Meal ideas please!! Ed recovery

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Replies

  • summer92008
    summer92008 Posts: 202
    Honey, if you need to gain weight, eat whatever you want! Too many of us on here watch what we eat. Sure, you need to be healthy with gaining weight, but if you want a piece of cheesecake, ice cream, pizza, etc. have it! Eat whatever you please! ( :
  • techgal128
    techgal128 Posts: 719 Member
    Honey, if you need to gain weight, eat whatever you want! Too many of us on here watch what we eat. Sure, you need to be healthy with gaining weight, but if you want a piece of cheesecake, ice cream, pizza, etc. have it! Eat whatever you please! ( :

    Seriously. The world's your oyster! :)

    I would recommend being careful with the amount of fast food you consume though (especially in one day). All that grease will wreck havoc on your stomach. I can speak from personal experience on that one.
  • Asherah29
    Asherah29 Posts: 354 Member
    I think what people are not hitting on here is that you are in the early stages of recovery from an eating disorder. Not only will you physically not be able to take in a normal amount of calories, eating what would be a normal amount for us could possibly trigger a restrictive episode. My advice would be to set calorie goals. Every so often up that calorie goal by 100-200 calories or more. That way you are slowly getting mentally and physically used to eating normal portions of food again. When you are able to do that you will be able to add more and gain weight. The whole point is that you want to be able to slowly recover from all aspects of your disorder. Its not going to be a fast thing. Eat what you want, so long as you meet the calorie goal set for yourself.

    Not a doctor so don't take this as actual medical advice (obviously) but from someone who has had issues with food herself. This, to me, sounds like a logical and freezable plan for op rather than *EAT ALL THE FOODS*
  • giggitygoo
    giggitygoo Posts: 1,978 Member
    I've been in recovery for 3 years now, so hopefully I can offer some input =)

    The people saying "healthy foods" mean well, but are misinformed about what recovery actually means. I would try to incorporate a wide variety of foods, try things that you would have previously avoided! The goal here is not only to get you to a healthy weight, but to repair your relationship with food. Maybe through this process you'll find some things that you really love.

    For some reason when I first started on the recovery path, I was in love with tacos and all things Mexican food. I would have never eaten that stuff before because I was afraid of the fat content.

    To start, it would be a great goal to incorporate a protein, fat and carbs into most meals. Pizza, for example has all these things =)

    I wish you the best of luck.

    EDIT: I just realized it's actually been 4 years now! Wow!
  • FitFroglet
    FitFroglet Posts: 219 Member
    Peanut butter! If you really want to make it good, add powdered sugar and honey. If you absolutely don't feel like eating, maybe try one of those meal shakes instead. Those things are packed with calories and while they are meant for a meal, you can have them as a snack.
    great advice with the meal shakes - a friend of mine needed to gain weight after an illness and his doctor advised eating normally and snacking on meal replacement shakes.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    I think part of the problem is getting around this "health food" issue.

    I can't imagine asking someone who is struggling to put food away for physical and mental reasons- to eat MORE volume of food (more lean meats- more veggies- all those things that a great when you're dropping weight and cutting) and stay away from less volume but stuff that'll get the calories.

    That's the beauty- get your 'healthy' food in- then add in the low volume high calorie food- you can eat what you need- then add the extra calories in without having to constantly feel full- that's a hard feeling to deal with on a normal none recovery person.
  • Asherah29
    Asherah29 Posts: 354 Member
    I'm with the whole discard the health food idea. Uping caloric intake might be more easily done by eating smaller amounts of higher calorie foods, that way OP is hitting a higher calorie goal without feeling as if she is over eating. I think that would be harder to do eating only "healthy foods" like vegetables.
  • Wuffles70
    Wuffles70 Posts: 21 Member
    If you're having trouble with feeling guilty when you eat, maybe then snacks like nuts and fruit (maybe some cereal bars?) might help. That way you can have them with you as you go about your day and eat them when you're doing other things to help distract you.

    Sending lots of good thoughts and well wishes your way, I hope your recovery is as speedy and stress-free as physically possible.
  • SuperstarDJ
    SuperstarDJ Posts: 441 Member
    You really need a professional such as a dietician/nutritionist who specialises in eating disorders, and who knows where you're at in recovery, and your state of health (your labs etc.). Every sufferer's situation, health and dietary needs are very unique (I was losing on 3,500 calories during one of my recovery efforts!).

    We really can't help you as it may be detrimental to your physical recovery. You deserve better than that.

    Wishing you all the best xx
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    I've been in recovery for 3 years now, so hopefully I can offer some input =)

    The people saying "healthy foods" mean well, but are misinformed about what recovery actually means. I would try to incorporate a wide variety of foods, try things that you would have previously avoided! The goal here is not only to get you to a healthy weight, but to repair your relationship with food. Maybe through this process you'll find some things that you really love.

    For some reason when I first started on the recovery path, I was in love with tacos and all things Mexican food. I would have never eaten that stuff before because I was afraid of the fat content.

    To start, it would be a great goal to incorporate a protein, fat and carbs into most meals. Pizza, for example has all these things =)

    I wish you the best of luck.

