Switch4Good: 232 - Addiction, Recovery and Plants with Dr. Tara Kemp & Adam Sud

232 - Addiction, Recovery and Plants with Dr. Tara Kemp & Adam Sud

May 31, 2023

A plant-based diet has so many health benefits: reduced inflammation, a stronger immune system, and improved gut health, just to name a few. But can plant-based eating also have an impact on addiction and recovery? Could it prevent relapses and increase your resilience to cope with life? These are the questions that today’s guests, Dr. Tara Kemp and Adam Sud, set out to answer in The INFINITE Study, which researches if there are any benefits to plant-based eating in addiction recovery.

Adam Sud is a third-time guest on this podcast for a very good reason. He’s an incredibly inspiring speaker who emerged from his own substance use disorder and now helps others as a behavioral wellness and nutrition expert.

Dr. Tara Kemp is a mental health coach and researcher with a Ph.D. in psycho-social health. She also has a very personal story of recovering from disordered eating. And now, she helps other women on their healing journey with food through her coaching business and her retreats.

Tune in to this week’s episode and learn all about their research into addiction and their knowledge about recovery!

“For the average person who’s observing someone struggling with substance use disorder, a very reasonable question does look like, how do we get you to stop? Why won’t you stop? But a much more valuable question to ask that person, or to ask yourself and help this person investigate, is why for you does your use make so much sense?” – Adam Sud

“The substance is the coping mechanism for some level of lack of safety within that person. And so they’re using that as the coping tool. And so if you just remove the coping tool, now that person is left with this unsafe feeling or unsafe experience that they have nothing to use in its place.” – Dr. Tara Kemp

What we discuss in this episode: