Coping with an eating disorder in the family can be overwhelming. Meal times can be especially difficult for everyone. The strategies outlined in this guide can help lower anxiety and arguments at meal time, and support your loved one complete their meal.
THE BENEFITS OF MEAL
SUPPORT WITH US
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Our meal support sessions are 100% virtual, so that you can keep living while you are in recovery. Need support at school? We can do that. Work? Home? We can be anywhere with you during meal support, making it a convenient and practical option no matter where you are in your recovery journey.
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One on One Private Sessions
A member of our integrative team will work individually with a client during meal times. This approach contrasts with group meal supports, where multiple clients share meal times under the supervision of a professional.
Privacy is a significant concern for many individuals with eating disorders. One-on-one meal support ensures that the experience remains confidential, providing a comfortable and non-judgmental space where clients can focus entirely on their recovery without the added stress of social dynamics or comparison to others. In your personal healing space, you're free from the prying eyes of the world. This privacy fosters a sense of comfort that can transform mealtime from a battle to a peaceful interlude, a time for you to focus solely on your journey to wellness.
This allows for personalized care, tailored nutritional guidance (if required) and a safe space for emotional support.
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7 days week, evenings and weekends. We provide the support you need, when you need it. Eating disorder recovery is happening every day, and we are here to help you navigate through the journey.
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We will work with you and the family to determine the most beneficial amount of support necessary to help reach recovery goals
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Every individual's recovery timeline is different. One-on-one support respects this individuality by allowing the pace of meal support to be adjusted according to the person's specific needs. Whether it's taking small steps to introduce new foods or addressing underlying emotional triggers, the process is entirely customized, ensuring that the individual doesn't feel rushed or pressured. Your eating disorder recovery should never feel rushed or dictated by anyone else's timeline. In the gentle rhythm of one-on-one support, the pace is established based on where the CLIENT is at - it eliminates the “one size fits all” approach. Every step, no matter how small, is a leap towards reclaiming your life. This is where you learn to dance to the beat of your own heart, one meal at a time.
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At The Holistic ED Recovery Center, we believe in the inclusion of the entire family during the recovery process. We do not believe in a “sink or swim” approach - telling the family what to do without teaching them how to do it effectively.
Regardless of the type of eating disorder - binge eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia, EDNOS, orthorexia, ARFID etc - all individuals in recovery need to relearn to eat in a structured way. This aspect of eating disorder recovery is immensely difficult for the individual, and is often accompanied by anger, panic, fear, resistance, anxiety, negotiating, and a number of obvious and subtle eating disorder behaviours.
This can lead to uncomfortable power dynamics at meal times, conflict, ultimatums, frustration, overwhelm and burnout within the family. At The Holistic ED Recovery Center, we provide support AND supervision.
An external pair of eyes to note not just WHAT is being eaten, but HOW it is being eaten. Eating disorder behaviors are not always obvious to the caregiver. Having a professional facilitate this (especially in the early days of recovery) can ensure that ED is not showing up to the meal, total adherence to a meal plan, and allows the family to remain in the supportive role, not act as the “food police”. This can reduce conflict at home.
This is why we operate from a Supported FBT angle. In time, we will teach the family what to look for at meal times, and how to appropriately address any unwanted behaviours as we gradually move to more meals eaten with the family.
Meal support acts as a bridge between the therapeutic setting and the real world, equipping individuals with the tools, confidence, and resilience they need to maintain their recovery in everyday life. Meal support is a cornerstone of eating disorder treatment that addresses both the psychological and physiological aspects of recovery, fostering a holistic approach to healing.
While meal support can (and eventually will need to be) done exclusively with the family, it can be highly effective to implement professional meal support at various vulnerable or particularly challenging times in eating disorder treatment.
In the early days of treatment, the individual is faced with an astronomical amount of change with food. Eating more regularly, eating more quantity, exposure to more variety, and an absence of eating disorder behaviors to help them cope with the discomfort and anxiety. This is an immensely difficult time, for the individual in recovery as well as the family unit. It is often fraught with conflict, extreme emotional responses, negotiation and confusion.
