Featuring insights from Chef Lucia Hernandez and McKenzie Ramirez Harris, RD, LD, CEDS
Nutrition in addiction recovery is about more than meeting basic dietary needs. Especially during detox and early treatment, food can support physical recovery while also providing comfort, familiarity and a sense of normalcy.
Consistent nutrition can also support the physical side of recovery. Regular meals, adequate protein, hydration and balanced sources of carbohydrates and fats can help patients meet changing nutritional needs as appetite, energy and daily routines begin to stabilize.
How Enterhealth Supports Nutrition in Addiction Recovery
At Enterhealth Ranch, the dining room is one of the first places where care becomes visible.
Some patients arrive exhausted, nauseous, shaky or anxious. Some are moving through the first difficult days of detox. Some have not eaten normally in days. Others are craving something familiar — soup, rice, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, chicken salad or a bubbly drink to help settle their stomach.
Chef Lucia notices those details.
Lucia has led the kitchen at Enterhealth for nearly 10 years, bringing a hospitality background shaped by thoughtful, personal service. When someone arrives at the Ranch, she learns their name, asks what they like, explains the menu and offers flexibility when she can.
If a patient likes fish, she can walk them through several options. If someone is struggling with nausea, the team may offer something bubbly to help settle their stomach. If a patient misses a meal from home, Lucia listens.
Many of the most requested foods are simple: soups, chicken, rice, mashed potatoes, fruit, meatloaf or chicken salad with cranberries and almonds. They are not complicated dishes. But during the first difficult days of treatment, familiar food can carry a lot of meaning.
“Food is deeply connected to our memories, our families and our cultures,” Lucia said. “Being able to offer someone something that reminds them of home can be very meaningful.”
In early recovery, when someone feels overwhelmed, uncomfortable or unsure if they can keep going, a meal prepared with care can become one of the first reminders that they are not being processed through a program. They are being cared for as a person.
Lucia sees that need up close. Sometimes, she sees patients shaking at the table during detox. Sometimes, she meets family members who are scared and unsure what to expect. When she does, she tells them what she would want someone to tell her if she were in their shoes.
“I am going to take care of your loved one,” Lucia said. “I will do my best to get everything they need.”
For Lucia, that kind of care has to be genuine.
“You can’t fake affection,” Lucia said. “They will know. You have to actually feel it.”
Those small details are part of the rhythm of care at the Ranch. Patients arrive with different medical histories, fears, appetites, family dynamics and relationships with food.
Lucia notices what helps someone get through breakfast. When appetite changes, weight changes, digestion issues, disordered eating patterns or other nutrition-related needs require additional guidance, she can also collaborate with McKenzie Ramirez Harris, RD, LD, CEDS, a registered dietitian and certified eating disorder specialist who works with Enterhealth patients.
Together, their work reflects something central to Enterhealth’s approach: clinical care matters, but so do the small human details that help someone feel safe enough to keep going.
Nutrition in Addiction Recovery Without Shame
McKenzie brings a background in nutrition, eating disorder care and mental health, which helps her understand why food can become complicated during addiction recovery.
By the time someone enters treatment, food may already be tied to stress, shame, comfort, control, body image, digestion, energy or years of feeling physically unwell.
Sometimes, the nutrition conversation reveals something a patient has carried for years without realizing how much it affected their daily life. A person may come to treatment focused on substance use, anxiety or depression, only to discover that appetite, digestion, weight changes or nutritional deficiencies have also been shaping how they feel. Those issues do not explain everything, but they can add stress to a body and brain already trying to heal.
A Judgment-Free Approach to Food and Eating Behaviors
McKenzie says many people in treatment already carry shame, perfectionism or black-and-white thinking. Labeling food as “good” or “bad” can add to that pressure.
Instead, she looks at what food is doing for the whole person.
Some foods help meet physical needs by providing protein, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, hydration and steady energy. Others provide emotional benefits such as comfort, connection, familiarity and relief during a hard moment.
McKenzie’s approach does not turn food into another source of pressure. Instead, she helps patients understand what their bodies need while leaving room for the human experience of food.
That can be especially important in early recovery, when patients are already working hard in therapy, learning coping skills and adjusting physically and emotionally. McKenzie described Enterhealth’s approach as structured but grace-centered.
Patients may need simple, clear guidance at first. Over time, that structure can become more flexible and sustainable. The work also has to last beyond the Ranch, helping patients begin to build a relationship with food they can carry into daily life — at home, at family gatherings, at restaurants and during stressful days when old coping patterns can resurface.
“Just do your best,” McKenzie said of the approach. “I’m going to give you a few things to focus on each week. Do what you can. Take those pieces, apply them as you can.”
The goal is not perfection, but practical support patients can carry into daily life.
Why Food Cravings Show Up in Recovery
Cravings in recovery are not simply about willpower.
McKenzie explained that people recovering from substances such as alcohol or opioids may experience sugar cravings as the body recalibrates. Blood sugar regulation, appetite, mood and energy can all feel disrupted in early recovery.
Enterhealth’s approach pairs structure with compassion. Patients often need help eating consistently, adding protein, pairing foods in a way that supports steadier energy and understanding how nutrition affects mood and cravings.
In early recovery, people are also learning how to feel again without numbing themselves. Until healthier coping skills become stronger, food may be one of the first places they look for comfort.
Why Nutrition Matters in Addiction Recovery
Lucia knows she is not the therapist. She is not the physician. She is not the person leading clinical treatment. But she also knows her role matters.
“The most meaningful part for me is knowing that my work can be a small part of someone else’s recovery,” Lucia said. “I may not be the person providing their treatment, but I can contribute by creating an environment where they feel cared for, respected and welcomed.”
The kitchen at Enterhealth is more than a place where meals are served. It is part of a treatment environment where care shows up in small, consistent ways.
That care can be as simple as a clean dining room, a familiar meal, a chef who remembers what someone likes or a registered dietitian who understands that recovery requires both structure and grace. Together, those details can help patients feel human again.
For families, that may be the most important takeaway. The small things are not small in early recovery. A meal someone can eat, a familiar food, a craving met with compassion instead of shame — those moments can help a person feel steady enough to keep doing the harder work.
“To me,” Lucia said, “feeding someone is also a way of caring for them.”
