“Harm Reduction” and “Reduced-Risk Drinking” are terms for alternative goals along the path of recovery. In the past, abstinence was considered the only accepted goal but recent research has shown that some people can learn to reduce and manage their drinking while others are more comfortable with abstinence. Because Reduced-Risk Drinking is controversial, especially in the United States, there has not been much research on the topic. In Canada and Europe, where it tends to be called Harm Reduction, there is greater acceptance that this is an acceptable goal for some people.
This is a good place to get information about how to learn to manage your drinking or using if complete abstinence doesn’t seem like a reasonable goal. Start here to look for yourself.
The Body’s Response to Sobriety
Staying healthy is a motivating force for many people. This section draws from the literature on he body’s healing response to sobriety from alcohol.
Alcohol affects every cell in your body. Let’s look at two body systems that take the brunt of the damage from alcohol—your brain and your gastrointestinal (GI) system—but heal quickly in sobriety. Some healing to the brain and GI system occurs naturally in early sobriety, and you can boost your body’s recovery with exercise and a healthy diet.
Alcohol has immediate effects on your brain—one or two drinks make us feel relaxed and confident. Too many drinks cause clumsiness, slurred speech, lapses in memory and judgment. People who are drunk get lost because alcohol damages the parts of your brain involved in navigation. Overtime, heavy drinking reduces the volume of—shrinks—the brain itself. Alcohol also slows the pace of communication in the brain. For example, the delay in the neural connections between the brain and the nerves of the eyes is what causes distorted or double vision while drinking heavily.
Research on short-term sobriety shows that some of the greatest natural healing in the brain occurs between two weeks and two months of sobriety, including increase in brain volume, and repair of and increased speed of neural connections.
The GI system reacts to alcohol as though it were poison. Vomiting and diarrhea are early consequences of excess dinking. Overtime, heavy drinking reduces the ability of your GI system to absorb nutrients resulting in a state of malnutrition. This is sometimes referred to as “leaky gut syndrome”.
Even brief periods of abstinence can partly reverse this process and promote healing of a “leaky gut”. This means your body will be better able to absorb the nutrients you put into your system with a healthy diet.
Mainstream Your Recovery
As you begin your journey of recovery, you may want to record your weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure. Make a list of health problems or physical discomforts that you have whether or not you think they are related to drinking. This information will help you observe the healing of your body during the first days, weeks and months of sobriety.
This idea came from one of my patients: Health clubs, gyms, and even work places often organize group health challenges. My patient joined a 30-day challenge at her gym to reduce sugar in the diet but in her heart she knew she was doing this to reduce her wine drinking. At the first group meeting, she introduced herself and said that she had developed some unhealthy drinking habits and wanted to stop. Four other members of the group identified the same goal. These five people formed a supportive sub-group through the 30-day challenge and are now meeting to explore if and how to drink again in a healthier way.
Mainstreaming your recovery into your overall plan for healthy living can reduce negative feelings and increase your chances of success as you define it.
Every year I watch my patients struggle during this time on every level of the mind/body/spirit spectrum. They’re tired, their skin is dry, they’re overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, feel like crying and struggle to get out of bed. They no longer have the energy to do all the things they were doing before. Their exercise routines suffer (in spite of those magnanimous New Years resolutions,) their work output changes, their desires are no longer what they were and they often don’t feel they have an appetite.
Dr. Kallie Guimond, OMD, L.Ac., is a licensed acupuncturist in both Maryland and the District of Columbia. Kallie integrates health and wellness coaching into each acupuncture session, believing that the conversations and partnership between her and her clients are as important as the tools of Chinese Medicine. To learn more about Dr. Kallie and her services, 
effectively diagnose this interplay. Structure (yin) is maintained by function (yang) within all anatomy, physiology, and psycho-emotional expressions. The TCM practitioner (acupuncturist) understands that yin and yang work cooperatively to determine the health and vitality of a person. How is this vitality reflected in a person’s health?
A patient visits her medical doctor seeking relief from abdominal pain, alternating diarrhea and constipation, and constant bloatedness and gas (www.mayoclinic.org). These symptoms have been present for over twelve weeks within the last six months. For most western medical practitioners, this would be a textbook presentation of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). They would likely treat the digestive organs with a high-fiber diet, stool softeners, anti-diarrheal, anticholinergic, or antispasmodic medications. This treatment would have moderate to complete success as long as
We all have inner fears and insecurities. Some of us can trace it back to how we were cared for as children, to past romantic relationships, or maybe even to our current relationship. One of the easiest ways some of us cope with these fears is to hide them from others. While this keeps us safe from rejection, we can’t get the reassurance that we want or maybe even need.
Improved Circulation
With so many different diet trends and fads displayed on social media it can be hard to know what is real or fake. Many diets have you cutting out certain food groups or labeling food as “good” or “bad.” I am not entirely sure where these notions come from, but one thing is for sure – the public tends to listen to it. What we see on the internet or on television often comes from unreliable sources and people who are tying to make money off of this multi billion dollar industry. What is important to remember is that if it seems to good to be true it usually is.
There are quite a few differences between an emotional support, therapy, and service dog. Each type of registration provides the animal and its owner certain rights that otherwise are not granted to pets. Service dogs help with performing a function for a person that is limited by a disability. Emotional support dogs help individuals with emotional problems by providing comfort and support. Therapy dogs provide affection and comfort to individuals in hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities. Service dogs are protected under the Americans with Disability Act, while Emotional Support Dogs are protected under the Fair Housing Amendment Act and the Air Carrier Access Act. These protections allow service and emotional support dogs to be able to fly with and provide emotional support for their own and not be charged by the airline, to be able to reside with their owner even in buildings with pet restrictions, and to be able to take their animal to public places. The only questions the owner is legally allowed to be 
asked is the dog a service dog required because of a disability, and what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Outside of those two questions, all other information is considered privileged. In order for your dog to be certified as a therapy/emotional support dog a doctor’s note is required. The doctor’s note should generally be on the doctor’s letterhead to identify the doctor and show legitimacy, and provide the doctor’s name and contact information. The note will state that you have been under the care of the doctor, that the doctor has determined that you have a disability, and that the doctor believes that an emotional support dog would assist you with your disability.
well thought out, as most decisions in getting a companion animal should be. Corgis are known to be extremely friendly (they literally always smile), have a wonderful temperament, and are very loyal dogs. Corgis were breed to be sheep herding dogs, so they stick close to you and may have a tendency to nip at an ankle every now and then (especially if they don’t agree with where you are walking to). Corgis are longer dogs with very short and adorable legs. They will weigh anywhere from 22-30 pounds full grown and will only be 10-12” tall. The combination of these factors make the Corgi an ideal therapy/emotional support dog. It is important to assess your needs when deciding what breed to get, as some dogs are much better suited for some needs over others.
needed for living situations and/or for airlines to make sure that your Emotional Support/Therapy dog can be loyally by your side at all times.
I often thank my patients for letting me have the opportunity to become a part of their wellness plan and for most people it’s the first time they have been introduced to the concept. So what is a wellness plan?
