EAT to Your Good Health: Exchange Lists and Meal Planning for Eating Disorders offers an excellent resource for the development of healthy eating habits for those challenged by eating disorders. Rather than focusing on calories, dieting, or weight gain, author Amy E. Galena, RD, lays out guidelines that encourage readers to develop a positive relationship with food for life-long health. This guide provides
- • nutrition education and guidance tailored for the eating disorder population;
- • sample meal plans ranging from 1200 to 2200 calories per day;
- • unique food journals that emphasize the nutritional benefits of food while tracking the patient’s feelings and behaviors toward food;
- • exchange lists that do not display calories or include any diet foods;
- • encouragement to help patients develop a positive relationship with food ;
- • new insights on nutrition education for the eating disorder population;
- • tools to help registered dietitians educate their patients about the vital importance of food on health.
"Amy has used her experience working with eating disordered clients to write EAT to Your Good Health. As a student at the University of North Florida and in her professional career, her passion has always been to help clients develop a positive relationship with food. This book provides nutrition education and eating plans specifically tailored for eating disorder clients, their families, and their dietitians."
-Catherine Christie, PhD, RD, LD/N, FADA, Associate Dean, Brooks College of Health & Nutrition Graduate Program Director, University of North Florida
"I have always admired Amy’s enthusiasm for educating those who need nutrition education. This time it is an innovative way in teaching a difficult subject to people who are difficult to change their ways. I wish Amy luck in getting her message to those who need it most in order to save their health and ultimately their lives."
-Simin Bolourchi-Vaghefi , PhD, CNS, LN, Professor Emeritus, Nutrition, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, University of North Florida
EAT To Your Good Health
Exchange Lists and Meal Planning for Eating DisordersBy Amy Galena iUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2011 Amy E. Galena, MSH, RD, LD/N
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4620-5531-9Contents
* An introduction:....................................................................pages 1 - 5* Exchange lists and according nutrition education:...................................pages 6 - 42* Food is good:.......................................................................pages 43 - 44* Meal planning and sample meal plans:................................................pages 45 - 48* Hunger and satiety education:.......................................................page 49 - 51* Keeping a food journal:.............................................................pages 52 - 53* Resources:..........................................................................pages 54 - 55* Reading recommendations for help with eating disorder recovery:.....................pages: 56 - 58* Glossary of important terms:........................................................pages 59 - 62* References:.........................................................................pages 63 - 64* How to order more copies of EAT to Your Good Health:................................pages 65 - 66* Blank meal plan forms:..............................................................pages 67 - 79* Sample food journal:................................................................page 81* Blank food journals:................................................................pages 82 - 132* Blank journal/notes:................................................................pages 133 - 139* Index to look up specific foods or drinks:..........................................pages 140 - 145
Introduction
HOW DO I USE THIS BOOKLET? This booklet provides exchange lists for meal planning, and essential nutrition education to promote healthy eating habits. Your registered dietitian will work with you to develop a meal plan that best suits your needs. A healthy meal plan includes carbohydrate, fruit, vegetables, dairy, fat, protein, and dessert. You may not be required to include all these foods each day in the very beginning, but eventually you and your dietitian will work together to incorporate all foods into your meal plan. This booklet is intended to coincide with regular nutrition counseling, which is vital to keep you on the path towards recovery.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HEALTHY?
Good health is more than just being free from disease or injury. A healthy life style helps you feel good, have vibrant energy, and maintain a positive outlook on life. It also includes having total physical, mental, and social well-being. Eating well, exercising properly, maintaining a healthy weight, staying positive, and having balance in your life all promote good health. The quality of life you're creating ultimately depends on your choices. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Letting go of your eating disorder and what you believe to be true about food, is one of the many ways to move towards good health.
WHAT IS HEALTHY EATING?
Healthy eating is consuming the right amounts of a variety of foods from all food groups to obtain the nutrients your body needs to function at its best. Healthy eating promotes a vibrant and fully functioning body. It also helps fight off chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis.
WHAT IS AN EATING DISORDER?
An eating disorder is a condition in which poor self-destructive eating behaviors compromise your physical and mental health. Self-destructive eating behaviors include restricting food, binging, purging, laxative abuse, and compulsive exercise among others. It also includes what you believe to be true about the foods you're eating and how they impact your body.
WHAT ARE SOME DANGERS OF EATING DISORDERS?
* Malnutrition
* Ruptured stomach (gastric rupture due to binge eating results in an 80% fatality rate)
* Serious heart, kidney and liver damage
* Internal bleeding
* Esophageal tears (throat tears) and rupture from vomiting
* Depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance abuse
* Tooth erosion/gum disease
* Low self-esteem
* Isolation and impaired social relationships
* Mood swings
* Constipation
* Muscle loss
* Osteoporosis
* Electrolyte imbalance
* High blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides (fat in the blood)
* Cardiac arrest
* Death
EXERCISE AND EATING DISORDERS
Exercise is a great way to practice healthy living. Exercise is important because it helps you feel good and maintain your natural body weight. Exercise is any form of physical body movement. There are many ways to become physically fit without harming you body. Intense exercise without a healthy approach to your nutrition is a form of purging. If you are currently under treatment for an eating disorder your exercise may be restricted, limited, and/or monitored due to your current medical and mental state. Following your meal plan, getting medically stable if needed, and decreasing your eating disorder behaviors are the best ways to gain back exercise if it has been restricted.
