Thoughts?

New Dietary Guideline for Alcohol

The USDA has proposed new Dietary Guidelines for Americans that include significant changes on alcohol that concern many public health experts.  The 2005 USDA alcohol guidelines defined “moderate” drinking as follows:

Men – no more than two drinks per day

Women – no more than one drink per day

The new 2010 USDA alcohol guidelines is now defining alcohol consumption on a weekly basis:

Men – No more than 14 drinks per week (no more than 4 drinks on any given day)

Women – No more than 7 drinks per week (no more than 3 drinks a day for women)

This does not add up with the old guidelines.  For example, the old guidelines for men says they should drink no more than two drinks per day.  Multiply that times seven days which equals 14 drinks per week.  But the catch is that the new guidelines allows for four drinks per day for men (even though it states no more than 14 drinks per week), which seems like the alcohol consumption is greater.  A person could disregard the weekly alcohol consumption guidelines and stick with the daily consumption guidelines which increase for both men and women.

You can submit written comments online (up to 2000 characters, attachments allowed). The USDA does consider all comments seriously before releasing the final version later in the year. But time is very short: the deadline is Thursday, July 15 at 5 pm E.D.T.

What do you think?

Not Dealing With Stress

Researchers have found that ignoring stress levels can lead recovering addicts to more cravings.

Cravings are a strong predictor of a relapse – having more cravings makes it more likely for a relapse to occur.  To help prevent a relapse, don’t ignore your stress!

Read more: http://ow.ly/24Khb

Lost in Woonsocket

We are excited to announce that we have partnered up with Random 1 Productions to premiere Lost in Woonsocket on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas!  Check out the event details posted by the Dallas Observer: http://www.dallasobserver.com/events/lost-in-woonsocket-1780822/

Are you going?

Social Drinking Gone Too Far

Check out Dr. Carlos Tirado’s expertise on “social drinking” featured in Glamour Magazine!  http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2010/04/4-signs-that-your-drinking-is.htm

Do you or someone you know have problems with alcohol?  What are your thoughts?

Prescrition Drug Abuse

According to the U.N. narcotics board, abuse of prescription drugs is growing rapidly around the world, with more people abusing legal narcotics than heroin, cocaine and ecstasy combined.  In the US alone, abuse of prescription drugs is now the second most important drug abuse issue after cannabis with 6.2 million people hooked on them in 2008, according to the The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).  Drug abuse is extremely prevalent within America as well as around the globe.  People with a drug addiction problem need help; their lives are at stake!  To learn more about the rapidly increasing use of prescription drugs go to http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100224/hl_nm/us_narcotics_un.

What are your thoughts?

More Taxation for Alcoholic Beverages

Well the World Health Organization (WHO) seems to think so!  Just yesterday, WHO met up to discuss a global strategy to tackle alcohol abuse, binge drinking and other harmful uses of alcohol.  According to WHO, risks linked to alcohol abuse caused 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and various cancers.  They feel that a taxation system may be the answer!  The draft strategy will be reviewed by the  WHO’s executive board.

To learn more go to http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60B4Q220100112

Do you think raising alcohol prices will solve the problem of alcohol abuse?

A Better Way To Recover Your Life

As the year is approaching the end, people everywhere are making New Year’s resolutions.  Some are small and may seem insignificant, like pledging to walk up the stairs at work instead of riding the elevator while others are more serious like seeking help for drug addiction.

It takes more than just the “Say No to Drugs” approach to battle drug addiction.  According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, nearly 40 to 60 percent of people suffer from a relapse from drug abuse or addiction even after treatment.

Drug abuse is tough to deal with, and it is important to take care of your body by monitoring what you put in it.  Whether you’re dealing with addiction to prescription drugs, club drugs, cocaine etc.—here are five ways to help you stay drug-free for the New Year.

Tip #1— Identify Your Goals

It is imperative that you are specific when setting your goals.  Write down how you will move toward and achieve each goal by determining how much time, effort and dedication it will take in order to accomplish these goals.

Tip #2 — Create a Supportive Environment

Getting support is important, especially when you’re dealing with drug abuse and addiction.  Stay away from non-supportive people and others who share the same problem.  Seek out those who want you to remain or become drug-free.  They will encourage you when you succeed and help you pick up the pieces if you fall.

Tip #3 — Prepare for a Setback

No one is perfect; everyone has a slip.  Instead of telling yourself that you will not fail, prepare for a setback in the process.  This will help you not beat up yourself so badly when you do mess up, and it will help you get back on your feet and try again.

Tip #4 — Track Your Progress

Write in a journal or notebook all of the progress you make over time.  Not only will this motivate you, it can also help with your recovery from addiction.

