An eating disorder may develop when you have an unrealistic perception of your weight, or if you try to control your weight using unhealthy or abnormal methods. You may have bulimia nervosa if you go through cycles of binging and purging. If you are bulimic, your medical team should address the many aspects of the condition, and the nutritionist can help you develop a healthier eating plan.
As a bulimic, you may eat thousands of calories within a short period of time and subsequently try to purge yourself of the calories using methods such as intense exercise, vomiting or abuse of laxatives, according to the American Dietetic Association. This eating disorder may result from feeling a lack of control over your life or eating habits, and your treatment team may consist of a psychologist, medical doctor and nutritionist or registered dietitian. The nutritionist's first step in developing your eating plan is to assess your current nutritional status and eating patterns.
Calorie Balance
The nutritionist's eating plan should help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight by providing an appropriate number of calories. You may be underweight when you start treatment, and you may need to gain weight, according to the American Dietetic Association. The eating plan supplies a relatively constant amount of calories so that your weight no longer fluctuates, as it does when you are bulimic and have binges, with high amounts of calories, and purges, when your day may include hardly any calories.
Eating Patterns
A nutritionist's eating plan for bulimics emphasizes regular meals and snacks to prevent overwhelming hunger, which can trigger binges, according to the American Dietetic Association. The plan must be nutritionally adequate, and should include a balance of foods from each of the food groups. A common characteristic of bulimics is a belief in good foods, which the bulimic has decided are OK to eat, and bad foods, which may trigger binges. At the beginning of treatment, the eating plan may exclude bad foods in order to attempt to prevent binges. As treatment progresses, you may develop the ability to eat normal portions of bad foods without the urge to binge on them. At this point, the eating plan may begin to incorporate some of these bad foods so that you can practice dealing with them in a healthy way.
Other Information
In order to develop a healthier relationship with food, the eating plan encourages you to monitor your hunger and satiety before and after you eat so that you do not feel guilty about eating and be tempted to purge. The nutritionist's eating plan should include your family so that you have support at all times, according to the Mayo Clinic. Bulimia is a serious condition with potentially devastating consequences if you do not treat it. If you suspect that you are bulimic, seek professional help.
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