Why Regular Eating is Crucial for Treating Eating Disorders

Regular eating….it sounds so simple but when you have an eating disorder or disordered eating, this can be difficult. When we restrict and binge, our hunger and fullness cues are chaotic and it’s difficult to listen to our bodies. Regular eating is a CBT-E technique, which we implement no matter what eating disorder you are diagnosed with. It is an anchoring behavior; it helps to ground you and helps you to begin listening to your body again. Here are a few notes about regular eating:

1.    Regular eating involves 6 meals a day, 3 meals and 3 snacks. These meals and snacks are foods you love and are satisfying. In general, you eat breakfast within 30 min of waking, a mid-morning snack, lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, dinner and an evening snack.

2.    You eat these meals without more than 3-4 hours in between each meal. When we go for more than 4 hours without eating, we can become too hungry and more likely to binge. Also, feeling primal hungry can be a trigger for restricting.

3.    You don’t eat between the 6 meals and snacks (unless your doctor advises you not to do this). This helps you to notice when you are hungry and full. It also helps you to notice ALL the signs of hunger (stomach growling, fatigue, heaviness in your legs, irritability etc)

4.    If you feed your body regularly, you notice the binge eating decreases or stops. This is because you are no longer restricting. If you are restricting throughout the day, regular eating helps you notice that you have more energy, you feel better and many more benefits.

5.    Regular eating requires you to plan. You should pretty much know what and when you are going to eat next. Proactive planning helps reduce restriction and binges.

Regular seems like it would be relatively easy, but it can be challenging to create meals and plan ahead if you aren’t used to doing this. It may also mean that you think about food more often than you want; this is temporary and becomes a way to plan nourishment versus dieting. Tracking can also be difficult for some as we have been conditioned to track when we are trying to lose weight or judge our food choices. Tracking for the purpose of recovery is a way to highlight gaps in eating as well as our thoughts and emotions. It is a way to begin healing, becoming more in tune with our body and observe thoughts and feelings. We will review your tracking for the first few weeks and then eventually begin to taper as you get into the habit of regularly eating.

I talk about regular eating and some CBT-E techniques during our consultation call. This time is for you to ask questions, listen to my training and background and to see if we are a good fit. I usually ask if people feel activated by maintaining food logs which is important to know so that I can support you in every way that I can.

Regular eating is the first intervention we start with in sessions. We then move into challenging and reframing eating disorder thoughts, various DBT skills, childhood messages around food and anything else you wish to highlight in therapy. We may talk about other aspects of your life: relationships, values and goals, early attachment and more but we will always circle back to regular eating. We move at a pace that is beneficial to you with weekly sessions beginning with an intake then moving to progress sessions. Ready to begin healing? Schedule a consult now.