Nutrition Services: A non-dient approach to eating disorders

A Non-Diet Approach to Eating Disorders Treatment

Fairwinds Treatment Center uses a non-diet approach to eating disorders treatment for bulimia or anorexia. Upon admission and initial assessment, the attending physician and the registered dietician at our facility will work together to determine the number of calories your body needs, as well as your final goal weight. The treatment goal is for each client to gain at least one and one-half pounds (1.5 lb) per week. Caloric intake will be evaluated at every multidisciplinary team meeting and may be altered as necessary. If additional calories are required in the week between meetings, formula feedings are added.

Meal Planning

Our registered dietician will meet with you in a group session to assist you in developing a menu plan. After the menu planning session, the registered dietician reviews all of the meals, beverages, condiments and snacks to ensure appropriate caloric intake and makes any necessary adjustments. Clients earn individual time with the registered dietician as they improve and work through the levels during treatment. Weekly nutrition education classes rotate on a bi-monthly basis.

Therapeutic Meals

During the treatment program, the purpose of therapeutic meals is to create an environment in which clients with anorexia nervosa or bulimia can consume all of their prescribed calories with the least discomfort possible. Through this process, our goal is that you are able to experience satiety without feeling the need to purge, and that eventually meals become enjoyable. It is our sincere hope that every client is able to relinquish his or her obsession with calories and compulsive behaviors surrounding food.

Understanding the Pain Associated with Eating

Dining with someone who must eat even though he or she is terrified of it provides a greater understanding of the genuine pain and anxiety associated with consuming food. Nowhere is the suffering and uncertainty of individuals with anorexia nervosa more apparent than during mealtime. The anorexic client is usually hungry and wants to eat, but is fearful of the effects of eating. This ambivalence is truly obvious during mealtime: the person may be fully absorbed by the food yet unable to eat until the last moment.

Other types of behaviors and problems can also become apparent during mealtime. For example, kindness toward others may be observed. Some clients are able to encourage others as they get better. The level of social development may also be monitored, as interactions between patients and an authority figure (the meal monitor) often offers insight into the necessary next psychotherapeutic step in the client’s eating disorder treatment plan.