Recipe 4 Recovery

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services through the Health Resources and Services Administration, 19.7 million Americans battle with substance abuse including alcohol, opioids, and other illicit drugs while Kentucky ranks 5^th in the nation in overdose deaths.  Due to years of drug/alcohol abuse, the physical condition of an addict’s body becomes neglected.

Sanibel House, Addiction Recovery Care, is a long term residential men’s recovery center.  The Director states that the gentlemen needed to learn to cook/eat healthy in order to restore their bodies to a good condition to aid in their recovery process.  The participants were used to eating high-fat foods with little or no fruits and vegetables.

The SNAP-Ed Assistant used the lessons from Healthy Choices for Every Body curriculum in classes for the recovery center clients.  After the nutrition lesson, participants were divided into teams for cooking a healthy recipe related to the lesson.  Not only did the cooking challenges teach them about nutrition but also teamwork and how easy it is to cook healthy.

At the completion of the classes:

   65% showed improvement in Diet Quality

   74.35% showed improvement in Food Safety

   70% showed improvement in food resource management

   100% showed improvement in one or more diet quality behaviors (eating more fruits and Vegetables)

The men were given copies of the class information and recipes to take with them after they left the recovery center to prepare at home for their families.