Once you decide to give up alcohol once and for all, you need to completely detox alcohol from your system. You may simply decide you are too old to drink, or maybe you are facing DUI charges in Scottsdale and have decided enough is enough. No matter why you are giving up alcohol, good for you! Your body takes damage every time that you drink, so avoiding alcohol is the only real way to avoid that type of damage. If you want to work on repairing your body, it is going to be a slow process, but you will feel better for it.
How Long Will Alcohol Stay in Your Body?
The length of time that alcohol remains in your body is twofold. First, there is the alcohol you drank. That stays in your body until it is fully metabolized, which ranges depending on your health and how much you drank. Usually, most alcohol is out of the body in under 24 hours. However, there is also the second aspect of alcohol – the long-term effects. Those can remain with the body indefinitely if not worked out of the body properly.
Even if all you do is have an occasional drink, you are still adding to the damage done to your body by alcohol. The only way to stop this is to fully detox the alcohol out of your body, and give your body what it needs to heal. Your body is likely struggling to remain healthy because of the effects of alcohol. It is missing nutritional pieces. In order to give it back those pieces, you need to figure out what is missing and provide those key nutrients.
How Should One Start to Detox Alcohol?
Understand one thing – if you are one to drink regularly, you should never detox alcohol on your own. If you only drank occasionally, you can probably stop drinking without much concern. However, heavy drinkers should always detox from alcohol in a detox or rehab facility. It is never safe to do so without medical supervision, as alcohol withdrawals can cause your body to struggle to function properly. If you are not sure if you qualify as a heavy drinker or not, err on the side of yes and get help from an alcohol detox or Scottsdale alcohol rehab near you.
For those who only drank now and again, giving up alcohol is going to help you feel better. Instead of having to go through much of the misery, you will likely feel only a bit unwell for a few days as the effects of the past alcohol use slowly come out of your body. Prior to starting your alcohol detox, you should have some gentle foods on hand. Things like these are highly recommended for the times where you get a bit hungry:
- Figs
- Salmon
- Raspberries
- Whole grain bread
- Oranges
- Asparagus
- Strawberries
- Whole grain pasta
- Pears
- Broccoli
- Bananas
- Romaine
Many people who have previously gone through alcohol detox also recommend having cayenne pepper on hand as well. They say that it calms the stomach and gives you a bit more of an appetite when you feel off. If you don’t mind a bit of spice, it is worth a try. It may be the key to helping you feel better from the start.
Remember to Drink a Lot of Water When You Detox Alcohol from Your Body
Water is incredibly important on a daily basis. However, when your goal is to detox alcohol from your body, you need even more of it. You should aim for far more than the traditional 8 cups per day of at least 8 ounces each. Ideally, you want to try and double it. This is to help wash any remaining traces of the alcohol out of your body and rehydrate delicate tissues in your body. This should only be done for the first week, so it is not a long-term goal. Once that first week is over, you can go down to the normal 64 ounces of water each day.
If you do not feel up to drinking straight water, you can add flavorings to your water. It can help make it a bit more palatable. Many find that freezing different fruits in ice cubes and adding that to their water adds just enough sweetness and flavor to make it easy on the stomach.
Add In Items to Help Detox Your Liver
Your liver has had a lot of work to do. It processed the alcohol you drank, and had to metabolize all of those harmful chemicals you were consuming. To give your liver a better chance, make sure that you consume items to help clean it out, too. You should consider adding these items into your diet, for at least the first month of your alcohol detox:
- Add extra garlic to anything you can – the fresher the better!
- Broccoli is a great way to clean the liver, as are other, similar vegetables like cauliflower.
- Consume lots of citrus when you can, including lemons, oranges, limes, and grapefruit.
- Walnuts are great for helping rid the liver of toxins, such as ammonia.
- Eat beets whenever you can. They help the liver, plus increase how much oxygen you have in your blood, as that gets the toxins out of your body even faster.
Need Help to Detox Alcohol from Your Body?
Should you decide that you do not want to go through this process alone, know that you have several options for help out there. Contact us here at Alcohol Screening Scottsdale today, and let us help you get your life on track. Whether you need a DUI screening after DUI charges, or you need access to an alcohol rehab or Scottsdale detox center, we can help. Our number is (602) 682-7017. Reach out to us, any time, day or night. We are here to help you get your body healthy and get you back to living the life you love. You do not have to go through any of this alone.