Rediscovering the Joy of Food: Creating a Positive Meal Plan For Eating Recovery
Creating a meal plan in eating recovery often looks much different than what people might expect. Here at BeCollaborative Care, we have a motto when it comes to meal planning. We believe that eating recovery "isn't about having a meal plan forced upon you or counting calories and macros. It is about rediscovering the joy of food!"
This motto is our mission. We want to reinvigorate our client's love of eating. Eating recovery is not simply about the food that we eat. It is also about how we feel about the food that we eat.
A meal plan should never be about restriction. Creating a meal plan should never provoke struggle. Also, a meal plan should never feel like a chore. A positive meal plan should give an individual autonomy over their eating recovery. It should re-establish the enjoyment that food can bring. Lastly, it should carry an individual back out into the world where they can utilize it for a long and joyous recovery.
The Relationship Between Food and Eating Disorders
The relationship between food and eating disorders may feel like an obvious one. However, it is much more than the way in which an individual consumes food. For those in need of eating recovery, it is often significantly more psychological.
It is important to make the distinction between individuals that sometimes focus on their eating and health, from those that have an unhealthy relationship with eating. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) explains that “Although many people may be concerned about their health, weight, or appearance from time to time, some people become fixated or obsessed with weight loss, body weight or shape, and controlling their food intake.” One of the biggest takeaways from this definition is that aspect of “control.”
A feeling of “loss of control” often underlies the visible aspects of eating disorders. This is why combatting this underlying issue with a rigid and controlled meal plan is often ineffective for one's eating recovery and can also potentially be more damaging. A positive and effective meal plan should not focus on control; instead, it should focus on the individual's relationship with food.
Creating a Positive Meal Plan For Eating Recovery
What exactly does a positive meal plan for eating recovery look like, and what elements should it include? The first important part of any meal plan is creating a partnership with an eating recovery specialist, such as a registered dietician or therapist specializing in eating disorders.
The next critical component of a meal plan in eating recovery should include a focus on nutrition therapy. Nutrition therapy will help an individual struggling to focus on their diet positively. Nutrition therapy is meant to guide an individual away from “controlling” their food intake and counting their calories to learning about what types of food will help them plenish their bodies and positively stimulate their senses.
The next major part of meal planning and eating recovery is a focus on self-respect, self-esteem, and self-worth. This often comes from therapeutic work, whether one-on-one with a licensed therapist or as part of a group of individuals going through the same eating recovery process.
Rediscovering the Joy of Food in Eating Recovery
Perhaps the best way to understand a joyful relationship between an individual and food is to understand a pessimistic relationship between an individual and their food. Here are some signs that a person is negatively relating to their food:
Obsessively counting calories
Constantly and negatively thinking about what to eat and what not to eat
Feeling the need to compensate food intake with exercise output
Having excessive rules around what should and should not be eaten
Now, here are a few features of what a positive meal plan may look like in eating recovery:
Feeling excitement about trying new foods
Looking forward to meal preparation and engaging in the cooking process
Being able to comfortably talk about both the positive aspects of eating recovery, as well as the struggles it can evoke
Engaging in exercises that are about fitness and energy rather than a punishment for a previous eating “transgression”
Maintaining a Positive Meal Plan for Long-Term Eating Recovery
The last aspect of a positive meal plan is that it is created not simply for the initial stages of eating recovery but to carry an individual through a lifelong love affair with food and, more crucially, a newfound love for themselves. Initial meal plan success is excellent, but long-term recovery is the goal.
Considered by many to be the father of medicine as we know it, Hippocrates once said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” That is our aim here at BeCollaborative Care. We want food to be an agent of healing, not an agent of distress. An agent of joy, not an agent of pain. An agent of the love that we all deserve to share.
When it comes to our recovery mission here at be Collaborative Care, we say that it isn't simply about having a rigid meal plan, counting calories, or constantly stepping on a scale every few minutes. It is all about "rediscovering the joy of food!" This is something that often gets lost in many other eating recovery plans: the joy. Our goal is not simply to see our clients get back to eating healthy. Our goal is to remind our clients of their love of eating. One of the ways we do that is by working with them to restore the love that they feel for themselves. For more information about an eating recovery treatment plan, call be Collaborative Care at (401) 262-0842.
