Nutritional Assessment and Guidance
Substance Abuse Compromises the Brain and Body
When addiction and mental illness take control of your life, you lose awareness of the healthy priorities and needs of your body. These problems displace necessary functional habits for a healthy lifestyle, such as food and nutrition. Your brain loses touch with sensations of hunger and thirst as you crave the addiction or the distorted thinking of a mental illness instead of recognizing the nutrition your body needs. Over time the damage to the brain, liver, skin, hair, digestive system and bone density starts to wear on you, and you may feel your body deteriorating. Within the recovery program at Avalon Malibu, we help you rebuild healthy eating habits as we support the detoxification of your brain and body. Our vision is to fuel healthy cells, invigorate the metabolism, improve digestion, and increase immunity so you can grow in strength mentally and physically against addiction.
When patients come to Avalon Malibu, their nutrition has suffered and they may be either undernourished or obese. Our nutrition assessment and guidance begins with the patient’s individualized treatment and focus toward complete healing. Avalon Malibu strongly focuses on diet education, providing personal and group nutritional guidance to patients. Our primary goal is to provide the tools you need to make lifelong dietary changes to improve your health and well-being.
We are proud to provide a four-star, Le Cordon Bleu chef to pamper our patients with the healthiest meals. With an emphasis on local and organic foods, every meal begins with the finest ingredients to support your healthy recovery. Our goal is to guide you in adopting and maintaining better eating practices that will help you build consistency in sobriety practices.
Avalon Malibu’s staff excels in providing both standard nutritional intervention and dynamic dietary support. Throughout your treatment, the process of nutritional screening and intervention will offer frequent feedback and teach you about healthy living practices. We support every individual’s growth toward healthy eating and weight stabilization. Avalon Malibu features exquisite specialties and innovative modern presentations, specific to each patient’s nutritional needs and culinary interests. We strive to help you gain strength both physically and psychologically.
Avalon Malibu has helped patients recover from anorexia, bulimia and atypical eating disorders. As our patients approach or re-approach addiction therapy, we consider the timing of the treatment and their readiness to commit to their program.
Recovery is a delicate and important process that requires persistence, courage and effective resources to be successful. Avalon is the first residential addiction treatment center to successfully capture all aspects of recovery support. Our dynamic treatment team works with a small patient ratio so that nothing is missed or undervalued for improvement.
Issues Related to Nutrition Rehabilitation
All patients arriving at Avalon Malibu for rehabilitation first have a nutritional assessment and guidance session. If for any reason a patient demonstrates malnutrition, a program of metabolic support will be initiated to increase levels of protein and restore immune competence. As a result of poor nutrition and substance abuse, many patients arrive with depleted levels of necessary nutrients such as B vitamins, and they have begun to develop health conditions. We screen for other risks of malnutrition and provide immediate support for the patient’s healing process.
Clients Considered at Risk for Malnutrition May Exhibit Any of the Following:
- Involuntary weight loss
- Inadequate nutritional intake from dieting or drug or alcohol abuse
- Impaired ability to ingest
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation
- Fungus on the tongue
- Muscle wasting
- Tooth decay
- Premature aging
- Anemia
- Irregular heart beat
- Increased infections
- Higher blood pressure
- Disruption of thirst and hunger stimuli
- Lethargy
Who Leads the Nutritional Evaluation and Guidance Program at Avalon Malibu?
Leading the way in this endeavor is Dr. Mathew Torrington, addiction specialist and medical physician. Our wellness staff also includes Alexandra Carmel, a licensed acupuncturist, physician of Chinese medicine, herbalist and holistic nutritionist.
The Keys to Nutritional Success at Avalon Malibu
A successful program plan will find the right synthesis between your desires and needs. Avalon Malibu’s goal is to keep our patients interested in eating and in making continued progress toward nutritional success. A licensed dietitian will meet with each patient one-on-one, to analyze specific nutrition and dietary needs. The team will build a customized diet plan and nutritional strategy to help you attain a realistic goal.
At Avalon Malibu, we impart strategies that fit your lifestyle and empower you to make smart choices to improve your own health and energy levels. Our purpose is to help you build a better attitude towards nutrition. We strive to improve areas of current eating patterns with recommendations and changes that can be easily followed for many years after your recovery.
Healthy nutrition will help you build self-discipline, support personal dedication, and add value to your health and body. Rediscover your wellness and reset your healthy balance with Avalon Malibu’s Nutrition Assessment and Guidance program today by calling 888-958-7511.
