At the beginning of my recovery from the damage that benzodiazepines had caused, I researched every diet I could think of. I hoped that one of them would help me to heal faster, or at the very least, help me to feel better. The first diet I started on was the GAPS diet. I did my best to stick with it, even making bone broth. I didn’t know all the ins and outs about broth and mine tasted awful, plus, it stunk up my kitchen. (I wasn’t making it properly.) As my withdrawal symptoms got worse, I stopped adhering to the GAPS diet as I couldn’t take care of myself, and therefore I ate anything that my children dropped off for me. The only things I avoided were foods with gluten, a lot of sugar, MSG, additives or colorings, and of course, caffeine and alcohol.
As my withdrawal progressed, and time went by, I watched the movie Fat, Sick And Nearly Dead. I had seen it before, but this time, I took it to heart. I frequently juiced ten different fruits and vegetables in hopes that they would make me feel better. I have the MTHFR gene mutation, so I made sure I juiced a lot of dark green leafy vegetables (kale!). I can’t say that juicing was the magic elixir I had hoped it would be, but I did feel better knowing that I was at least trying to put healthy things into my body. I was still gluten-free (and am to this day) and very careful about MSG, additives, etc. And of course, no alcohol or caffeine.
Still unwell a great deal of time into my recovery, I decided to go vegan. I thought maybe ditching animal products was the ticket to better health. I had watched the movie Forks Over Knives and was ready to try embracing only plants as fuel for my body. A month into eating vegan and I was in worse shape. I went back to eating meat and soon felt better than while eating vegan. Next, I tried the Paleo diet but didn’t feel much change one way or the other. Eventually, I stopped following any diet protocol and ate what I liked, which are whole organic foods, good fats, meats, vegetables, and fruits. Sometimes, I’d have grains or legumes, but not often.
Last summer, when I had my setback, I bought the book Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. It became my handbook for nutrition. I learned a proper technique for making bone broth (it was delicious!) and enjoyed whole milk plain yogurt, as well as fermented foods and even beet Kvass. I can’t say that the diet made a difference in my symptoms, but psychologically I felt good knowing that I was feeding my body the fuel it needed. (Now, after gaining some weight from inactivity, I am ready to try a few weeks on the Keto diet. I’m curious to see the results of that diet.)
After trying many diets, here is what I’ve come to believe is the best diet in benzo withdrawal: It is the one that supports you nutritionally and doesn’t make you feel worse! Like everything else in benzo withdrawal, we all react differently to things. I felt like death when I went vegan, yet some people in withdrawal told me that they felt better after ditching animal products. I enjoy bone broth and fermented foods and juices while those foods make others feel terrible, most likely due to the high histamine levels of those foods. I feel awful if I eat pasta or bread, yet others eat it without any issues. We all have to find a healthy diet that works for us.
We may find that certain foods rev us up, but I don’t think we should abandon all of those. Some people become so scared of having their symptoms increase after eating that they are surviving (somehow) on three to five different foods only. There is no way, to my knowledge, (disclaimer: I’m not a nutritionist or a dietician) that eating only a few different foods can give the proper nutrition that a body needs. I used to have an increase in my tingling and body anxiety when I ate salmon or garbanzo beans. But I didn’t give up either as I knew they were both nutritionally good for me. Of course, if a certain food makes you ill, you are probably better off avoiding it. I’m not suggesting that you drink bone broth, for example, if the histamine in it makes you feel sick. I’m saying eat a balanced diet, eat as clean (organic, no additives of any kind) as you can, make sure you are getting the fat, protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber that you need, and don’t stress too much about it.
If there was a diet that allowed us to heal faster I’m sure we’d all have heard about it by now. Since it doesn’t appear to exists, all we can do is to eat healthy so that we know we are giving our body what it needs to heal and to ultimately thrive. (And that weight loss or weight gain you’re experiencing in withdrawal—no matter what you seem to eat or not eat? Know that your metabolism will sort itself out in time and you will most likely get back to your normal weight. Feed your body the fuel it needs and don’t worry too much about the scale.)
Great post Jenn..truer words were never spoken….too many diets, too many opinions…it gets discouraging trying to sort it all out….I agree that we should eat Whole, nourishing food from all food groups….keep our bodies as healthy as we can….and the healing can happen….
I was reading a few articles about the ketogenic diet. This one had a line that made my eyes perk up.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201104/your-brain-ketones
“Ketogenic diets seem to favor glutamate becoming GABA rather than aspartate”.
Now I’m guessing there is much more to it than that, but if that was the case would the Keto diet not be a lot more helpful and widespread in terms of being used to help with withdrawal? I’m guessing there is a reason why it isn’t?
My thoughts are 1. It’s a somewhat difficult diet to adhere to. The amount of fat one is supposed to eat can be a turn off for some. Plus, we like our carbs! The “Keto flu” can occur, a rather nasty reaction as the body switches to burning fat instead of carbs. Add that to withdrawal symptoms and some may be hesitant to try the diet. Or they may try and ditch it. 2. To my knowledge our symptoms don’t stem from not having enough GABA. They stem from not having enough working GABA receptors. So even if the Keto diet created more GABA, how will it get utilized? I’m not an expert in this area so this is just my hypothesis.
I’m on day two of Keto and I’m missing my carbs. I’m hopeful I can Stick it out for two weeks but I’m already tired of meat and fats. If I stay on it long enough to see any results other than weight loss I’ll let everyone know. It’s interesting how the diet has been used as a treatment for epilepsy and diabetes. There must be something good about it.
I did keto for 8 weeks. Thought it was helping but got hit with a huge wave that won’t let up. I’m back to eating more normal food. I had cut down to nothing but chicken and broccoli for a while, but I’ve not really noticed a difference unless I have sugar or msg. I couldn’t adapt to keto. Was shaking and had increase palpitations and eye twitching no matter how much I tried to balance my minerals. It is not a cure all.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I will Be lucky if I can Hold on for two weeks. I’m missing my vegetables! It’s always good to hear other people’s experiences.
It’s interesting as I haven’t been able to pinpoint what foods really work or don’t work. GI upset is one of absolute worst symptoms. I don’t understand the constipation to insane extremes when drinking a gallon of water a day. Linzess and Amitiza did NOTHING. however, I went Keto 2 weeks ago and I had a reduce in bloat and discomfort I haven’t had in over a year and a half since tapering began (I’m 5 months out now and it’s not where I expected—I am suffering to the degree of acute). I’m going to keep this up and I think I may have almost made it through a lot of symptoms revved up by switching keto on. I’ll keep updating as I get a little further out. I really want to do something with consistency as I’ve ran in every direction with food without feeling a whole heck of a lot better no matter what it is. Thanks for this great post. Wishing you all great healing. I’ve discovered acceptance and not to future trip so much in the past month. It’s brought calm and piece of mind.