Nutrition and Wellness in Recovery
NorthStar Regional treats physical health as part of the treatment plan, and our nutrition therapy in Minnesota starts before you even arrive. Our transport carries water, electrolytes, and a meal, because most people arrive depleted. Campus dining puts three meals back in the day, and nutrition groups teach how food shapes mood and cravings. Wellness programming rebuilds the rest of a healthy routine, with gyms and courts on both men’s and women’s campuses. We accept Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and most major insurers, and some of what you call an urge is a blood sugar cliff.
Nutrition & wellness at a glance
Fed from the first mile
Water, electrolytes, and a meal on the ride here. Another meal at intake if you want one.
Meals, movement, sleep
Campus dining puts three meals back in the day. The schedule puts movement back in the week. Both put sleep back within reach.
Habits that survive discharge
Nutrition groups and wellness programs turn into a plan: how to eat, move, and rest in a way your recovery can stand on.
Inpatient Rehabilitation
Campus dining, nutrition groups, gyms and courts on both men’s and women’s campuses.
Licensed Treatment Programs
Founded 2015
Addiction and mental health care in one system
Multiple Campuses
Across the Twin Cities metro
MN Department of Health: Licensed
MN Department of Human Services: Licensed
Understanding this service
How Nutrition Supports Recovery
During active addiction, getting the substance comes before taking care of the body. Meals get skipped or replaced, and sleep breaks down. By the time someone reaches treatment, they are often malnourished in ways that look like mental health symptoms. Shakiness, trouble thinking clearly, a short temper, mood swings, exhaustion. Early recovery is hard on the body and the emotions, and a worn-down body struggles to handle it. In that situation, food is not a comfort. It is what everything else is built on.
At NorthStar Regional, physical recovery starts before you arrive. Our concierge transport carries water, electrolytes, and a meal, because we know what shape people arrive in. At the residential level, campus dining gives three regular meals a day. Nutrition groups teach what blood sugar does to mood and cravings. Wellness programs rebuild a healthy daily routine. That includes gyms and fitness challenges, the walking club, basketball, and sand volleyball. You leave knowing how to eat in a way that supports your recovery, not just how to talk about it.
Is this right for you?
Signs Your Body Needs Nutrition Support
Everyone in residential care eats well here. These are the signs the nutrition and wellness work deserves real attention in your plan.
Meals Got Replaced
You can’t remember your last real one. The substance became breakfast, then lunch, then the reason food stopped mattering.
Crashes Feel Like Cravings
Shaky, irritable, desperate to feel different by mid-afternoon. Some of what you’ve been calling an urge is a blood sugar cliff.
Energy Swings Run Your Day
Bursts of energy followed by crashes, over and over. When your body does not get steady, regular meals, your energy and mood swing. It can feel like your emotions are out of control.
Sleep Broke Somewhere
You run on fumes and adrenaline. The exhaustion makes every craving louder and every skill harder to reach.
The Mirror Shows the Cost
Weight lost or gained, skin and teeth showing the damage. This is not a judgment, just a list your recovery gets to work on.
You've Never Eaten on a Schedule Sober
Regular meals feel foreign. That is not a character flaw. It is a skill nobody taught you, and it can be learned in a week.
If even a few of these sound like you, that is reason enough to call. You don’t need to be certain, and you don’t need a diagnosis. A comprehensive assessment will sort out where this fits in your care. Reading this for someone you love? Start with our guide for parents or our guide for spouses and partners.
How It Helps
Nutrition for Addiction and Mental Health
Depression cuts appetite, anxiety uses up the body’s energy, and addiction uses up what is left. Every condition we treat affects the body. That is why nutrition and wellness are part of dual diagnosis care. Whatever you’re carrying, it has its own page and its own place in the plan.
For Addiction
Every substance we treat is explained on its own page, from the first assessment through sober living.
For Mental Health
At designated NorthStar Regional programs, these conditions are treated together with addiction as co-occurring care, in one plan. Standalone mental health treatment, no substance use diagnosis needed, is available through our outpatient clinic in Shakopee.
What to expect
What Our Nutrition and Wellness Program Includes
From the ride in to the plan you leave with.
You Won’t Arrive Hungry
Water, electrolytes, and a meal on the ride here. Another meal at intake if you want one. Many people arrive depleted, so we don’t wait.
Three Meals, Daily Movement, Real Sleep
Campus dining puts three meals back in the day. The schedule puts movement back in the week. Both put sleep back within reach.
Habits You Keep After You Leave
Nutrition groups and wellness programs turn into a plan: how to eat, move, and rest in a way your recovery can stand on.
Where You'll Find It at NorthStar Regional
Wellness Across the Campuses
Most complete at the residential level. There, we provide the meals and set the schedule.
