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Addiction-Free Naturally: Free Yourself from Opioids, Pharmaceuticals, Alcohol, Tobacco, Caffeine, Sugar, and More
A guide to designing a personal program to break your addictions safely, gently, and naturally
• Shares herbs, supplements, natural remedies, and alternative practices that can help liberate you from habitual substance use, ease the withdrawal period, cleanse the body of toxins, and combat depression, anxiety, fatigue, and stress
• Offers specific advice and remedies for individual addictive substances and behaviors, including sugar, caffeine, alcohol, opioids, tobacco, and tranquilizers
• Explores the potential of psychedelic therapy for overcoming addiction and addresses how cannabis can be of benefit for recovery, without being misused
Addiction affects more people than any other disease. Breaking a habit can be daunting--it’s hard to know where to begin beyond quitting “cold turkey.” But just as habits can be acquired, they can be broken. Others have done it, and so can you!
In this holistic guide to beating addiction, Brigitte Mars details how to replace negative habits and behaviors with positive healthy ones and safely support your body, mind, and spirit for a successful recovery. The author shares specific herbs, supplements, homeopathic remedies, flower essences, behavioral therapy, and alternative practices, such as meditation and yoga, that can help liberate you from habitual substance use and ease the withdrawal period as well as methods for cleansing the body of toxins and healthy ways to combat depression, anxiety, fatigue, and stress. She looks in depth at individual addictive substances and behaviors, including sugar, caffeine, alcohol, opioids, tobacco, and tranquilizers, offering specific advice and remedies for each. She shows how each technique can be used in conjunction with conventional therapies, such as psychotherapy, methadone, or Alcoholics Anonymous. Drawing on recent research, she also explores the enormous potential of psychedelic therapy for overcoming addiction and, with the spreading legalization of cannabis, she addresses how this plant can be of benefit for recovery, without being misused.
Offering advice on designing a personal program to break your addictions, the author also shows how to use natural remedies to maintain your new energy and vitality as you walk the road to recovery.
• Shares herbs, supplements, natural remedies, and alternative practices that can help liberate you from habitual substance use, ease the withdrawal period, cleanse the body of toxins, and combat depression, anxiety, fatigue, and stress
• Offers specific advice and remedies for individual addictive substances and behaviors, including sugar, caffeine, alcohol, opioids, tobacco, and tranquilizers
• Explores the potential of psychedelic therapy for overcoming addiction and addresses how cannabis can be of benefit for recovery, without being misused
Addiction affects more people than any other disease. Breaking a habit can be daunting--it’s hard to know where to begin beyond quitting “cold turkey.” But just as habits can be acquired, they can be broken. Others have done it, and so can you!
In this holistic guide to beating addiction, Brigitte Mars details how to replace negative habits and behaviors with positive healthy ones and safely support your body, mind, and spirit for a successful recovery. The author shares specific herbs, supplements, homeopathic remedies, flower essences, behavioral therapy, and alternative practices, such as meditation and yoga, that can help liberate you from habitual substance use and ease the withdrawal period as well as methods for cleansing the body of toxins and healthy ways to combat depression, anxiety, fatigue, and stress. She looks in depth at individual addictive substances and behaviors, including sugar, caffeine, alcohol, opioids, tobacco, and tranquilizers, offering specific advice and remedies for each. She shows how each technique can be used in conjunction with conventional therapies, such as psychotherapy, methadone, or Alcoholics Anonymous. Drawing on recent research, she also explores the enormous potential of psychedelic therapy for overcoming addiction and, with the spreading legalization of cannabis, she addresses how this plant can be of benefit for recovery, without being misused.
Offering advice on designing a personal program to break your addictions, the author also shows how to use natural remedies to maintain your new energy and vitality as you walk the road to recovery.
- GenresHealth
320 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2001
About the author
Brigitte Mars
30 books9 followersBrigitte Mars is an herbalist and natural health nutritional consultant. She teaches Herbal Medicine at Naropa University and at the School of Health Mastery in Iceland. She is also a psychedelic sitter and end-of-life doula.
