Day 362: 18 oz of Brian Eno.. my favorite smoothie from the Soup Peddler - up the block from work. Açaí, banana, raw cacao, walnuts, ginkgo biloba, cinnamon, coconut oil, Himalayan salt, hemp milk.
It’s funny how it’s customary in our culture to raise a glass to celebrate and connect with others when what is in the glass is likely to make the memory of that moment fuzzy the next day or gone all together. Drinking gets us to the gathering but can rob us from the emotional nourishment that comes from connecting with each other. It creates that same reality inside of your body. Emotionally and physically. Did you know that doctors view an alcoholic mind as starved? It is because the body loses its ability to absorb the nutrients that are vital to your mental and physical well-being. Alcohol wreaks havoc on your guts. The stomach and intestinal lining becomes damaged and no longer capable of metabolizing or utilizing the vitamins and minerals in the food you eat. What’s worse is when we are drinking we do not generally choose the most nutrient rich foods to begin with. I know a lot of people in recovery could say the same about their social lives before they gave up booze. Overtime our bodies are running on fumes - literally.. The stress from the “hot mess” we become depletes our bodies further. Our nervous system gets taxed by the chaos, the clean up, the unhealthy diet, the unhealthy relationships with others and ourselves. Plus we aren’t getting proper deep sleep. We become depleted on every front and it makes us want to drink more. This breeds anxiety and we fall into debt with ourselves. Always a behind and nothing in the bank. I really want to seriously and clearly express how our inner and outer worlds mirror each other. There’s a lot of focus in recovery on making amends and repairing relationships - which is truly important - but that honestly begins with you and your body. This work starts on a biological level. When your body doesn’t trust you - who can? They call it substance abuse but really we are abusing ourselves. The substance isn’t the one who gets hurt. There’s not a bottle of wine out there crying to friend about how unreciprocated your relationship is. Your body and the every-fucking-bit of you that it is a home for.. has taken a beating. It’s been neglected and often abandoned. Eating well is not a trend or a chore. It is a way to regain your own trust. To balance, honor and respect yourself. It is vital. Tomorrow I’m going to start talking about the vitamins alcohol makes us most deficient in. Stay tuned.