Recipes for When Your Child has an Eating Disorder

This might seem like a weird blog post to some of you! You may be thinking, “why do I need a special recipe, ‘just eat’! there’s your recipe”. I’ve heard it before.

Some of you might be expecting “healthy” recipes that include a lot of fruits and vegetables and no fat or carbohydrates. You might be thinking, “they will only eat ‘healthy’ foods, and it’s better for them to eat something, right?”

Wouldn’t it be great if we could heal our children with just a simple recipe?! Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. While recipes aren’t the only answer for treating eating disorders, they often times can be very important to the process.

First, let’s talk about why you might need recipes during your child’s eating disorder treatment.

Often times when we are dealing with an anorexia nervosa diagnosis in adolescents and teens, there has been rapid weight loss. This is ABSOLUTELY NOT ALWAYS THE CASE. There are many times when a child has an eating disorder diagnosis and has not lost weight- and that is a good thing! That means we caught it early enough, or that their bodies worked hard against the ED’s efforts to keep them alive. Even if your child has not lost weight, they are likely malnourished- they have not been meeting their bodies energy needs- they are expending more energy than they are consuming and creating a deficit. More than not, the treatment for eating disorders and malnourishment is Refeeding. This means, giving your child enough calories and nutrition to fill the backlog of calorie deficit while also meeting their daily energy needs for everyday living.

Refeeding a child with an eating disorder is an extremely difficult tasks. Typically, parents will tell me that refeeding is the hardest part of the course of eating disorder treatment.

It is also the most important.

Without proper nourishment and nutrition to your child’s brain, they will not be able to rewire the misfiring signals their brain is giving them around food and will not be able to challenge the eating disorder cognitive distortions.

Food to a child with an eating disorder is the enemy, and it is also their most important medicine we have.

While many parents and clients come to me with the request to help change their thoughts and help them to be less stressed around food, they are often surprised that my answer is, “right now we are only going to focus on food and not talk too much about changing thoughts”. The brain does not function properly when malnourished and cannot process logically or rationally, so talk therapy with a malnourished brain is, for lack of better words, a waste of time.

Nutrition first, then long-term cognitive change.

In addition to the importance of refeeding, it is also important how rapidly your child gains weight and what foods they are consuming. In recovery from an eating disorder, the more rapidly they can regain the weight lost, the better the outcomes for full recovery, according to the research. This means we don’t want to spend months or years regaining the weight back slowly with safe, preferred foods. We want to gain weight quickly in weeks to months, with nutrient dense foods full of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. That’s what I’m going to share with you today: Nutrient Dense Recipes for Refeeding a Malnourished Child with an Eating Disorder!

That’s a mouthful.

These recipes do not have calorie counts, as you don’t need to be counting calories. Working with your dietician or therapist, they can help you decide what is enough. The main focus is usually on eating enough and eating frequently. Think about having a child who needs to gain weight and needs to do it quickly- what would you serve them? A granola bar? Fruit? That is not going to be enough and it is not going to get them toward the goal of rapid weight restoration. These recipes may seem like “a lot” of “high calorie” and they are. It is what your child needs. These are not the “weight loss” or “diet friendly” recipes that we typically see in the media. Those will not help your child to get better. It is hard to ignore everything we’ve learned from diet culture and do the opposite, but that is exactly what your child needs you to do.

I would encourage you to get support from Anti-Diet professionals (therapists and dieticians) as you go on this eating disorder recovery journey. It often brings up a lot of diet-culture trauma for parents and you need support with that!

Please reach out with any questions or concerns, I would love to help.

PB Power Smoothie:

• 1 frozen banana

• 1 cup Whole Milk

• 1-2 scoops of protein powder of your choice (I like chocolate or vanilla)

• 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips or cacoa nibs

• 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

• 1/3 cup of peanut butter

• 1 cup of spinach

• 1 Tablespoon of Honey

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Blend together with ice in a blender or Nutribullet. Serve cold with spoon and large straw. You won’t believe how yummy it is, and won’t taste the spinach at all!

Avocado Toast Boats

• 2 slices of sourdough bread

• 1 ripe avocado

• Everything bagel seasoning

• Crushed red pepper (if desired)

• 3 eggs

• Shredded cheddar cheese

• Splash of heavy cream

Scramble eggs in pan with lots of butter, adding more butter as you go to avoid sticking. Do not be afraid to use too much butter! Use low heat and stir often- it will take some time, but you’ll get soft creamy eggs. Add in heavy cream as you scramble the eggs for more nutrition and deliciousness. Butter the toasted sourdough bread generously. Spread at least half the avocado over the slices, you will probably use more than half to get enough, depending on the size of the bread. Top the avocado with Everything Bagel Seasoning and, if desired for some heat, a little bit of crushed red pepper. Top the toast with your soft scrambled eggs and cheddar cheese. A great and delicious way to get that nutrition in for breakfast or lunch!

Diavolo Pasta

• 1 can whole peeled tomatoes

• 6 cloves garlic

• 1 box Penne Pasta

• 1 cup heavy cream

• Butter

• Basil

• 2 cups Parmesan cheese

Boil the pasta and strain according to package directions. Save some pasta water! Toast minced garlic on medium high heat in pan with olive oil until browned. Blend peeled tomatoes and heavy cream in blender. Add tomatoes to the garlic in the pan, turn heat to medium low. Add 1 cup of parmesan cheese, along with 2 tablespoons of butter and stir until combined. Add heavy cream and pasta water as needed to thin out consistency of sauce to your preference. Stir in 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes if you like some heat. Add in cooked pasta, stir. Top with fresh basil and parmesan cheese. Serve with garlic bread.

For questions, or to get help right now,

Schedule a free consultation call.

This blog is intended to be educational and informational and does not substitute for professional medical and therapeutic help, which is highly recommended when treating an eating disorder. If you would like help treating your child’s eating issues or want to learn more, Schedule a free consultation call today.