Meal Support

We know that we cannot recover without food. Food is an integral part of the process, and yet, can be the most challenging part. Mealtime can start feeling overwhelming, stressful, and extremely unpleasant. We get it. And we are here to support you.

At The Balanced Practice, we offer eating disorder-specialized meal support to help and coach you through your challenging meals and get you closer to your recovery goals.

Meal support offers a safe and supportive space for individuals with eating disorders to eat their meals while being supported by our experienced registered dietitians. These structured sessions provide a dedicated environment for clients to engage in food exposures, normalize eating, and experience positive modeling to support them in their recovery. It can also provide support and accountability for folks who are struggling with meeting their nutritional needs and recovery treatment plans.

1. Structured Support:
   Meal support sessions offer a structured framework, helping individuals establish regular eating habits while normalizing eating.
2. Emotional Support:
   Eating disorder recovery can bring up a lot of emotions, and often around mealtimes. Meal support at The Balanced Practice offers emotional support, creating a space where clients can show up authentically  in a non-judgmental setting.
3. Coping Strategies:
   Meal support is a great way to learn new coping strategies and practice them in real time. Your RD will teach different ways to cope when the ED shows up the loudest. Meal support is a great recovery activity and exposure in itself as clients learn to build their resourcefulness and actively engage in their treatment.
4. Individualized Approach:
   We recognize that each individual’s recovery journey is unique and therefore the treatment should be as well. Our meal support offers flexibility and personalized support to ensure clients receive the care they need.

1. I will be force-fed: Although we can appreciate that some folks have experienced this, at The Balanced Practice, this is NOT how we roll. We are dedicated to empowering you in your care and focus on creating a collaborative and supportive environment, respecting each client’s autonomy and pace in their recovery.
2. Every eats the same thing all the time: Again, we can appreciate that this may have been the experience of some folks, but not here at The Balanced Practice. We want to prepare you for real life, where every human has different needs. And, depending on where you are on your journey, your needs will also change. The goal of meal support is not to try to eat the same thing as others but to help you meet your own needs!
3. It’s only beneficial for “severe” eating disorders: Nope! This falls under the same myth as “I need to be sicker to get help”. Meal support is beneficial for individuals at various stages of their recovery journey, providing valuable tools for sustainable change.

We offer 2 types of meal support.

1.Group Meal Support
Group Meal support offers weekly sessions with a registered dietitian as part of a group. Every week, your dietitian will start the sessions with a grounding activity and teach you coping skills. Then, you will have your meal with the group.  Mealtime takes 30 minutes. Your dietitian will engage in conversation and support the group through the experience. After the meal, your dietitian will facilitate another coping skills to support emotional regulation. Each month, there will be a different food exposure you can participate in.

(Note: If you work with an individual dietitian, they will support you in planning for each meal support sessions)

2.Individual Meal Support
You can also do meal support with your individual dietitian. These sessions will also be 30 minutes and will guide you through the same experience in a 1:1 setting. This can be a great option if you are not yet ready for group or can’t commit to the time.

We believe that most folks would benefit from adding meal support to their individual sessions. Meal support provides a safe space to actively work on your recovery while  challenging your ED. We also believe that the group aspect of recovery is a huge contributor to the positive recovery outcomes our clients experience.

If you are part of the Eating Disorder Recovery Program™  you will have access to the weekly meal support!