Tip #5 — Ask for Help

Do not be afraid to ask for help from others.  When dealing with drug addiction, it is hard to do it alone.  Getting the help you need will enable you to keep pushing toward your goals.

Sometimes it takes more than helpful tips and family support to remain drug-free.  Enterhealth, a Texas alcohol and drug addiction recovery center, offers a customized program at its Life Recovery Center that treats the chronic brain disease of addiction.

To learn more about Enterhealth, how we treat addiction, and how we provide a better way to recover, please visit http://www.enterhealth.com/ or call 1-800-388-4601.

A Better Way to Recover

About Enterhealth

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Enterhealth, was founded by a team of distinguished addiction

recovery experts and professionals who hold a vision to provide world-class, affordable and accessible addiction treatment resources and educational tools for persons with alcohol and drug addictions.

"But at Enterhealth, the name of the game – their mantra – is evidence-based practices. And the latest in scientific advancements"

Not too long ago, a group of investors got together, some of them addiction docs, but mostly just ordinary investors with a keen interest in backing a truly unique, highly integrated science-based model of addiction treatment, a development that may be the first of its kind ever attempted in the addiction treatment industry.

And this month that model, principally the brainchild of renowned addictionologist Dr. Harold Urschel, came to life in the form of Dallas-based Enterhealth, which just a few weeks ago opened its 16-bed Life Recovery Center, the residential piece of a treatment model that is quite possibly about as entirely evidence-based as exists anywhere in the U.S., or even worldwide, addiction treatment universe. ‘Our goal here was really to examine closely the known science surrounding addiction,” says Urschel, who is not only a major principal in the Enterhealth business enterprise but also the key designer of the highly unique program that is emerging at Enterhealth.

In Development

Emerging is a key word when it comes to Enterhealth, because Urschel admits the model, mostly over the next 18 months or so, is likely to refined and, if the evidence dictates, even undergo some very substantial changes.

And CEO David Kniffen, who expects other Life Recovery Centers to open soon, especially in Europe where there is a dearth of quality addiction care, says the investment so far in Enterhealth has been substantial, in the $5 million range. “And our investors have deep pockets, so they stand fully ready to back expansion should demand for our treatment product warrant,” he says.

Little Doubt

But as Treatment Magazine, has surveyed the treatment landscape over the past five years, it has become increasingly clear that consumers are looking for much more than the spiritually based approaches that have dominated since he mid part of the last century.

And Urschel suspects that there has been little in the way of comprehensive outcomes studies, perhaps because the industry fears such studies may show existing approaches may not work all that well.

And probably a major reason for this, according to Urschel, is that acute care models have been used to treat what science is increasingly telling us is a chronic disease that very likely requires, depending on the individual, a lifetime of care. “Our key insight here is that addiction has really only been partially treated,” says Urschel, who also integrates strong business insight into the Enterhealth treatment model through his acquisition of a prestigious Stanford MBA. “We have set out here to totally reformulate the way addiction treatment is delivered in the future.”

With a private pay business plan that offers 45 days of care for $37K, Enterhealth is not yet a mass market product. But others, like Florida House Sunlight Recovery in Florida are attemptting to lengthen care and take more of a chronic disease approach at lower price points.

Addiction Specialist Dr. Hal Urschel - Chief Medical Strategist of Enterhealth/ Author of Healing the Addiction Brain

Holy Grail

Clearly, the Holy Grail of makeing a chronic disease addiction care model highly affordable and, thus, a mass market product, is getting the Internet to play a central role in the delivery of addiction treatment And Enterhealth has its eye on the ball when it comes to the Internet, currently offering an online recovery enhancement and addiction educational product called Enterhealth Online Life Care.

Urschel clearly has hopes that Enterhealth’s online product, which he plans to develop into a full fledged “distance treatment” program will perhaps one day become as sucessful as has “distance education,” with the Internet in the 1990sd revolutionizing education delivery while creating a new multibillion industry along the way. Should Enterhealth’s online addiction treatment delivery really catch on, it will no doubt make the small group of five Enterhealth investors very rich. CEO Kniffen says that not only will each client who enters residential treatment at Enterhealth be enrolled in Online Life Care, but Enterhealth has plans to aggresively market the $99 Internet product to treatment centers nationwide, creating a whole new revenue stream.

A business over three years in the planning and making, Enterhealth is appearing on tha addiction treatment scene at a time of increasing scrutiny into whether or not treatment actually works. Causing quite a stir, a major article in the New York Times in late December pointed out the woeful lack of outcomes data throughout the addiction treatment industry. The article suggested that much of the $20 billion spent annually – actually, about $25 billion is currently spent every year on treatment – might be a waste of money.

But at Enterhealth, the name of the game – their mantra – is evidence-based practices. And the latest in scientific advancements – pharmacotherapies, brain scanning – will also be integral at Enterhealth.