Healthy Living

Avalon By The Sea offers transitional care and planning for each resident. Our certified dual diagnosis treatment center is eligible to treat both mental health conditions and substance use disorder conditions as well. For a private consultation of more information call 1 888-958-7511.

Recovery, therapy, personal development, leadership, mindfulness- everything that has to do with helping you grow into a more authentic, fulfilled, happy, and healthy individual talks about it. Gratitude. Gratitude is a very popular word. People have gratitude journals, they make gratitude lists, they schedule time in their day to stop and reflect on what they are grateful for. Religious people practice gratitude, secular people practice gratitude, and everyone is just grateful all the time. To really assume everyone is that grateful, all the time would be a vast generalization.

Holidays tend to involve a lot of eating. For those in recovery from an eating disorder, the holidays can be especially difficult. Here are some tips and suggestions to make the holiday season manageable while recovering from an eating disorder.

Unfortunately, once we go to treatment to enter recovery from an alcohol addiction and co-occurring mental health disorders, not everyone joins us. Though we take some time to heal and work on ourselves, the world outside continues on as it does. For those of us who come from social circles revolving around drinking activities, the prospect of returning can be daunting. Will we be able to stay friends with our friends, join them in outings, and partake in the festivities? The experience is different for each person, but here are some general and shared thoughts.

Sixty percent of people in relationships are not satisfied. Typical problems contribute: finances, stress, lackluster sex life, children, and smartphones. A decade ago, smartphones weren’t part of anyone’s problem. Since smartphones became an integrated part of life, study has been conducted to understand how deeply that integration goes. Various studies have revealed that smartphone interaction changes our brain chemistry, causes insomnia, contributes to depression, and can make us feel more isolated from the world.

Recovery for mental health is a process of empowerment, self-actualization, and growth. Taking on the huge task of treatment and recovery is no small feat! Help yourself feel empowered in your journey with these simple practices.

Psychological, psychiatric, and substance use disorders can make us feel like we’ve been shut off from the world. In fact, many of us have put a lot of effort into making sure nobody can get in. From trauma and abuse in our past, we learned early on that letting people, places, and things in usually led to hurt, pain, more abuse, and disappointment. To keep ourselves safe we made the sacrifice of shutting down entirely. Recovery teaches us that we don’t have to hide anymore. Over time we can learn to open ourselves up to many wondrous things in the world, embracing all that life has to offer. We are given a way to live life fully.

Ready to change the way you and your loved ones feel about yourself? Follow these 6 suggestions!

Check the labels all you want, you’ll rarely see the word “sugar”. Today, sugar and its analogous compounds run under 61 different names, making their way into over 70% of all processed and packaged foods. Humans are supposed to consume, at most, just over 100 calories of sugar today. For Americans who consume a mostly packaged and processed diets, they could be consuming up to five times that amount of sugar each day without even eating a single sweet. Added sugar is a problem under great controversy in America. Many feel that it is added and processed sugar which contributes to food addiction, eating disorders, and poor physical health including problems of obesity. America has one of the worst obesity problems in the world. Simultaneously, America boasts a high rate of child starvation as well as a high rate of child obesity.

Admitting we are having a problem and struggling in life is not always easy. We face a lot of challenge in overcoming our pride and ego when it comes to admitting we need help. Asking for help for treating a substance use disorder or getting a hold on a mental health disorder is not failure. In fact, it is a tremendous demonstration of strength and success. To continue living in struggle when there are real life threats to your safety, sanity, and livelihood is a grave mistake. We often find that once we finally get over the fear and ask for help, we wonder why we didn’t ask for it sooner.

Teenagers are sensitive and malleable. What is experienced during the teenage years leaves a lasting impact. According to Colorado State University, “teens exposed to frequent and hostile interactions between their parents often experience anxiety, depression and difficulties with managing other stresses in their lives.” Anxiety, depression, and poor coping mechanisms is what leads many teens to recreationally experiment with drugs and alcohol in their youth. Seeking an escape and way to make sense of and control and nonsensical and uncontrollable world, teens find refuge in abusing substances and participating in other harmful behaviors.

Once we start saying “yes” to life, we can accidentally take on too many responsibilities. We feel more capable than we have in a long time and are happy to be of service to others. Having a hard time saying no usually stems from some deeper unforeseen issues. For most, a fear of rejection keeps them saying “yes” to more than they can handle. For others, it might be a matter of codependency, or wrapping their identity up in what another person thinks of them. Those with a martyr complex will feel they have to sacrifice themselves and take on more responsibilities. Suggestions For Harnessing The Power Of “No”