When you’re abusing or using drugs or alcohol for a long period of time you’re much more likely to develop certain health conditions, cancers, and experience other negative health effects. For this reason, drug detox is recommended at the beginning of any treatment program.
For initial detox, there will be a lot of options to choose from. Some people prefer to detox at home while others will need medical detox, and still, others will prefer to do a more natural food and supplement-based detox.
The detox program you choose will depend upon the severity of your addiction, your overall state of health, and your overarching goals for your treatment program. Below we explore how to detox your body from drugs the natural way, and the drug detox programs available.
The Natural Drug Detox Process
The natural drug detox process will involve consuming a variety of high-quality vitamins and nutrients while abstaining from all drug use. To get a high quantity of the recommended vitamins and minerals for detox you’ll follow a strict diet and add support by consuming additional supplements.
The natural drug detox process can also be done as an at-home detox, meaning you don’t have to attend a facility or treatment program. Even though this option can be enticing, it tends to have a higher failure rate as it’s easy to relapse when you don’t have the support of a treatment team.
Recommended Dietary Guidelines for At-Home Drug Detox
What is consumed during detox will give the body the necessary support to rid it of toxins, while also allowing it to rebuild. For this reason, it’s important to follow a diet that includes the foods below:
- Fruits like lemons, oranges, and limes
- Vegetables
- Leafy greens like kale, spinach, alfalfa, and chard
- Green supplements like spirulina, wheatgrass, and blue-green algae
- Garlic
- Seeds and nuts
- Healthy fats and omega-3 oils
- Coconut and olive oils
- Lean protein like fish
It’s also very important to increase water consumption throughout detox. Consuming drugs and alcohol will dehydrate the body, so you’ll need to greatly increase your water intake to compensate for this and the taxing nature of a detox. This is especially true at high altitudes, such as in Colorado, where we’re located, because the altitude is also associated with dehydration.
Additional Drug Detox Guidelines
In addition to ensuring you get all of the nutrients your body requires, it’s important to supplement this with some form of exercise, although this might be incredibly difficult.
Sticking to an exercise regimen, no matter how small, will help to assist your body with the detox process and even help your body produce dopamine. Which will help to ease some of the symptoms of drug withdrawal.
Beyond general exercise, it can also be incredibly effective to seek out some form of therapy. This will help you get to the root of your drug addiction and prevent it from occurring again in the future. When going through drug detox in a treatment center, therapy will be part of the detox and rehab process.
Medical vs. Natural Drug Detox
In some cases, you might not be able to safely complete a natural drug detox. If you’re detoxing from a drug like heroin, or even alcohol, doing a natural detox at home could be deadly. If you have a severe drug addiction, then you’ll need the support of medical staff to safely make it through the initial detox and withdrawal phase.
Medical detoxes will usually include some form of medication in order to slowly wean the user off the drug, rather than taking the cold turkey approach. Medical detoxes are often safer as it decreases the harmful and potentially fatal consequences of the withdrawal.
Getting Help for Addiction
You can also get the process started by taking one of our free and confidential alcohol or substance use self-assessments:
The Recovery Village at Palmer Lake has a proven track record of providing caring and successful alcohol abuse treatment at our Palmer Lake facility. If you have any questions regarding the natural drug detoxification process or are interested in medical detox, then get in touch with our team of treatment professionals today.
Nerín, Maria Antonia et al. “Acute mountain sickness: influence of fluid intake.” Wilderness & environmental medicine, 2006. Accessed August 3, 2021.
Surgeongeneral.gov. “Sidebar many consequences alcohol and drug misuse.” U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2021. Accessed June 21, 2021.
Medlineplus.gov. “Substance use recovery and diet.” National Institutes of Health, May 10, 2020. Accessed June 21, 2021.
Wang, Dongshi et al. “Impact of physical exercise on substance[…]rs: a meta-analysis.” PloS One, October 16, 2014. Accessed June 21, 2021.
The Recovery Village at Palmer Lake aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with substance use or mental health disorder with fact-based content about the nature of behavioral health conditions, treatment options and their related outcomes. We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals. The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers.