More than Meets the Eye: Linking Nutrition & Behavioral Health
Today is Saturday March 28, 2020. The world is in quarantine due to COVID-19 and many are in a behavioral health crisis. I am not depressed about it although certainly concerned for the welfare of my fellows, particularly those in recovery. I have been conducting Zoom and FaceTime sessions with people all over the world and doing what I can to be helpful. I do have more time to work on manuscripts and other academic projects. Tonight I will be coding up some variables for a data analysis.
Last night I had the idea to share my latest presentation with my newsletter followers. So I spent an hour recording my latest presentation “More than Meets the Eye: Linking Nutrition & Behavioral Health.” I hope you enjoy!
The presentation discusses: Trauma, adversity, nutrition, eating disorders, substance use disorders, opioid crisis, food addiction, neuroscience, gut-brain axis, microbiome, recovery, treatment and so much more! Nutrition for behavioral health is the future!
NUTRITION IN RECOVERY CURRICULUM
Nutrition in Recovery Group Curriculum is now Available!
In 2012, I ran my first weekly nutrition group at a residential drug and alcohol treatment center in Los Angeles where I taught people about the link between nutrition and behavioral health. We did not have a TV, so I put together various handouts as reading material for group discussions, based on information that I learned through my own treatment in 2005 & 2006. I’ll never forget the excitement of my first year running Nutrition in Recovery groups and building out the curriculum, and becoming a specialist working with this unique population. The experience was magical – I’ve enjoyed being contacted over the years and people sharing memories of that first nutrition group; someone recently told me that my trip with them to the grocery store while they were in treatment changed their life, and they are now sober working as a chef. This is in part due to the Nutrition in Recovery curriculum.
Nutrition in Recovery took off quickly and by 2013, I was running groups at several different treatment centers, conducting individual counseling and occasionally leading hands-on nutrition workshops. I took on dietetic interns and built out a legendary team of dietitians. We have run groups both locally in Southern California as well as internationally and have hosted various forms of staff training. To date we have contracted with over 30 treatment centers, including facilities that treat eating disorders as well as general mental health. During these years, I have refined the Nutrition in Recovery curriculum based on feedback from attendees as well as the facilitators, and of course the rapidly changing nutrition landscape.
I have always tried to be available to help, but have never shared any curriculum, until now. The legendary Nutrition in Recovery curriculum is available to you. The content is designed to be delivered by a registered dietitian but can be done by someone who has a proficient background in nutrition and is attuned to recovery culture. Many of the slides have notes under them to help guide you through it all. If you or anyone you know is interested in conducting research using the curriculum, let’s talk.
The Nutrition in Recovery curriculum consists of 26 weeks (that’s 6 months!) of educational presentations, handouts, videos, games, activities, and discussion topics, all of which build upon the previous weeks, but can also be used in any order. Some groups include homework, recipes to keep, and are all designed to stimulate excellent discussion. There is no nutritional agenda embedded into the curriculum, it is flexible to a wide range of approaches. It is also eating disorder informed and friendly, and the best part about it is that you will get the actual PowerPoint and Word docs whenever available, so you can customize the curriculum as you see fit! This will make working at a treatment center manageable, and fun!
- Week 1: The Basics
- Week 2: The Nutrition in Recovery Method
- Week 3: Fiber the Missing Nutrient
- Week 4: Incorporating More Fiber
- Week 5: Budgeting Food During Recovery
- Week 6: Smoothie Workshop
- Week 7: Sugar, Salt, Fat
- Week 8: Let’s Talk Breakfast
- Week 9: Substance Substitution
- Week 10: Oats Workshop
- Week 11: Conversations About Sugar
- Week 12: Emotional Eating
- Week 13: Exercise in Recovery
- Week 14: Whole Grains and the Mediterranean Diet
- Week 15: Artificial Sweeteners
- Week 16: Salad Dressing Workshop
- Week 17: Fads and Myths
- Week 18: Guess that Plant
- Week 19: Binge Eating Solutions
- Week 20: Body Image and Disordered Eating
- Week 21: Chocolate Bites Workshop
- Week 22: So Many Different Approaches
- Week 23: Mindful Eating
- Week 24: Food Safety
- Week 25: Stress and Inflammation
- Week 26: Cooking in Recovery
The cost of the curriculum is $695 and as a limited-time bonus includes a 30-minute consulting session with David Wiss MS RDN within 3 months of purchase. David will also send you his range of academic publications related to nutrition, substance use disorders, and eating disorders. You can use the 30-minute session either to seek clarification on the curriculum, to dive deeper into the research and learn more about the link between nutrition and mental health, or to pick David’s brain about anything. Lastly, those who purchase the curriculum will be added to a special mailing list where we will eventually form a group of nutritionists who work in addiction treatment centers sharing ideas, challenges, and victories. The goal is to one day have a recognized certification, and those who get in now will likely end up as the original leaders. Let’s join forces!
