Category: From Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

PERFECT SPOKESWOMAN – 

Jan. 9, 2025 – After sleeping in the jungle for 26 days, Carolyn Wiger, 37, is more than ready to take on The Traitors. “I do think I need to calm down a little bit, but I really don’t want to—I’m just too excited!” The Minnesota native has dealt with addiction in the past, which helped inspire her career path—and prepared her well to play these types of strategic games.

“Active addiction is mental and emotional torture,” she told Parade in 2023 ahead of her Survivor debut. “It took me years to realize my mistakes don’t define me. I’ve worked hard to become this person I am proud of. I know this game will break me down but I am strong, resilient, and most importantly I believe in myself!”

Here’s what Carolyn has shared about her struggles—and how she’s helping others now.

CONTINUE@WomensHealth

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

TASTE OF CANCER? –

Jan. 17, 2025 – Using an algorithm, the team evaluated store products and assigned scores based on their degree of processing. They also examined various food categories to compare product options across different stores. These foods often contain additives, preservatives, and high amounts of sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats. In some stores, highly processed foods were the only option in some categories.  For example, cereals at Whole Foods covered a range of FPro values — from minimally to ultra-processed. However, all cereals available at Walmart and Target had a high processing score. This same trend was seen in the soups and stews, yogurt and yogurt drinks, milk and milk substitutes, and cookies and biscuits categories.

The authors note that while grocery stores may sell a large variety in terms of quantity of products and brands, the offered processing choices can be identical in multiple stores, limiting consumer nutritional choices to a narrow range. While the data in GroceryDB and on the True Food website is remarkably detailed, it remains limited because it originates from just three stores at a single point in time. In the future, the researchers would like to add geolocation information and temporal monitoring to learn about food options in different areas of the country and how that variability may impact the social determinants of health.

CONTINUE@SciTechDaily

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

METALLICA BACK ON TOP? –

Jan. 16, 2025 – Plant-based protein powders showed three times more lead and five times more cadmium than whey-based alternatives. Even the flavours of the products matter in this analysis. The findings mention that chocolate-flavoured powders contained four times more lead and 110 times more cadmium than vanilla-flavoured ones.  “Our studies continue to report chocolate as a high-risk ingredient,” the report states. Heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium, are naturally occurring elements that enter the environment through natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, rock weathering, and soil erosion. Gradually, these metals accumulate in the air, water, and soil, eventually entering plants, animals, and human food chains. Human activities like mining, industrial operations, and agricultural practices can significantly elevate their concentrations, increasing the risk of exposure through food products, the report points out.

CONTINUE@NDTV

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

STAY SAFE – 

Jan. 15, 2025 – Eating greater amounts of red meat — especially processed bacon, sausage and bologna — increases the likelihood of cognitive decline and dementia. The high saturated fat content in red meat could contribute to aged-related cognitive decline by impairing cholesterol metabolism and inducing insulin resistance, the researchers theorized, so making dietary changes may offer significant benefits. 

To evaluate dementia risk, researchers included 133,771 people averaging 49 years old who did not have the condition at the study’s outset. A total of 11,173 people developed dementia during the follow-up spanning up to 43 years.

In completing a food questionnaire every two to four years, participants recorded what they consumed and how frequently.

Red meat consisted of bacon, hot dogs, sausages, salami, bologna and other processed meat products. Beef, pork, lamb and hamburger were considered unprocessed red meat, researchers said.

CONTINUE@UPI

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

DRAMATIC VIDEO – 

Jan. 15, 2025 – Painted rocks displaying words like “family” provide a hint of color to what remains of Art House — a home for recovering addicts on their journey to sobriety. Darlene Dominguez is the supervisor at the facility and last week helped her 25 residents narrowly escape the fast-moving Eaton Fire.

“It’s devastating,” she said, fighting back tears. “It’s devastating.”Recovering addicts were rebuilding their lives. Now their home is gone.

The experience of losing one’s home in a fire is traumatic for anyone but for those overcoming addiction, Dominguez said, it can be completely destructive.

“When you’re an addict, you know, you lose everything in your addiction,” she explained, “and then you come here and you start off new and you’re clean and you work hard to get where you’re at, and then it just goes. It’s very devastating for a recovering addict.”

She understands this deeply. 

Dominguez is five years sober and once lived in Art House, which provides Recovery Bridge Housing. It’s where she graduated and where she then got a job. In other words, it’s an integral part of her sobriety story.