READINESS AND CONFIDENCE
Since you are in fact the author of your life, you can choose how you would like to live. There are many people that say they want to be healthy, but not all people are willing to do the work to being healthy. Frankly, healthiness is a life style, not a diet plan to follow for a few months. I invite you to take a look at the scales below. Be honest with yourself, it's truly the only way to move through this eating disorder and into creating a vibrant life.
Directions: Complete the Readiness and Confidence Scales below. Discuss with your dietitian why you chose the numbers you did, and why you did not choose a different number. For example, if you circled a 5 or 6 than why did you choose that number instead of an 8, 9, or 10. Or if you choose a 10, than why did you choose a 10 instead of 9? There are blank journal pages at the back of this booklet, if you need to write more after finishing the scales, do it.
Readiness
How ready are you to begin treatment, make positive changes, follow a meal plan, and start to let go of your eating disorder? 1 is feeling the "No, I'm not ready" and 10 "Yes, let's start today!"
Circle the number below that honestly reflects where you are.
Readiness scale
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Confidence
How confident are you that you can do it? 1 is feeling, "No, I can't do it" and 10 is feeling, "Yes, I can! There isn't anyone that could stop me!"
Circle the number below that honestly reflects where you are.
Confidence scale
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
HOW DOES MEAL PLANNING WORK?
Your meal plan: The plan will incorporate exchanges from different food groups to meet your recommended calorie goal, which is set by your dietitian. Your calorie goal is calculated according to six areas: your height, weight, activity level, sex, age, and current food intake. Your meal plan will include at least three meals and one snack per day. Your dietitian will work with you to not obsess about calories. This may take some work. For that reason, calories have been left off the exchanges lists and will not be discussed in this booklet.
Do not skip meals. Your meal plan is part of your prescription. Think of your meal plan like a prescription medication for an illness or disease. When you are sick or not feeling well and go to the doctor, the doctor prescribes medicine that you need to take to become well. You must follow your meal plan and not skip any meals in order to feel better and be healthy. Skipping meals, especially breakfast can set you up for failure.
10 reasons why skipping meals is not a healthy diet practice:
* May cause you to become too hungry and overeat at your next meal
* May cause you to have cravings for less healthier foods
* Slows your metabolism
* Reduces your energy
* Results in missed nutrients that your body needs
* Starves your brain, body, and muscles
* Disrupts your body's hunger satiety signals
* Can make it hard to concentrate and focus
* May cause irritability
* Slows process of recovery
IMPORTANT NOTE: As summarized by our government's Food and Nutrition Service, children who are breakfast eaters versus children who are non-breakfast eaters have a healthier body mass index, better nutritional intake, academic success, mood, behavior, focus and concentration, fewer illnesses, and less missed school
EXCHANGES
Exchanges help make meal planning simpler by categorizing foods into caloric equivalents. This allows equal food substitutions within the same category. For example, 1 slice of bread can be substituted for &fra13; cup of rice or &fra12; cup of grits because all equal 1 starch exchange. Your dietitian will help you learn the exchange system.
Sometimes portion sizes can be deceiving and look bigger or smaller than they really are. Trust your dietitian and know that she/he has your best interests in mind. If you feel uncomfortable about your meal plan, then make sure you clearly communicate that to your dietitian. It is better to let your dietitian know what you are capable of doing instead of accepting the meal plan while knowing that you honestly cannot follow it. Keep in mind that your dietitian may push you to eat more, eat less, try new foods, or take away foods. Follow these changes while being honest with yourself and your dietitian.
Many foods such as soup, egg substitute, fat-free cheese, sugar-free Jell-O, and fat-free Cool Whip are not listed on these exchange lists for a reason. It is not advised that people recovering from eating disorders include "diet" foods on their meal plan. Any food that implies a weight loss message is considered a "diet" food. Weight control bars/shakes, diet Jell-O, diet cereal, sugar-free or diet desserts, and most Special K products are considered "diet" foods. You need to learn how to incorporate all foods except "diet" foods into your diet. A healthy diet includes fried foods, desserts, and pizza when balanced with fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.
WATER
Water is essential for life. Water helps circulate nutrients, remove waste, and regulate your body temperature. Milk, juice, tea, and many other fluids may be counted towards your fluid intake. Be aware if you restricting fluid and/or losing fluid through purging or excretion you are at greater risk for dehydration. Make sure to drink enough fluids to keep your body running smoothly.
FOOD PREPARATION
In the beginning of treatment, it is a good idea to measure your foods. If your treatment or support team believes that you will have difficulty measuring the correct amount of food, than you will need someone else to measure and prepare your food for you. Eventually, you will learn to eyeball and "guesstimate" food measurements and become less rigid in your food preparation.
Some measurement abbreviations include:
Tbsp = tablespoon
tsp = teaspoon
oz = ounce
g = gram(s)
pcs = pieces
IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember, as you are reading this booklet, one of your recovery goals is to develop a positive relationship with food. Learn to appreciate all the essential nutrients that food provides and know that your body needs these nutrients to function and feel its best. Keep in mind all the benefits that you are missing out on when not consuming, or digesting, a variety of healthy foods each day. Start looking at food as a positive addition to your body instead of a negative addition. Even dessert has its role in healthy eating.
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Excerpted from EAT To Your Good Healthby Amy Galena Copyright © 2011 by Amy E. Galena, MSH, RD, LD/N. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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