Bulimia Recovery Meal Plan Malaysia

 

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

-Virginia Woolf

Dear Readers,

I’ve been asked for a recovery meal plan by several people in Malaysia. This is a meal plan we recently created. Eating Disorders are a growing problem in Malaysia. I am deeply touched by all who visit the blog and want to go for recovery. The young people from Malaysia do not lack in courage and are strong willed people. I am quiet amazed by 15-17 year olds who’ve been on recovery journey for months without relapsing.  I wish all of you health, happiness and blessings. Thank you for teaching me so much and lighting my world.

Please Note:

The meal plan has been designed according to an individual’s needs and requirements in Malaysia. The person is in recovery from Bulimia Nervosa. This  does not replace any nutritionist’s advice. You should take this and modify it according to your own personal food preferences, nutritional needs, and use it in a way that would best fit your own eating disorder recovery.  

BULIMIA RECOVERY MEAL PLAN

1600-1800 Cals

You have two options here:

• 1600 with 3 meals and 2 snacks
• 1800 is 3 meals and 3 snacks.

Options Two is Highly Recommended as it will keep you fill for longer and will take care of all your dietary requirements.

The plan is designed is to support you on recovery/weight maintenance cycle and to help you to deal with purging and satiety issues. One key ingredient for a meal plan to work is consistency and NoT SKIPPING MealS. Eating breakfast and consuming small meals (4 to 6 per day) prevents binge eating, night time snacking, and keeps your metabolic rate at an optimal pace.  Your body needs fuel to grow and be healthy. If you eat fewer than 1,600 calories each day, you may not get the nutrients you need. (GirlsHealth.gov)

 

Before You Start

 

 Breaking the Cycle of Empty Calories

The more I tried to control and restrict my eating, the more often I would end up binge eating and feeling out of control. And the more I paid attention and ate what my body needed to thrive (when it comes to both nutrients and energy), the more binge eating became a thing of the past for me.

Maya 18

I love this Quote:

 

Think of metabolism as a campfire. To keep a fire burning strong, it must be fed small doses of wood (ie, fuel). Dropping a large log onto the fire will keep the fire burning, but not as effectively as if it was fed small portions of wood. With the fire still in mind, you have to look at its preferred fuel choice. Adding paper or “empty calories”, the fire will burn through it very quickly. As a result, the fire becomes starved and must be fed very often. Now if you added a mixture of paper and wood, the fire will have enough fuel to burn for a longer period of time. The wood will satisfy the fire’s appetite more than the paper. Wood is to fire as protein is to humans. Your diet should always include a source of protein at each meal and snack.

 

Stop counting calories- Counting calories will prevent your from eating normally. Concentrate on learning about what normal eating is. Sometimes observing how others eat can help to show us what normal eating really is.

Where Do the Calories Go?
You need them for your body to function.

We can forget that calories do more than cause weight gain. Namely, they keep the body’s many systems up and running. After a meal, for example, your body begins to apportion calories to nutrient-hungry organs and growing muscles. Michael Jensen, M.D., a professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at the Mayo Clinic, details what goes where:

25 percent to muscles

23 percent to the liver, pancreas, kidneys, spleen, and adrenal glands

10 percent to the kidneys

10 to 20 percent to the brain

10 percent to breaking down the food you just ate

5 to 10 percent to the heart

Source: A Hunger to Recover

 

Serving Sizes

 

This is a minimum serving size.

 

 

 

Carbohydrates: Breads, Cereal, Rice and Pasta Group- The goal is 2 servings per day with each meal. 15g= 1 serving  30 gram = 2 servings.

Below are 2 servings examples

• 2 Slices Bread (any)
• ½  piece Roti canai
• 1 Chapati
• 1 thosai
• 1 Roti jala
• ½ cup cooked rice/couscous
• ½ cup cooked beans (dried beans peas)
• ½ cup cooked pasta/noodles

 

Protein: Meat, fish, poultry and other protein: The goal is about 3 servings a day, each the size of the palm of your hand or the size of a deck of a card.

• 3 ounce of cooked chicken
• 3 ounce of cooked fish
• 2 ounce of cooked meat
• 4 Tbsp hummus,
• 1/3 cup cooked dry beans
• 1 ounce low-fat cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 ounce cheese
• 1 Tbsp peanut butter

 

Dairy Foods

The goal is three servings a day cups of fat-free or low-fat milk per day or equivalent amounts of yogurt, cheese, etc.

 

Fats

one serving of fat, such as a tablespoon of mayonnaise, two tablespoons of salad dressing, four large olives or half of a medium-sized avocado.

Fruits

Eat a variety of colours and types.  4-5 portions a day

• 1 medium portion of fresh fruit: orange, apple, banana,
• 2 Tbs. Raisins,
• ¼ cup dehydrated fruit;
• ½ cup cooked or canned fruit,
• ½ cup fruit juice.

 

Vegetables

 

Eat a variety of colors and types 3-4 servings per day.

 

• 1 cup leafy green vegetables,
• ½ cup cooked,
• ½ cup chopped,
• ½ cup raw,
• ¾ cup vegetable juice.

 

Nutritionist Advice on Eating

A nutritionist’s eating plan for a recovering bulimic typically calls for three meals and two to three snacks each day, with eating times spaced no more than four hours apart.

 

 

Breakfast

about 400 Cals

7:30am

One serving of dairy or another high-calcium food, a serving of fruit, a serving of protein and a serving  of a carbohydrate-rich food.

