Why is Nutrition Important to Recovery? With Dr. Anna Flores

It’s Eating Disorder Awareness Week, and we sat down with Sanford Behavioral Health’s Doctor of Clinical Nutrition, Anna Flores, to talk about the role of nutrition in recovery. At Sanford, we incorporate nutrition education and dietician-guided meals into all our programs. We place great importance on the healing power of nutrition and supporting a healthy […]

Happy Trails – 5 Favorite Michigan Excursions

At Sanford Behavioral Health, excursions are opportunities for our clients to experience real life in the safety of treatment. Excursions provide authentic opportunities to unpack feelings and triggers. They also rekindle or develop new interests that help make long-term recovery manageable and fun. Happy Trails We recommend walking excursions while in treatment and long-term recovery. With […]

The Health Benefits of Positive Thinking

  Recently, I was with a group of women in recovery, and I asked everyone what they were grateful for – with a caveat. My car was in the shop, and I felt pessimistic about the looming deductible. I said, “I am grateful for many things, except I’d be more grateful if a tree had […]

Walking for Lasting Addiction Recovery

A doctor friend of mine has an adage that applies to recovery from physical injury but also relates to addiction recovery. He says, “Use it or lose it.”  In other words, moving your body, even on a slow walk, is good for what ails you.  But do you know how good? Or that walking provides […]

6 Ways Michigan Summer Improves Mental Health & Recovery

  Michigan Summer It’s Memorial Day weekend, and it finally feels like Michigan summertime has begun. Green is the color of life, nature, renewal, and energy. The color green is also associated with fertility, growth, and harmony.  Blue stands for serenity, stability, inspiration, wisdom, and health. So, what better place to explore than Pure Michigan […]

compress reeds lake dock

A New Look at 10 Addiction Relapse Triggers

You are new to recovery and innocently pushing your cart down the aisle at the local Fresh Market. Let’s say it’s a gloomy Sunday afternoon. You round the corner, and there in front of you is the alcohol aisle. Aisles more like it, all shapes and sizes of beer and wine stacked and displayed artfully. […]

What is a Hangover? Why Aren’t Hangovers a Deterrent to Drinking?

Ahh, the morning after. Those who have overindulged the night before rise like zombies holding coffee cups to their foreheads. They dig in messy purses and junk drawers for painkillers and stomach settlers, piecing the previous evening’s events together like tattered scraps of paper. No one with a hangover wants to see the sunrise or […]

man with alkaseltzer and water for hangover

Seasonal Affective Disorder – It’s Not Just the Winter Blues

  There are many things to love about living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But let’s admit it – winter can be a tough season for those of us who live in the Midwest. Unfortunately, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is more than just a case of the “winter blues.” It can cause mood swings, anxiety, severe […]

Sobriety Makes You Pretty – It’s Better than Botox!

  I work for Sanford Behavioral Health in Greater Grand Rapids. Michigan, my job gives me a bird’s eye overview of our patients in recovery. Everyone knows that addictive substance use can wreak havoc on our physical health. However, I’d like to address what it does to our physical appearance as well. I don’t see […]

101 Sober Things to Do to Beat the Winter Blues

  Are you feeling the winter blues? There are many wonderful things about living in Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan. But, and there is a but, the winters are long. Many of the awesome things to do are currently buried beneath a crazy quilt of variations on the color white.  Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a real […]