LEARN MORE
What is meal support?
How it can benefit the person in recovery from an eating disorder?
How can it have a positive impact it can play in reducing conflict at meal times, therefore nurturing a healthy and supportive family dynamic?
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Meal support provides a structured and supportive setting for individuals to consume their meals. This structure helps reduce anxiety and uncertainty about eating, and provides a safe space that is highly monitored to reduce the space for eating disorder behaviors to appear during meal times.
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The individual will have real (not theoretical) modelling of healthy eating behaviors. This modeling can be instrumental in teaching and reinforcing positive eating habits and attitudes towards food. An individual in recovery is not only required to re-feed for physical health, but they are also trying to determine what is “normal” and what is not when it comes to food and eating.
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The presence of supportive professionals (or family) during meals can offer immediate encouragement and reinforcement. This support can help individuals challenge and overcome disordered eating behaviors and thoughts in real-time. Support is offered by validating how hard the experience is, and acting as an “external brain” with rational encouragement and safety phrases.
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Eating can be a source of significant anxiety for individuals with eating disorders. Meal support helps address these intense emotions directly, providing strategies and support to manage anxiety and distress associated with eating. To put the level of anxiety into context, imagine: an alcoholic in recovery REMOVES alcohol from their life. They learn to live WITHOUT their triggering substance. An individual in recovery from an eating disorder has to FACE their fear every single day, multiple times a day. This is immensely anxiety provoking, scary, and uncomfortable.
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For those in recovery, particularly those dealing with the physical consequences of eating disorders, meal support ensures that they receive adequate nutrition. This is crucial for the restoration of physical health and the normalization of eating patterns.
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Meal support is not just about eating; it's also about developing skills for meal planning, portion sizing, and coping with the social aspects of eating. These skills are essential for long-term recovery and relapse prevention.
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This setting allows for immediate feedback from the professional team, which can be used to make real-time adjustments to treatment plans and strategies to overcome eating challenges.
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Regular, supported meals can help with the adherence to a meal plan which requires mechanical eating (typically in the earliest days of recovery). A person in recovery cannot eat “when they feel like it”, because hunger and fullness cues have been affected by E.D., so they cannot rely on the physical sensation of hunger to prompt eating, and intense fears about food and/or body can lead to food rules that impact how much and what a person is willing to eat.
The individual in recovery requires consistent nutrition for physical health and consistent exposure to eating in order to reduce fears and food rules. This normalization is a crucial step towards developing a healthier relationship with food.
WHY ENLIST PROFESSIONAL HELP?
Regardless of the type of eating disorder - binge eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia, EDNOS, orthorexia, ARFID etc - all individuals in recovery need to relearn to eat in a structured way. This aspect of eating disorder recovery is immensely difficult for the individual, and is often accompanied by anger, panic, fear, resistance, anxiety, negotiating, and a number of obvious and subtle eating disorder behaviors.
This can lead to uncomfortable power dynamics at meal times, conflict, ultimatums, frustration, overwhelm and burnout within the family. At The Holistic ED Recovery Center, we provide support AND supervision. Healing the relationship with food is distressing for most individuals in recovery, and while they need support, many also need supervision. An external pair of eyes to note not just WHAT is being eaten, but HOW it is being eaten. Eating disorder behaviors are not always obvious to the caregiver. Having a professional facilitate this (especially in the early days of recovery) can ensure that ED is not showing up to the meal, total adherence to a meal plan, and allows the family to remain in the supportive role, not act as the “food police”. This can reduce conflict at home.
At The Holistic ED Recovery Center, we believe in the inclusion of the entire family during the recovery process. We do not believe in a “sink or swim” approach - telling the family what to do without teaching them how to do it effectively. This is why we operate from a Supported FBT angle. In time, we will teach the family what to look for at meal times, and how to appropriately address any unwanted behaviors as we gradually move to more meals eaten with the family.
Meal support in eating disorder recovery is an evidence-based therapeutic strategy designed to assist individuals in navigating the challenges associated with eating, and plays a critical role in the treatment of eating disorders.
Book a FREE meal support consultation
A member of our integrative team will respond within 24 hours.