We recognise that there can be many different influences and sources of nutritional information that can impact on some of the food choices that you are currently making.  While information from trustworthy sources can be helpful and informative, there are many messages that can be unhelpful, confusing and at times dangerous to your health and wellbeing.  An eating disorder can act as a filter for some of this information to keep you stuck in a pattern of restrictive eating.

During your recovery journey, we want to support and guide you with evidenced based, balanced nutritional information that we hope will be helpful to you in a number of different ways:

  • support or improve your knowledge of balanced eating messages
  • help you to challenge some unhelpful nutritional beliefs
  • support you to challenge any rules around eating
  • improve your confidence in selecting a range of meal and snack options.

The food pyramid guide to balanced eating

The food pyramid has been developed as an educational guide to support balanced, healthy eating messages. It aims to help support you to include a variety of foods in the amounts that keep your body healthy and working well. It is based on the REAL food pyramid (Recovery from Eating disorders for Life food pyramid (Hart et al 2018, adapted and used with kind permission).

It is ideal if it is used in collaboration with a dietitian, as every person is unique, and there may be foods or amounts that need to be adjusted for you.

The different sections of the food pyramid, and their importance to health and wellbeing are explained under the headings below:

These provide a constant supply of glucose to our cells, brain and muscles keeping them working in a healthy way. Not eating enough of these foods can lead to tiredness, reduced concentration, irritability and poor sleep.

Carbohydrate foods also give you essential B vitamins and fibre. Fibre supports a positive gut function, and healthy gut bacteria.

At meal times: aim to include a carbohydrate portion with each meal. This includes breakfast, lunch and a main meal. Carbohydrate foods include breakfast cereals, bread, wraps, pitta, bagels rice, pasta, noodles, couscous and potatoes e.g jacket, boiled, wedges, chips and sweet potato.

At snack times: carbohydrate food options can also be a great snack to include between meals. Examples include cereal bars, fruit bread, hot cross buns, crumpets, scotch pancakes, crackers and oatcakes, pretzels, banana and malt loaf, and popcorn.

Protein is a key nutrient in repairing and maintaining muscles and tissues. It also supports the body to build new cells, and hormones. Iron and Zinc are important minerals found in these foods, which support our bodies to function in a healthy way.

Good sources include: meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, tofu, chickpeas, lentil, baked beans, ham, nuts, kidney beans.

Including a variety of fruit and vegetables gives your body important vitamins and fibre to support your immune system and digestive health. 

We do advise caution with eating increased quantities of fruit and vegetables when you're trying to restore weight. This is because they are relatively low energy choices, and can be filling. This can make it more difficult for you to then achieve healthy food portions from the other food groups.

Calcium is a key nutrient for bone health. Calcium foods are also good sources of protein, certain B vitamins and iodine. They play an important role in you achieving a balanced fat intake, so low fat versions are not recommended. Some foods that fit into this food group include: milk, yoghurt, calcium fortified soya alternative drink, custard, cheese.

The fats in oils and spread are essential to ensure our body and brain receive the necessary fatty acids to function in a healthy way. They help us to absorb vitamins, build healthy cells, support hormone production and an adequate energy intake.

Maintaining normal levels of hydration can support our mood, energy levels and concentration. Recommended total daily fluids are 1600mls for women and 2000mls for men. You need to drink more in hot weather and during exercise.

They are very much are part of balanced eating, together with a range of snack and dessert options from the other food groups. Whilst supporting your overall energy and nutritional needs, including foods from this group is also a key part of supporting your  social and emotional wellbeing.

Being able to join in fully with social occasions involving foods from this group, and working towards eating without fear or feeling judged can bring the freedom, flexibility and enjoyment that food can bring to support your emotional wellbeing.

We would support you to plan an item from this group at least daily into your eating plan. This could be a packet of crisps or biscuits as a snack option or second course with a lunch type meal or planning in a dessert from this group after a main meal.

 

This can be a fun and important part of supporting your health can wellbeing. Making connections with others can support your mood and relationships and enable you to practice flexible eating.

If these make up a big part of  your meal and snack choices, you  can end up filling up on these rather than more nutritious foods. This can mean it’s more difficult to get the full variety of nutrients needed for optimum health.

During recovery we would advise you to work towards limiting or swapping the choices in this section, as they can slow progress with weight restoration. Some foods that fit into this food group include: diet soft drink, artificial sweeteners, larges servings of fruit and vegetables, sugar free sweets, excessive quantities of sauces or condiments, and chewing gum.

Meal planning