    EDIT: I just realized it's actually been 4 years now! Wow!

    Congrats on your recover and great advice for the OP!
  • fificrazy
    fificrazy Posts: 234
    In recovering from an ED, there are just 2 things that matter, really:
    1. no less than 2500-3000 calories a day.
    2. "unhealthy"/"healthy" are orthorexic terms (and what foods these titles entail literally vary worldwide!) The body doesn't discriminate against any kind of energy, it's all just fuel and every thing you have will nourish and help encourage bodily repairs.

    So this leaves meal ideas pretty wide open. :) Just think what are your favorite foods? Do you like salty or sweet? Hot or cold? Maybe now would be a good time to try out a new restaurant or bakery! Just find foods you really enjoy and have always gravitated toward (prior to ED!). You can essentially gain weight from any food , so you should just take this time to repair your relationship with ALL foods and really challenge yourself to try new things and become comfortable eating the amounts your body needs!
  • ChelseaWelseyKins
    ChelseaWelseyKins Posts: 272 Member
    Try to go for higher calorie items :) I understand it's hard to eat a lot of food physically, but eating smaller amounts of food that have a high calorie count could help you out to begin your journey.

    There's no way you'll go from eating so little to eating a LOT of "healthy" foods right off the bat. You'll work your way up to that once your body and mind lets you. Just try high calorie foods like nuts, peanut butter, guacamole, dried fruits, cheese, and quinoa (quinoa is 222 calories a cup when cooked and still really good for you!) :)
  • Anonycatgirl
    Anonycatgirl Posts: 502 Member
    I'm not going to try to advise you--I know too little about what you're going through and what might be useful while you're still trying to become friends with food again. I just want to wish you well in your recovery.
  • SomeNights246
    SomeNights246 Posts: 807 Member
    Tilapia with salsa, grilled veggies. Can't believe people are asking yoy to eat sweets and high fat foods.

    Also try granola andfruit with almond milk.

    Kind bars and an apple make a fine snack.

    Ready Pac salads or wraps

    Message me if you need other ideas.

    Salads? Veggies? For an anorexic in recovery? Seriously. Maybe do some research before responding. Those are not the sorts of foods that are going to help her gain weight. And actually, high fat foods and some sweets are generally encouraged during weight recovery. Also, she needs to be overcoming fear foods, not continuing that behaviour. Food should not be feared and part of recovery is dealing with that area.

    This. So much.

    Although, I will say that in the beginning of my recovery, I couldn't do dairy. It would have me running to the bathroom and/or in a lot of pain in my stomach area. There are similar foods that will help, though. Almond milk, for example (sweetened would be ideal in recovery).

    Best bet, OP, is a nutritionist. They will usually help you form a meal plan. They might even form one for you, that way they can be sure you're getting enough for recovery.

    A tip I can give though, is early in recovery, you might find it beneficial to drink a lot of your calories. It might hurt to eat. It definitely did for me. In the beginning, I lived off almond milk, juice, smoothies, and creamer in my coffee.
  • swertyqwerty
    swertyqwerty Posts: 81 Member
    If you look up "Harvard nutrition" they have a recommended plate which shows you how much protein, veg, etc.. you should eat in a meal. It's useful to get ideas.
  • SomeNights246
    SomeNights246 Posts: 807 Member
    I've been in recovery for 3 years now, so hopefully I can offer some input =)

    The people saying "healthy foods" mean well, but are misinformed about what recovery actually means. I would try to incorporate a wide variety of foods, try things that you would have previously avoided! The goal here is not only to get you to a healthy weight, but to repair your relationship with food. Maybe through this process you'll find some things that you really love.

    For some reason when I first started on the recovery path, I was in love with tacos and all things Mexican food. I would have never eaten that stuff before because I was afraid of the fat content.

    To start, it would be a great goal to incorporate a protein, fat and carbs into most meals. Pizza, for example has all these things =)

    I wish you the best of luck.

    EDIT: I just realized it's actually been 4 years now! Wow!


    I find that a lot of us, in recovery, start craving all kinds of random foods that we may not even have liked before! I went through a salmon phase. I hate seafood, but during recovery, I ate a lot of it at one point. Once I introduced solids again in normal amounts, I ate a LOT of bananas and peanut butter. Bananas and peanut butter seem to be common foods for us in recovery...

    The best advice, other than what I've said, that I can give is... to just... learn to trust yourself. Your body knows what it needs. And in recovery, it is going to go through periods of needing a lot of protein, and periods of needing a lot of calcium or sugar, etc. Part of recovery is learning to trust it.

    And to the person I quoted, congrats on 4 years. Make it 5!
  • notwhatyouthink
    notwhatyouthink Posts: 17 Member
    I know that in my EXPERIENCE, even an egg be too much.Amazes me that im covertly being called ignorant and openly attacked for my suggestions. Im appalled that she is being encouraged to eat junk food. Weight can be gained from clean eating.
  • notwhatyouthink
    notwhatyouthink Posts: 17 Member
    You explained it better than i could. Thank you.

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