Learning how to eat again after struggling with anorexia nervosa is a tremendous challenge. It requires dedication to your health and a belief that you are worth keeping healthy. You must confront your worst fears on a daily basis. It may seem as though your dietitian wants you to eat an unreasonable amount of food, and that you'll get fat if you follow her instructions. However, eating healthy meals is possible and rewarding, and gives you both physical and mental strength.
Step 1
Utilize your support network. Many treatment programs offer supervised meals for outpatients who need extra encouragement while eating. Ask your dietitian or therapist to help you find one of these programs if you don't already have access to one.
Step 2
Share meals with non-eating-disordered people. Remember that a meal can be a chance to see friends, relax and laugh. Public eating is often difficult for anorectics, so make it a challenge for yourself and congratulate yourself when you succeed. If you struggle with purging after meals, go out with friends who understand and will support you as you sit with them for half an hour or more after eating.
Step 3
Eat throughout the day. If three full-size meals seem overwhelming, aim for six small ones. The goal is to keep your blood sugar stable and your mind calm. Do whatever you have to do to eat the recommended number of calories without panicking.
Step 4
Distract yourself after eating. Curl up with a good book, do homework or call a friend. Occupy your mind with something other than panic over having eaten a meal. If you have practiced cognitive behavioral therapy or dialectical behavioral therapy, go for a walk and meditate on your coping skills.
Step 5
Practice moderation. There is no such thing as a safe or unsafe food; there is only food. It doesn't control you, you control it. Just because you're eating again doesn't mean you'll get fat. Find areas in your life outside of food on which you can focus. You've already mastered extremes. Now make it your mission to learn about gray areas.
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