humankind replay

Revolutionary Mental Health Ep. 5: Nutrition for Addiction Recovery with Christina Veselak

Debbie Nelson welcomes Christina Veselak, founder of the Academy for Addiction and Mental Health Nutrition, for a deeply personal conversation about the missing leg of the recovery stool: brain nutrition. Christina shares her own decades-long journey through biochemical depression—from a tearful discovery in a college library that eggs triggered her symptoms, to identifying ten different biochemical drivers before finally achieving freedom from depression in her mid-40s. The turning point that launched her academy: a woman in her third treatment program who relapsed two hours after a spiritual awakening at a Wayne Dyer lecture, simply because she'd skipped meals and her crashing blood sugar hijacked her prefrontal cortex. The conversation moves through the mechanics of cravings, the epidemic of sugar-switching in early recovery, and why eating 20 grams of protein every four hours can be the difference between relapse and sustained sobriety. Christina explains how amino acids like glutamine can turn off cravings in 20 minutes, why conventional medical ranges miss thyroid and other physiological issues that masquerade as mental illness, and what her two-level certification teaches practitioners and parents alike. Debbie reflects on her own transformation through the academy—how learning to feed her brain allowed her to navigate early sobriety's intense stresses, and how her daughter became a nutritional chef as a result. They discuss Christina's nonprofit Eating Protein Saves Lives, the annual Feed the Recovery Brain Summit, and the weekly Feeding Recovery Network meetings offering real support for implementation. Recorded live at humankind, Sedona's consciousness community. Revolutionary Mental Health airs live weekly — watch free at humankind.center. Watch the replay free in the humankind app: https://app.humankind.center/media/video/1227429904 Listen on the Revolutionary Mental Health podcast: https://app.humankind.center/api/podcasts/revolutionary-mental-health/rss