Questions? Email davidawiss@nutritioninrecovery.com
Ready to make a payment? Use credit card HERE.
Please make sure to include the proper email address for correspondence. You will be asked to sign a non-disclosure before receiving the Nutrition in Recovery curriculum.
Read more
Nutrition During Childhood Video
David Wiss MS RDN walks you through some of the controversies around nutrition, eating behavior, and food addiction during childhood and adolescence. Key take-away points:
- Nutrition and weight loss interventions on children and adolescents appear mostly ineffective
- Addiction-like eating may be the explanatory mechanism
- Not an individual problem as much a societal problem
- The use of food to regulate mood starts early
- Loss of control eating is common during adolescence
- First 1,000 days appears critical for shaping one’s relationship to food
- It probably starts sooner! In utero & parental genes
- Food environment and other social factors are of course critical
- We need nutrition-related public health policy
Nutrition in Recovery is a group practice of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists and other health professionals who specialize in the treatment of addictions, eating disorders, body image, mental health, as well as general wellness.
We send out a monthly Newsletter summarizing the latest research linking nutrition and mental health. Each newsletter will include a short video with some helpful hints and actions you can implement to improve mental, spiritual, and physical wellbeing for yourself and for your clients. You will be among the first to hear the findings and insights from cutting-edge data, and we are providing references so you can do your own research if interested.
Within the next year you can look forward to the following topics being covered:
Circadian Rhythms
Men and Eating Disorders
View last month’s video on Bariatric Surgery
Read moreA Biopsychosocial Overview of the Opioid Crisis: Considering Nutrition and Gastrointestinal Health
I spent an entire year working on this manuscript! It was quite an undertaking because employing an “overview perspective” of something as vast as the opioid crisis requires expertise in several different domains. Specifically, this paper covers environmental factors (i.e. exposure to pharmaceutical pain killers) as well as psychosocial factors (e.g. stress, trauma, childhood adversity) in conceptualizing susceptibility to opioid addiction. The most novel contribution relates to the role of nutrition in recovery from opioid use disorders. The model created can be used to conceptualize substances other than opioids, including food.
The article is OPEN ACCESS and can be read and downloaded HERE
Nutrition for Mental Health Webinar
Hot Topic: Nutrition for Mental Health
David Wiss MS RDN presents to students at California State University Northridge about the connection between nutrition and mental health. This presentation covers the microbiome, substance use disorders, disordered eating, depression, recovery, and more. It’s just over 50 minutes long, but worth every second! Why? Because nutrition for mental health is the future! Read more about this topic and check out some recent references HERE
Nutrition Interventions Amidst an Opioid Crisis
“Nutrition Interventions Amidst and Opioid Crisis: The Emerging Role of the RDN” by David Wiss MS RDN
The opioid crisis has reached epidemic proportions. The time to include nutrition into the treatment paradigm has arrived. David Wiss is not afraid to take the lead, and is doing research on this topic at the University of California, Los Angeles.
This presentation was given at the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) on Sunday October 21, 2018 in Chicago which was an invited presentation in response to the opioid crisis. Here David Wiss describes the impact of opioids on nutritional status and gastrointestinal health, identifies common disordered and dysfunctional eating patterns common to opioid-addicted populations, and describes nutrition therapy protocols for specific substances including opioids and for poly-substance abuse.
The presentation is 1:29:01 and was moderated by my dear friend and colleague Tammy Beasley, RDN. If you want to skip the video, and go straight to the slides, you can do so HERE.
In summary, nutrition interventions have not yet been standardized or widely implemented as a treatment modality for substance use disorder (SUDs). Emphasis should be placed on gastrointestinal health, and reintroduction of foods high in fiber and antioxidants such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. Adequate intake of protein and omega-3 essential fatty acids should be consumed daily. Regular meal patterns can help to stabilize blood sugar. Water should replace sweetened beverages. Caffeine and nicotine intake should be monitored. Dietary supplements can be very helpful in the recovery process, but should not supplant whole foods. Once nutrition behavior has improved, use of dietary supplements should be reevaluated. Lab tests and stool samples assessing gut function should provide valuable insights in upcoming years. In addition to expertise with the interaction between specific substances and nutritional status, RDNs working in treatment settings should specialize in gastrointestinal health, eating disorders, and should be current with food addiction research. There is a timely need for specialized nutrition expertise in SUD treatment settings, including outpatient clinics and “sober living” environments. Public health campaigns and specialized training programs targeting primary care physicians, mental health professionals, and other SUD treatment professionals are warranted.
David A. Wiss, MS, RDN, CPT
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
Specializing In Addiction Recovery
(310) 403-1874 DavidAWiss@NutritionInRecovery.com Contact