Residential
Inpatient Rehabilitation
Campus dining, nutrition groups, gyms and courts on both men’s and women’s campuses.
Extended care
Low-Intensity Residential Treatment
Months of steady rhythm: the time it takes for new habits to stop being new.
Medical start
Medical Detox
Nursing care, fluids, and nutrition from hour one. For bodies coming off the hardest stretch.
Treatment Options
Explore Our Addiction and Mental Health Therapies and Services
Recovery rarely rests on one method. Below are the addiction and mental health therapies and services at NorthStar Regional. Each has its own page. Your comprehensive assessment, the full evaluation that sets your plan, decides which mix of therapies your plan starts with.
Who's behind the work
About NorthStar Regional
NorthStar Regional is Minnesota’s treatment system built around access: alcohol and drug treatment centers and mental health care across multiple Twin Cities metro locations. Founded in 2015, we provide one connected continuum: detox (withdrawal management), residential, outpatient, mental health, and a sober housing pathway. Separate men’s and women’s campuses, co-occurring care at designated programs, and no faith requirement set us apart. We accept Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and most major insurers, and if you are uninsured, our admissions team helps you through enrollment. A person can walk in with nothing and leave with everything they need to build a life.
Paying for Care
Insurance and Payment Options
Our team helps review your benefits and handles the paperwork with you. If you have no insurance, we help walk you through enrolling for benefits. County case managers, probation officers, hospitals, and crisis teams send clients to us because, in their words, we just get it done.
Insurance and State Funding
Commercial plans, Medical Assistance (Medicaid), county placements, and private pay. We verify benefits and handle the paperwork with you.
We Are Here to Help
We help review your benefits, find your right starting point, and schedule you for the same day or the next whenever possible. Then we pick you up anywhere in the Twin Cities metro.
How Admission Works
What Happens From Your First Call to Your First Night
You did the hard part when you picked up the phone. Here is exactly what happens next, so nothing about day one is a mystery.
You Call and a Real Person Answers
A real person answers, usually within seconds, and asks one short question: substance use, or mental health? There is no phone tree, and you don’t have to tell your life story. We ask only what we need and handle the rest.
We Help with the Details
Our team helps review your benefits, and a short screening covers withdrawal risk, medical needs, and mental health, so you land at the right level of care. Then we schedule you, same day or next day whenever possible.
We Pick You Up
You get reminder calls and texts before pickup. For residential, your admissions coordinator and your driver also call you together, so you know who’s coming, what car to look for, and when to expect them. Many of our drivers are in long-term recovery themselves, and yours will help with your bags.
A Real Person Meets You When You Arrive
Your driver walks you inside and introduces you by name to the team member waiting for you. Your intake team completes your application with you. If you’re hungry, there’s a meal waiting. From there, treatment starts, and we help take care of the logistics along the way.
“The client has done the hard work by picking up the phone. We will carry them the rest of the way.”
Sarah Roy, Executive Vice President
Reviews from Google
Why Clients Choose NorthStar Regional
Don’t just take our word for it. Here is what alumni say about their time in treatment.
Keep reading
Related Articles and Resources
Resources
Before You Call
How admissions works, guides for families, and the forms you can complete early. More resources are linked throughout the site, or contact admissions and we’ll send anything by email.
Questions we hear every day
Common Questions About Nutrition and Wellness
Why does nutrition matter in addiction recovery?
Nutrition matters because addiction often leaves your body depleted. During active addiction, substances can take the place of meals, disrupt sleep, and drain your body of nutrients. In early recovery, your body has to steady your mood, rebuild energy, and resist cravings. Regular meals are part of treatment because they help with all of that.
What does nutrition support look like at NorthStar Regional?
At the residential level, nutrition support at NorthStar Regional includes regular meals, campus dining, and nutrition education groups in the weekly schedule. The focus is practical. You get back to eating on a schedule and learn how blood sugar affects your mood and cravings. The goal is to leave with eating habits you can keep after discharge.
Is it true cravings and hunger get confused?
Yes, it happens often. A blood sugar crash can cause shakiness, a short temper, and an urgent need to feel different, which can feel a lot like a craving. Many people in early recovery learn that eating a meal at the right time can stop what felt like the start of a relapse.
What wellness programming runs alongside the food?
Wellness programming includes gyms and fitness challenges, a walking club, basketball and sand volleyball, and stretching and movement practice. Each day is planned so activity, meals, and sleep fall into a steady routine that helps your body recover.
Will insurance cover treatment that includes nutrition support?
For most plans, yes. Nutrition and wellness programming is part of your treatment, so it’s typically covered along with the rest of your care. We accept Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and most major insurers, and we’ll check your plan with you before anything else.
Admissions
Make the First Call and We'll Take It from There
Confidential, no obligation, and answered by someone who knows what you’re facing and cares to listen.