in recovery! I fed my kids well growing up. She would come home every once in a while from her life on the streets for a Mommy Fix. I fed her lots of good healthy food. She slept. She bathed. She relaxed. Then she went out again. I believe her diet has played a role in her healthy recovery as well.

I've always been interested in food-eating it (especially), shopping for it, cooking it and learning about it. I believe in food. I believe in the power of food. I believe that eating well can make a difference in a person's life. I think it made a difference in my family's life. I don't always practice what I preach so if you see me chowing down on a fried chicken wing or a double hot fudge sundae, just smile and wave.

Because of my experiences loving people who have suffered with substance abuse issues, I have wanted to understand as much as possible about the disease. To that end, I recently completed a program in chemical dependency treatment. I have to admit that I didn't learn anything new. I guess my years of family involvement taught me what was in the books.

When my daughters were actively using, I searched for answers on the internet, called doctors, talked to therapists, attended meetings. Since I'm a dietitian, I also searched for nutrition advice but my search came up pretty empty. What I found was general recommendations that would be made to anyone-healthy or not-but very little specifically for chemically dependent people. And what about detox, I wondered? Are there special needs during detox? In recovery? What about three months or six months or two years of sobriety, are there special needs still?

So, here we are. Not sure where this will go but that's what's exciting about it. We will research and learn together. We're going to be visiting rehabs and sober living houses. We want to find out what sober people want to know about nutrition. And then we hope to be able to supply the information-information targeted to the sober community.