From Five-Day Hangovers To Lasting SobrietyFrom Five-Day Hangovers To Lasting Sobriety
I Love Being Sober
Former Versace model Troy Casey shares how years of heavy drinking and drug use led to five-day hangovers and a search for change, with meditation eventually anchoring his sobriety. He and host Tim Westbrook talk through practical foundations—mindset, movement, and nutrition—for rebuilding health and finding peace after addiction.
1:26:54•29 Sept 2026
From Five-Day Hangovers to Health: Troy Casey on Mindset, Movement and Nutrition
Episode Overview
- Lasting sobriety for Troy began when he committed to daily meditation and later completed a 10-day Vipassana course.
- AA’s steps, especially taking inventory and making amends, were described as valuable even when the programme itself didn’t fully fit for him.
- Troy’s nine pillars of health highlight breath, thought, relationship, water, nature, food, movement, rest, and legacy as foundations for rebuilding after substance use.
- For people early in recovery, he suggests focusing on three basics: mindset (“I choose to stay sober”), regular movement, and better nutrition from real, unprocessed foods.
- Simple practices such as nasal breathing with the tongue on the roof of the mouth, walking, and basic qigong can help calm the nervous system and reduce anxiety.
“Mindset, movement, and nutrition. Boil it down to that. There you go. Get your mind right. I choose to stay sober. I choose to stay balanced. I choose to stay healthy.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This episode of *I Love Being Sober* follows Troy Casey, once a Versace runway model downing “50 drinks a day” on Ocean Drive, now better known as The Certified Health Nut, sharing what finally shifted him from five-day hangovers to long-term sobriety.
You’ll hear Troy trace his path from growing up as a ward of the state and early substance use at thirteen, through years of free-flowing alcohol and cocaine in the fashion scene, to the moment he realised that “the habit just turned into a nightmare.” Friends telling him he was “wasting [his] potential” planted a seed; five-day hangovers and a breakup while high on synthetic heroin pushed him to seek change.
Troy talks openly about trying AA, appreciating the value of the steps, and how it still took four and a half years of slipping in and out of sobriety before things stuck. The turning point came in 1999, when he committed to daily meditation and later sat a 10-day Vipassana retreat, which he says was “the nail in the coffin that sealed the deal” for his alcohol and drug use.
Troy lays out his nine pillars of health—breath, thought, relationship, water, nature, food, movement, rest, and legacy—and simplifies them for early recovery as “mindset, movement, and nutrition.” He stresses getting quality sleep, real food from farmers’ markets, daily movement like walking or qigong, and simple breath practices such as “tongue on the roof of the mouth, breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.” Host Tim Westbrook keeps the discussion grounded in practical questions people in early recovery are likely to ask, including psychiatric meds, stress, and fitting healthy habits into ordinary work and family life.
The conversation then shifts to rebuilding body and mind after substance use. If you’re wondering how to move from merely not drinking to feeling genuinely well, this conversation might be the nudge to start with just one small pillar today. What’s the first change you’re ready to try—your breath, your food, or your mindset?
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