Mars has published many books and DVDs about natural medicine.
Mars has published many books and DVDs about natural medicine.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 3, 2015
Interesting read about sugar; not definitive but worthwhile nonetheless.
To paraphrase the author: Sugar is the most prevalent addictive substance in the world and finding foods without sugar is a challenge. By the time most people have their first experience with alcohol, tobacco or drugs, they've been sugar addicts for years. Because sugar is so refined, it passes almost directly into the bloodstream -- just like a drug. Blood sugar soars, then crashes, with the body crying out for more and beginning a vicious cycle.
Without going into the minutiae, sugar is poison, plain and simple. It triggers mood-enhancing neurotransmitters but at the expense of wrecking havoc on your body: your heart, kidneys and liver, insulin (diabetes), mutates cells (cancer) and on and on.
Though this book doesn't say it, many sources claim justifiably that contrary to popular belief it's not FAT that is the enemy we should have been fighting all this time but SUGAR.
Some interesting nutritional and herbal supplements are listed in the book as well.
To paraphrase the author: Sugar is the most prevalent addictive substance in the world and finding foods without sugar is a challenge. By the time most people have their first experience with alcohol, tobacco or drugs, they've been sugar addicts for years. Because sugar is so refined, it passes almost directly into the bloodstream -- just like a drug. Blood sugar soars, then crashes, with the body crying out for more and beginning a vicious cycle.
Without going into the minutiae, sugar is poison, plain and simple. It triggers mood-enhancing neurotransmitters but at the expense of wrecking havoc on your body: your heart, kidneys and liver, insulin (diabetes), mutates cells (cancer) and on and on.
Though this book doesn't say it, many sources claim justifiably that contrary to popular belief it's not FAT that is the enemy we should have been fighting all this time but SUGAR.
Some interesting nutritional and herbal supplements are listed in the book as well.
July 8, 2010
I have a horrible sweet tooth, and as I'm getting older, I'm realizing I either need to curb the sweet tooth or hope The Biggest Loser is still on in twenty years. Preferring the former option, I set out to find a good book on natural ways to curb addictions, and this one was the best reviewed of the lot. The downside is that, while I did check it out from the library, it is one of those books you really need to own, and while it is useful, I'm not convinced it merits any of my meticulously hoarded book money. It's definitely not for the "Western-medicine-is-the-be-all-end-all" crowd, and I don't agree with everything (look, I love writing, but there is no way that journaling will help me stop craving warm chocolate chip cookies), but it does have some good tips and lists - especially for something like my sugar addiction, which is relatively minor and doesn't need some ridiculous drug regime (honestly, reading or watching documentaries about the big-food industry usually sets me right for several months at a time). The biggest upside of this book is that it mostly syncs up with what I already know from other sources regarding herbs and vitamins but in a very handy-to-use format (excluding, of course, research published in the nine years since the book's publication). Quasi-recommended.
September 23, 2010
The information on herbs, vitamins, and foods is incredibly helpful, detailed and tailored to each addiction. Definitely a resource book to keep turning back to. The information on alternative therapies to help with addiction, or withdrawal, on the other hand, isn't anything new or brilliant, and actually is kind of annoying. That oversimplyfication of how helpful things can be with no regard for how intense one may be feeling. I.E. "Having a craving? Take a nice soothing bath." Gee whiz that sounds lovely, but not practical 95% of the time.
March 26, 2013
Chock full of info on many different types of addiction: alcohol, food, sugar, drugs. info on stress, sleeplessness.
goes into all types of natural treatments for each one: homeopathy, nutrition, essential oils, aroma therapy, etc....
very informative. explains the mechanism of how each works.
I got it from the library but will purchase it to add to my collection.
goes into all types of natural treatments for each one: homeopathy, nutrition, essential oils, aroma therapy, etc....
very informative. explains the mechanism of how each works.
I got it from the library but will purchase it to add to my collection.
January 16, 2011
Good so far! Exactly what I need right at this moment!
January 25, 2016
Brigitte Mars gives many antidotes for working with and healing addictions of all types. A fantastic resource for all.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews