Recovery Meal Plans

These are the meal plans provided by Renfrew.  I know that many people are unable to speak with a dietician for various reasons, such as lack of insurance, so I hope that this meal plan helps someone who needs it.

There are several levels of the meal plan, depending on what is necessary for you to reach a healthy weight.  I will try to explain them as best as possible.  If you have any questions, please ask.  I have a fairly good understanding of them.

Plan B (Maintenance): 6 proteins, 3 dairy, 5 fats, 7 starches, 2 fruits, 1 vegetable per day; 4 desserts per week

Plan A (weight loss): from plan B, subtract a protein, a dairy, a fat, a starch and a weekly dessert

Plan C (weight gain): from plan B, add a fat, a starch and a fruit

People who need to gain weight often need to add onto plan C.  When I was there, I had to have a ton of extra snacks (literally, some of my snacks were bigger than meals).  You may become hypermetabolic.  If this happens and you are not gaining, or are losing weight, add a snack of 3-5 exchanges. Keep adding snacks until you are gaining at an appropriate rate.

However, you should know that if you are at a low weight, you NEED medical supervision.  There are many complications involved in refeeding, including refeeding syndrome, which is potentially fatal.

An explanation of the exchange system:

Each exchange really means one serving of that food group.  Here are example exchanges:

Carbohydrates: one starch may be 1 slice bread, 1 English muffin, 5-7 crackers, a tortilla, a pita, 1 1/2 graham crackers, 1/4 c granola, 1/2 c sweetened cereal, 1 c unsweetened cereal, 1/2 c cooked grain, 1/2 c cooked pasta, etc

Vegetables: one vegetable serving is 1 c cooked or raw vegetables, or 1 1/2 c salad or 1 c veggie juice

Fruit: one fruit serving is 1 whole fruit (orange, apple, banana, etc), 1 c applesauce, 1 c fresh fruit, 1/2 c dried fruit, 1 c fruit juice

Fats: one fat serving is 1 T oil, 1 T butter, 1 T cream cheese, 1 T salad dressing, 2 T sour cream, 1 T nuts, 1/8 avocado, 2 T nut butter

Dairy: one dairy serving is 1 c milk or yogurt, 1 oz (or 1/4 c) cheese, 1/2 c cottage cheese

Protein: one protein is 1 oz cooked meat, 1 egg, 1/3 c cooked beans, 2 oz tofu, 1 oz tempeh, 1 T nuts, 1 veggie burger, 1 c bean soup

There are also foods which may count as more than one serving of something (for example, a slice of pizza counts as 2 proteins, 2 starches and 1 fat), but there are so many of those it would be impossible to list them here.

I really hope that this meal plan can help someone, and if it was at all unclear, please just ask for me to clarify it.