SCC Client Nutrition Seminar Recap | Dale King at PSKC MetFix

Many of our clients are in the early stages of putting their lives back together. We’re passionate about giving them any advantage we can in seeing them succeed. Nutrition is an advantage we choose to share with them regularly, and our friends at MetFix have been incredible allies in helping our people heal from substance use disorder and mental illness alike. Addiction is a disease, and we’re using evidence-based protocol to reverse it.

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 group workout consisting of air squats and stationary bikes, Dale took to the whiteboard to talk about nutrition in recovery and why properly fueling your system really matters.

“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.”

What MetFix is doing fits in so well with our standard of care at Shawnee Counseling Center. At Shawnee, sobriety is not the end goal; it’s the starting line.

“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.”

Client Guide: A Simple Nutrition Protocol to Get Healthy

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 can be as simple as eating real food, 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? If the answer is yes, 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 food.

• 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.

“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. It’s hard at first, but you’ll feel better and lose your craving for it in the long run.

If you want all of your health markers to improve, stop feeling that “crash” after sugary foods, and significantly decrease your risk of every major disease, drop the sugar.

• No Soda
• No Candy
• Instead of trying to eat sugary treats in “moderation”, try something natural like an apple or a sugar-free alternative.

“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

If you’re having trouble dropping your smoking or vaping habit, Dale shared a rule of them to help you hydrate and shake that habit: every cigarette or vape hit, drink a bottle of water. Over time, the habit will weaken.

4. How much real food should I eat?

If you’re eating real food, it’s hard to overdo it. You’ll feel fuller faster and for longer periods of time (that’s the magic of fat and protein at work). 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 more quickly!

“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 lot of equipment, 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.)
• Push ups
• Pull ups

You can get stronger, even without equipment!

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 more benefits you will get out of being strong. If you have extra weight to lose, it will follow, and muscle will replace it.

“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.

“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.”