Perhaps the most difficult part of outpatient recovery is supporting clients as they challenge themselves to face their fears about food and to change their eating behavior. Fears of uncontrollable weight gain and the inability to stop eating when they do allow themselves desired foods are just a few of the many reasons why so many eating disordered clients stay stuck in this stage of their eating disorder recovery cycle and never fully recover.

Finally, there is a way to address the difficult task of getting comfortable again with food! New in 2006, A New Beginning introduced “Meal Success,” an amazing outpatient meal support program, providing clients with the necessary link to achieving full and complete recovery on an outpatient basis.

Meal Success is a 3-day per week, outpatient therapeutic meal support program which helps clients to gradually let go of disordered eating and to embrace normal, intuitive eating principles. Similar to our other services, Meal Success is highly individualized. Over a one month period of time, clients are “prescribed” specific meals (by their personal dietitian) which are appropriate for their particular stage of recovery and treatment/nutritional goals.

Support, goal setting, processing of feelings, and education regarding nutrition and the eating disorder recovery process are provided throughout the group to help clients work through sabotaging fears and to ultimately win their battle over food. Family style meals to help learn appropriate portion sizing, food “challenges,” and experiential exercises further aid clients in working through eating disordered behaviors and increase motivation for recovery. Oh, and we also manage to have a lot of fun!

Clients are required to be actively working with a dietitian (either within A New Beginning or in the outside community) throughout the Meal Success program so that their dietitian can prescribe appropriate and individualized meals. Clients participating in Meal Success are asked to make a one month commitment to the group (the minimum time we feel is required for true change to take place). Meal Success groups are facilitated by a registered dietitian and a clinical therapist (alternating) who are both experienced eating disorder specialists.

If you’re serious about recovery, please do consider our Meal Success program. This is truly a service which has been amazingly instrumental to helping clients catapult into recovery!