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EAT!
A Guide to Radiant Recovery Using Food and Amino Acids to Repair the Addicted Brain and Reduce Cravings
“No shame, no blame: simply explanations on how your chemistry has gone awry and how to fix it with accessible solutions including food, lifestyle, and nutrients. There are precise and doable steps to address the issues successfully. Throughout the book, the playful illustrations lighten a topic that could otherwise be a downer. Even if you’re not in recovery, this book will help you understand your own moods and your relationship with food, while providing you with excellent tools for self-regulation. This book is a must-read!”
– Hyla Cass, MD, Psychiatrist; Author 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health and Natural Highs
Fuel Your Brain, Transform Your Recovery
Cravings, mood swings, and relapse don’t happen in isolation—they’re deeply connected to what’s happening in your brain. EAT! is your step-by-step guide to using food and supplements to repair the addicted brain, reduce cravings, and support lasting recovery.
For too long, recovery programs have overlooked one crucial factor: proper brain nutrition. Without the right fuel, the brain struggles to stabilize mood, manage stress, and resist triggers. EAT! introduces the Feeding Recovery System, a structured, evidence-based approach to restoring balance and making recovery sustainable.
What's inside the book?
Key 1
Feeding the Brain First is Crucial to the Recovery Process
This key highlights how a well-nourished, balanced brain is the foundation of effective recovery and meaningful life changes. Discover how an underfed brain can hinder decision-making and prevent you from using your recovery tools, leading to relapse and setbacks. Whether recovering from addiction, compulsive behavior, mental health challenges, or simply seeking a better life, an imbalanced brain creates an imbalanced life.
Key 2
5-Star Pro-Recovery Eating Plan
You will learn in this key how to use the 5-Star Pro-Recovery Eating Plan™ to fuel your brain and body for recovery. You’ll learn the importance of focusing on protein, healthy fats, complex carbs, colorful vegetables, and fruits. It emphasizes choosing foods that make you feel good, being mindful of allergens, and reading labels to avoid harmful additives.
Key 3
Low Blood Sugar & Relapse
This key explains how skipping meals or eating too much sugar can trigger post-acute withdrawal, cravings, and relapse. You’ll learn the science behind low blood sugar and why eating 20 grams of protein every 4 hours stabilizes recovery from all addictions and domestic violence. It also emphasizes self-awareness—understanding how what and when you eat affects your mood and behavior.
Key 4
Amino Acids are the Game Changer
This key explains how amino acids and supplements restore neurotransmitter function in the brain. You’ll learn how depleted neurotransmitters contribute to addiction, mood disorders, and cravings. We’ll guide you in using specific amino acids to improve mood and reduce withdrawal symptoms, and provide a tool to identify your neurotransmitter imbalances for personalized support.
Key 5
Central Nervous System Disorders: Many Influencers, Many Solutions
This key helps you identify how body systems beyond the brain impact mood, behavior, and recovery. You’ll learn how hidden drivers of disease, cravings, and relapse can be addressed with a functional nutritionist or certified recovery nutrition coach. For those with complex diagnoses like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, you’ll get guidance on the next steps in your recovery journey.
Key 6
Supporting Deep Sleep with Amino Acid Therapy and Lifestyle Changes
This key focuses on the connection between poor sleep and relapse, and how addressing sleep issues is essential in recovery. You will discover how food, amino acid therapy, and supplements can improve sleep, along with lifestyle changes that support a healthy circadian rhythm.
Key 7
Self-Care… Putting Yourself First!
This key helps you overcome obstacles and negative beliefs that block your recovery. Prioritizing self-care can be difficult, but by addressing self-sabotage and changing mindset, you can feed your brain and make lifestyle changes to thrive. You get to create a healthy, pro-recovery life!
RESOURCES
This section offers practical tools, assessments, guides, and scientific resources to support your recovery journey. It combines actionable steps with the research behind them, helping you understand the nutrition, neurotransmitter health, and lifestyle changes essential for lasting success.
This book is made for:
- Individuals in Recovery – If you’re struggling with cravings, mood swings, or relapse, this book gives you the tools to stabilize your brain and body using food and supplements.
- Families & Loved Ones – Learn how to support someone in recovery by understanding how nutrition affects cravings, mood, and overall healing.
- Treatment Providers & Coaches – Whether you’re a counselor, therapist, or recovery coach, EAT! provides science-backed nutritional strategies that you can integrate into your practice.
Check out the book preview!
About the Author
Christina Veselak MS, CN, LMFT
Christina Veselak has been a licensed psychotherapist and addiction recovery/ relapse prevention specialist for over 40 years.
Her long-time expertise as a mental health nutritionist and training in western herbal medicine allows her to effectively address many of the biochemical aspects of addictive disorders, including sugar, using dietary and supplement recommendations.
She is the founder and director of the Academy for Addiction and Mental Health Nutrition, which teaches practitioners how to use diet, along with amino acid and nutrient therapy, to help prevent cravings and recurrent use in their clients by restoring neurotransmitter function and keeping blood sugar in balance.
Finally, she is delighted to offer the non-profit organization Eating Protein Saves Lives, Inc. as a source of life-saving information about optimally feeding the recovering brain, thus providing people with a solid foundation for their recovery journey.
About Eating Protein Saves Lives Org
We are spreading the word about how feeding the brain, what it needs to function optimally, may both reduce cravings and dramatically improve the quality of life for those in recovery or who are dealing with substance use disorders.