“It was like my new family,” Dominguez said. “My safe space. Like my safe grounds. I would go to work, and I knew I was around people who cared, and we were going to keep me straight and sober.”

Art House is part of the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse, or LA CADA, which operates several facilities and programs in the area.

CONTINUE@SpectrumNews1

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

GOOD THINGS! –

Jan. 18, 2025 – Some changes associated with temporary alcohol abstinence can be harmful if not done under adequate supervision, particularly if you have an alcohol use disorder. But if you’re someone who has a more casual relationship with drinking, there are perks to simply cutting it out for an extended period of time. Your skin will improve. Perhaps one of the immediate changes you will see after coming off alcohol is clearer skin. Alcohol causes the body and skin to lose fluid and dehydrate, creating a dullish, gray appearance. It can also cause acne because it changes hormonal levels.

“Skin and face color often return to normal … your elasticity will be restored and yellowness, redness, or grayish [color] around the eyes or face will diminish with abstinence, and inflammation in the body will be reduced,” said Corey Weber, clinical manager at Warriors Heart, an addiction treatment center in Bandera County, Texas.

Even a temporary break from alcohol can help the skin feel and look more rejuvenated and refreshed.  You’ll get higher-quality sleep.

CONTINUE@HuffPost

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

VIDEO – RED TAPE WORMS –

Jan. 12. 2025 – Some industry experts are skeptical that U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy’s recommendation for cancer warning labels on alcohol will gain traction in the short-term, with one expert suggesting that if it happens, it could take years to implement. 

Dr. Vivek Murthy, who is ending his term at the end of January, issued an advisory outlining the direct link between alcohol consumption and increased risk for several cancers including throat, liver, esophageal, mouth, larynx (voice box), colon and rectal cancers. 

His advisory stated that alcohol is the 3rd leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., contributing to about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths each year. It also stated that updating health warning labels on alcoholic beverages is “an important next step for alcohol-related cancer prevention.

CONTINUE@Fox

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT –

Dec. 8, 2024 – “Life doesn’t dim with time—it deepens,” said the 78-year-old Stanger in a news release. “Every morning brings a new chance to compose your life’s melody. This book is about turning up the volume on your dreams and letting your spirit soar, whether you’re 28 or 78.”

In writing her new book, Stanger drew inspiration from 40 years of experience as a clinician-interventionist and founder of All About Interventions, which is focused on helping people learn to heal and thrive beyond addiction and mental illness. For many years, Stanger was also a teacher at San Diego State University.

According to the news release, Stanger’s book features her insights and advice on love and loss and the art of forever evolving, dispelling long-held myths about aging. The book is complemented with photos by world-renowned photographer Cheryl Fox, showcasing Stanger’s muse: the Sunset Marquis hotel in West Hollywood, a celebrity favorite.

CONTINUE@SanDiegoUnionTribune

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WHAT DO YOU THINK? – 

Jan. 15, 2025 – The experts I spoke to say there isn’t any data directly linking alcohol consumption to premature aging, but they say that the other health effects of drinking, and the cumulative nature of those effects, could be noticeable on your skin now and down the line.

Anybody who’s looked in the mirror after a few drinks knows that alcohol does not-so-great things to your skin. First off, it modulates blood vessels, which, depending on your skin tone, may cause facial flushing and visible broken capillaries. It also has a diuretic effect that can cause dehydration. “This not only contributes to a hangover but also to a sallow and dull appearance of skin,” says physician Evan Rieder, who is board certified in both dermatology and psychiatry. And, he adds, when your skin is dry and sallow, even the faintest fine lines will be more noticeable. So, yeah, the morning after a night out with your friends, you may think you look wrinklier, but once your body has recovered and you’re no longer dehydrated, that effect should dissipate.

CONTINUE@TheCut

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

SEEKING OBLIVION? –

Jan. 2, 2025 – Episodes of “binge drinking” can have dangerous short-term effects, while repeated binge drinking can trigger longer-term problems. Most people understand binge drinking as “drinking to get drunk,” said Dr. Ryan Marino, a toxicologist and associate professor at Case Western Reserve University. But the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) offers a more precise definition

Binge drinking refers to when a person consumes enough alcohol within about two hours to raise their blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08% or higher. That’s at least 0.08 grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood, and for average adults, it’s about four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men. In the U.S., a standard drink contains 0.6 ounces (14 grams) of pure alcohol; that translates to about 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.

CONTINUE@LiveScience

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