SCC Client Nutrition Seminar Recap | Dale King at PSKC MetFix

At the end of 2025, Dale King at PSKC MetFix hosted a workout and nutrition seminar for a few of our clients fresh into their recovery journey. After a healthy serving of air squats and stationary bikes, Dale King took to the whiteboard to talk about nutrition in recovery and why it matters.

The main point of this talk was simple: If you stop at “I’m off heroin” but replace it with sugar, cigarettes, and junk food, you are not done yet.

“If we’re going to get clean, let’s try to get CLEAN,” Dale told the room. “Not just off heroin, but off the other stuff that keeps your brain stuck.”

“Congratulations, you’re off crack or heroin or fentanyl. But if we’re inhaling Ho Hos and smoking cigarettes, we ain’t quite there yet either.”

A Simple Nutrition Protocol to Get Healthy (Eat Real Food)

As a person in recovery, you’ve done so much work to get your life back. Don’t end your life early by replacing one bad habit with another. Processed foods, just like drugs, can have a long-term impact on your body that can lead to obesity, disease, and increase your risk of death by heart attack or stroke.

In contrast, fueling your body for success in life and recovery is simply eating real foods, which will most certainly give you a better chance at longevity. You can also increase your energy levels, reduce cravings, and get stronger by eating real food that’s high in natural fat and protein.

A question to ask yourself if you need to know if something is real or not: Can you kill it? Can you grow it? Then you can eat it!

“If it comes in a box, bag, or has a barcode, it’s not real food. And guess what? You guys have a lot of experience with addiction. That’s what that stuff is designed to do (keep you addicted).”

1. Eat Real Food

So what is real food, and what should you eat? In order of priority, a successful diet should look something like this:

Meat &vegetables,
nuts and seeds,
some starch,
little fruit,
no sugar.
No seed oils.

That’s the MetFix prescription that has helped Dale change the lives of hundreds of local people (It can change yours too).

Here’s an example of what you might eat for the day:

Meat: Chicken, ground beef, beef jerky, a burger with cheese (start skipping the bun).
Vegetables: Salad, carrots, avocados, baby carrots, pickles, or green beans.
Nuts & seeds: Cashews or almonds, peanuts, or sunflower seeds.
Some starch: Baked potato (avoid the French fries).
Little fruit: An apple, grapes, a banana, or an orange.
No sugar: (Ditch the pop, candy, cookies, etc.).
No seed oils: (You can largely avoid these by avoiding processed foods).

Avoid packaged foods, bars, chips, pastries, and snacks with long shelf lives.
If it rots, it’s probably food. If it doesn’t, be suspicious.
If you’re at the grocery store, try shopping on the outskirts of the store, stay out of the aisles where nothing needs refrigerated.

Infographic provided by MetFix.org

“You want your food to perish,” Dale said. “If it can sit around for weeks, it’s probably not food.”

2. Drop the Sugar

This is the one no one likes, but everyone benefits the most from. Getting away from sugar in your food & drink will change your life.

No Soda
No Candy
Instead of trying to eat sugary treats in “moderation”, try an apple or sugar free option instead.

“Sugar treats your brain the same way crack, heroin, or opioids do.”

3. Drink Water

Hydration matters more than people think, especially early on.

Water first
Black coffee or unsweetened tea is fine
Add electrolytes if needed

A simple rule Dale shared: every cigarette or vape hit, drink a bottle of water. Over time, the habit will weaken itself.

4. How much real food should I eat?

If you’re eating real food, it’s hard to overdo it. Processed food is not only bad for you, but it is designed to bypass your satiety signals that tell your body you are full.

Have you ever heard of someone binge eating a bag of apples? No, right?

It’s because those potato chips, cookies or the sour patch kids are engineered to keep you eating. Avoid the fake stuff, and you can eat the real stuff until you’re satisfied. You will also be satisfied quicker!

“How much should you eat?” Dale asked. “Until you’re full. When should you eat again? When you get hungry.”

Move Your Body

No need to overcomplicate this. Going to the gym is great! If you don’t have access to a gym that you like, or life gets in the way, you can always find 10 minutes to move. Some examples:

Go for a walk
See how many burpees you can do in 5 minutes
(Carefully lower yourself to the ground, then stand back up. Repeat.)
See how many body weight squats you can do in 10 minutes
(Feet shoulder width apart. Lower your butt as far as you can, Chest up, drive your knees out.)

Try the “Daily Squat” Challenge

One squat today. Two tomorrow. Three the next day. See how many days in row you can do one more squat. Your body will start to change. It’s not all about losing weight; it’s about getting stronger. The stronger your body gets, the benefits you will get out of being strong will far surpass your physique.

“You don’t need two hours at the gym,” Dale Added. “That little stuff adds up if you just keep doing it.”

How to Get Started

Recovery is not easy. Getting stronger through proper nutrition and movement can give you a leg up in the process, and increase your quality of life while you’re sober. At Shawnee Counseling, we don’t want you to settle for “sober”, we want to see you succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

The foundation of your success is good health. Let’s start there.