Article by Sallon Fallon, in her book Nourishing Traditions. A must have cook book and nutritional guide.
The problem of alcoholism is allied to the problem of nutrition in general. The root cause of alcohol cravings is a deficiency of B vitamins, trace minerals (Zeta Max), and the amino acid glutamine. (2) Some practitioners find that alcoholics improve when grains are removed from their diets. (3) Thus, the best diet for the alcoholic is one that is high in B vitamins, devoid of all grains and sugars and rich in high-protein foods such as eggs and meat- not exactly the diet promoted by the Department of Agriculture and its new food pyramid.
Alcoholics tend to lack alcohol dehyrogenase, an enzyme that gets rid of alcohol. This implies deficiencies in magnesium and zinc as well as an overload on the pancreas, all of which can be ameliorated by a diet of nutrient-rich and enzyme-rich foods. Homemade bone brothers and lactofermented beverages can be particularly beneficial to the alcoholic because they aid digestion and the assimilation of much-needed nutrients.
The evidence of alcoholism is inconsistent. Certainly the problem of alcoholism is enormous, particularly in the United States where there are some 15 to 20 million alcoholics, or one in every ten people. Alcoholics are more prone to disease and to accidents than the normal populations and tend to die young. On the other hand, several traditional societies, noted for the longevity and food health of their citizens, consume moderate amounts of beer or wine made from grapes, bananas,
and other fruits. These wines tend to have a lower alcohol content than modern beers and wine. Research indicates that moderate consumption of alcohol, particularly wine, may prevent heart disease; one oft-quoted indicates that whose who drink moderately- one to two glasses of wine per day- in general live longer than those who overindulge, and than those who do not drink at all, but this may be the fact that such people tend to be moderate in all their habits
and may be better able to afford a more nutritious diet. Other studies link even moderate alcohol consumption with breast cancer. (1)
The religious of the world differ in their laws on alcohol consumption, but most are in agreement that those on a spiritual path, or those who have chosen a life of devoted service, should refrain from alcoholic beverages. If you do drink, we urge you to partake only of wine or unpasteurized beer with meals in very moderate amounts and to abstain from all alcoholic from time to time. Pregnant women should not consume alcohol. (If you use wine while cooking but want to be sure that the alcohol has evaporated, boil the sauce to which it has been added, uncovered, for about ten minutes.)
What happens after an alcoholic gets off alcohol?
Former alcoholics often replace alcoholic drunks with sweets and sodas without realizing that sugar lays havoc with the intestinal flora, fostering overgrown of candida albicans, and other fungi. Under certain conditions these pathogenic yeasts actually convert sugars in the gut to alcohol! There are well-documented cases of inebriation caused by sugar consumption and candida overgrowth in persons who do not drunk alcohol. (4) The alcoholic, in turning to sugar, of often supplying himself with alcohol through the day!
Alcohol free beer and wine are high in carbohydrates and should also be avoided by those attempting to give up alcoholic beverages. Often they still contain 0.5 percent alcohol, and the taste of these wines and beers may perpetuate the longing for alcohol. As they have bee boiled to remove alcohol, they have been shorn of their enzyme content, which is a health-promoting, compensating factor in wine and unpasteurized beer.
The recipes for traditional lacto-fermented beverages are found here. Sally Fallon and advocates offer the theory that the craving for alcohol, as well as the craving for soft drinks, stems from an ancient collective memory, of the kind of lacto-fermented beverages still found in traditional societies. These beverages give a lift to the tired body by supplying mineral ions depleted through perspiration and make food taste more agreeable and satisfying by supplying lactobacilli, lactic acid and enzymes needed for easy and thorough digestion.
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** If your loved one is trying to quiet drinking alcohol, taking a nutritional approach will make all the difference in stopping the craving and getting the body back into balance. Contact Skye by sending a Saliva Sample to determine their optimal nutritional plan.
