Later in recovery, it is time to work on trusting your own internal cues and being more flexible with food. In the middle of this process is the grey area.

The time where you want to start experimenting and eating off your meal plan, but a rough guide can be handy. As an eating disorder dietitian you may think I would spend a fair amount of my time writing out meal plans. My aim is to empower you to be able to do that yourself.

I provide the education and skills to you, to put myself out of a job! This is a key question. If the meal plan needed to help you eat enough, to give guidance on the balance at meals and to initiate routine?

Then this sounds useful. If the meal plan is there to help you eat at meals, to prevent hunger swings and work on reducing binges, then this is also helpful.

I often describe a meal plan as being the bread and butter of what you eat. You are free to add extra toppings too as food is not just abour nutrition.

It also provides us with enjoyment, socialisation and memories. There are different types of eating disorders which can require different approaches to treatment, including the meal plans.

This is one reason working with a specialist eating disorder dietitian can be so important. We are not going to focus on these more specialist meal plans in this article. Please do work with a specialist team on your individualised meal plan for anorexia nervosa if you fall into the above categories.

An eating disorder meal plan should provide a balanced range of all the main nutrients the body needs for health as well as healing and renourishing. If you need to weight restore your energy needs are going to be higher which may mean you need 1.

Remember this is for a season and your meal plan can be adjusted throughout your recovery. If you are working on normalising your food intake or stopping binges then you may not have as high needs as described above. Regular meals and snacks, eating enough, with the balance of food groups are going to be your key focus.

So you can see it is fluid, depending on what you are doing in your day. It is still key to eat all your meals and snacks, whatever happens in your day. So if you miss a snack, simply add it onto a meal or eat it when you can.

Often when I am working with clients they are not happy with the idea of snacks. That is actually part of the point. We want your body to feel safe. Knowing it is getting enough nutrition in at regular points in the day helps with this.

See the snacks as mini-meals, they can include all foods. Balancing those foods groups in your snacks is also a good idea. It is important to get a balance of food groups at each meal. You are not alone. Please seek us out and learn about our fellowship.

FAA Food Plan Guide FAA Food Plan Guide Breakfast 1 Protein 1 Dairy 1 Fruit 1 Grain or Starchy Vegetable. Men: Add 1 fruit or 1 grain or 1 starchy vegetable.

Barbados Sugar Bark Sugar also called Xylose Barley Malt Barley Syrup Beet Sugar Black Strap Molasses Brown Rice Syrup Brown Sugar Brown Sugar Syrup. figs, raisins, apple chips, etc.

Fat substitutes made from concentrated fruit paste Florida Crystals evaporated cane juice Fructooligosaccharides FOS Fructose Fruit Flavorings call the company about the product contents Fruit Juice call the company for added or hidden sugar Fruit Juice Concentrate.

Galactose Gal Glucitol Sorbitol or Hexitol Glucosamine Glucose Glucose Polymers Glucose Syrup Glycerides Glycerine Glycerol Glycine Glycol. Inulin Isomalt -ides, any additive with this suffix: Monosodium glycerides any , olyglycerides, saccharides any , trisaccharides, diglycerides, disaccharides, monoglycerides, monosaccharides, etc.

Malted Barley Maltitol Maltodextrin Maltodextrose Maltose Malts any Mannitol Mannose Maple Sugar Maple Syrup Microcrystalline Cellulose Milled Sugar Modified Food Starch Molasses Monoglycerides Monosaccharides Monosodium Glycerides. Papain Pectin Pentose Polydextrose Polyglycerides Also known as Oleic, Linoleic, and Linolenic Polytose Powdered Sugar.

Raisin Juice Raisin Paste Raisin Syrup Raw Sugar Ribose Rice Malt Rice Sugar Rice Syrup Yinnie Syrup Rice Syrup Solids. NOTE: Tomato juice or vegetable cocktail juice without sugar may be used as a cooked vegetable substitute.

Any spice or sauce that is sugar-free, alcohol-free or wheat-free including, but not limited to, mustard, tamari, salsa, non-fat yogurt, lemon juice, etc. Limit spice and condiment use to the levels recommended in recipes or no more than 1 teaspoon per day of any one spice and no more than two tablespoons per day of any one sauce.

NOTE: If you are dairy sensitive, eliminate dairy and substitute 2 oz. of any type of protein. Polyunsaturated oils are essential to good health. The fat requirement is normally divided between two or more meals.

Suggested drinks are water, carbonated water, herbal tea, decaffeinated coffee or decaffeinated tea. Tomato juice or vegetable cocktail juice without sugar may be used as a cooked vegetable substitute. PLEASE NOTE: All diet sodas have artificial sweeteners, which are now known to create cravings similar to sugar.

Baking flour Baking powder Barley flour Bean flour Blue corn flour Buckwheat flour. Starches and guar gum are also considered flour. Seitan made from wheat protein, gluten Semolina Soft Wheat Spelt Sprouted Wheat. Wheat berries Wheat bran Wheat flakes Wheat germ Whole-grain wheat Winter wheat.

PLEASE NOTE: These lists are not exhaustive. If you are unsure about an ingredient, it is best to check with the manufacturer or forego the product. REMEMBER: NO sugar, flour or wheat. The daily requirement for oil is one serving for women and two servings for men, to be divided among two or three meals.

NOTE: Men need to add two ounces of fish or poultry or one ounce of red meat at each meal to the amounts shown on the list. At lunch, men also add a serving of one of the following: a fruit, a grain, or a starchy vegetable.

This food plan is designed for adults. This initial food plan has been the most successful for our members to obtain abstinence, enabling them to begin to have clear thinking. Eating the prescribed food plan also offers us a chance to heal our organs and learn the basic fundamentals of healthy eating.

To maintain abstinence, an open mind will be required while our bodies heal and our needs change.