As young girls with eating disorders go through the recovery process, they are often given these crazy, overwhelming meal plans. They are bombarded with plans that consist of their fear foods and extremely high caloric goals they must meet by the end of the day. The meal plans themselves are already stressful enough, but adding an anxiety-producing school environment on top of that? It can feel beyond intimidating to young girls.
Eating in large group settings, like a cafeteria, may already be triggering to those going through ED recovery. And as girls get older, diet culture becomes more prominent. Though unfortunate, it’s not uncommon to see girls skipping lunch, or eating something small, like a basic salad. This leaves girls in ED recovery to wonder, “Why do I have to eat lunch when everyone else isn’t?” Imagine how traumatic and overwhelming that may be: being given this demanding meal plan in an environment that's so heavily influenced by diet culture.
That’s why it’s so unfortunate to see so many girls relapse - the plans given by ED treatment centers simply, in ways, lack compassion. In return, the mindset of these girls are usually only focused on getting out of treatment. Leaving them with no real tools for making long term changes.
Here at Empowered RX, we have a personalized 90 day support plan instead. We want to ease girls into the recovery process so they don’t feel overwhelmed. We want to teach them how to make empowered choices, while pushing them to step out of their comfort zone, and celebrate small wins. We set milestones, and create a plan of action to achieve each one.
Working alongside one of our coaches, the girls will set what each of their milestones are - like eating at their favorite restaurant that they haven’t been to since their eating disorder, or conquering a fear food. Then, they’ll devise a plan of action on how to reach these milestones - like not lying about skipping meals. When milestones are reached, we celebrate each one. Celebrating these small wins are so important because they empower us, and help push us further ahead during our journey to recovery.
As girls go through this process, they’re learning to make empowered choices, which will aid them in long term success - proof that it is possible to recover from eating disorders.
If you or a loved one are experiencing an eating disorder, book a free discovery call with a Coach to learn about what you can do to help start the road to recovery!
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