8 ounces Water

Choose ONE of the following from Each Group:

 

Bread/Cereals Pick one	Dairy Pick One	Protein Pick One	Fruit Add One
3/4 cup cooked Oats	1 cup milk (200 ml)	1 Medium Egg	1 small banana
1 cup any cereal	2/3 cup Yogurt	1 ounce sliced Chicken breast	1 orange
2 slices bread (white/wholemeal)	½ Cup Cottage Cheese	1 Tbsp Peanut Butter	1 apple
½ piece roti canai		15 Almonds	1 ounce raisins
1 chapati		28grams mix nuts	¾ cup orange juice
1 piece thosai
1 Roti Jala

Sample Breakfast Ideas

No1: 1 small Banana, 1 serving Cereal 1 cup (cornflakes, any), 1 cup Milk (dairy)

No2: 1 thosai  with a filling of your choice, or 1 chapatti with a serving of daal, green curry or potato curry. ½ cup yogurt

No 3: 2 toasts, 2 egg omelette fill it with spinach, tomatoes any vegetables you like a sprinkle of cheese.

No 4: 1 cup Yogurt with ½ cup chopped fruit, mango, banana, apples with sprinkle of nuts and 1tsp honey drizzle.

No 5: 2 pieces of toast with one boiled egg, 1 cup milk

No 6: 3/4 cup Oats cooked with low fat milk, add few almonds, 1 tsp honey and one small chopped banana.
No 7: Roti Kahwin – 2 slices of bread toasted, 2 tsp kaya and 1 tsp butter, 1 soft boiled egg seasoned to taste . 1 cup milk

 

Breakfast Tip: Fill your Bread with Cottage Cheese (Paneer), add almonds to your oats all this will keep you satiated for more time as they are all high in protein.

 

Snack

150 calories

10 am

 

Choose ONE of the following:

 

• 5 pecans and 15 grapes,
• I piece Kuih with small apple,
• 4 Tablespoons hummus with 12 baby carrots,
• 1 cup nonfat or 1% cottage cheese and 1/3 cup pineapple chunks,
• 2 large salted biscuits and 1 Tablespoon peanut butter,
• 1 small pot fruit yogurt and 2 Tablespoons Nuts,
• 15 almonds,
• 15 cashews,
• ½ medium apple and 1 Tablespoon peanut butter,
• 1 string cheese with 1 small apple,
• 1 Museli bar yogood cranberry/peach etc. 1 pc Goreng Pisang.
• 1 piece of idli with coconut chutney,
• Mango lassi,

Drink 16 ounces water

 

Lunch

350 Cals

12:30 pm

Lunch on the recovery meal plan could contain two carbohydrate servings, a protein serving, a serving of raw or cooked vegetables and one serving of fat, such as a tablespoon of mayonnaise, two tablespoons of salad dressing, four large olives or half of a medium-sized avocado. Have your lunch sitting at a table, with as few other distractions as possible, and drink water, not diet soda or caffeinated beverages.

 

Choose ONE of the following:

 

Protein	Carbohydrate	Vegetables/Salad	Fats
3 ounces chicken	2 slices of any bread	1 cup green beans	2 tsp butter
3 ounces Fish	½ cup cooked rice	1 cup mix cooked vegetables	1Tbsp olive oil
2 ounces meat	½ cup cooked noodles	1 cup broccoli	4 olives
2 medium eggs	½ cup cooked pasta	1 cup carrots	2 tsp salad dressing
4 Tbsp Hummus	1 chappati	1 ½ garden salad	1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/3 cup dry beans	½ cup cooked beans	¾ cup vegetable juice
2 ounce low fat cheese	1 large sweet potato 1 medium white potato

 

Drink 16 ounces water

 

Sample Lunch

• Grilled chicken sandwich – (3 ounces), a serving of broccoli steamed and carrots, add a dash of kicap and pepper.

• 1 chapatti with a serving of gravy of your choice, i.e. daal, chicken curry, fish curry, with a salad (a cup of salad made of seasonal fresh produce)

• Stir fried broccoli, green leafy vegetables with prawns ½ cooked rice with 4 olives

• 1 thosai with dhal, coconut chutney, 1 cup salad.

• Sardines sandwich with a slice of cheese, 1 cup salad with 1 tsp salald dressing.

• 1 Tbsp peanut butter sandwich with 2 Tsp honey.

• 2 eggs (hardboiled or scrambled) with 2 slices toast. Serving of Rujak Medan salad

• 3 Tbsp. Hummus with lettuce and tomato in a roti, serving of Achat salad sprinkled with sesame seeds

• Chicken and veggie stir-fry (1½ cups), rice (1/2 cup)

• One serving of roti canai with dhal and a serving of cucumber salald.

• Mackerel salad with ½ cup cooked pasta tossed in 1/T Coconut Oil.

• 1 grilled cheese sandwich with carrots, celery and 1 Tbsp humus

• 1 Roti Wrap, fill it with cucumber, tomatoes, 3 ounce tandoori chicken, lettuce. 4 olives

• Serving of Chicken/prawn/vegetable Mee Soup with bread.

 

Snack

150 cals

4 pm

 

Select One from above snack or have an Indian Lassi (Indian Yogurt drink) with a tropical fruit of your choice such as: durian, mangosteen, cempedak, pomelo, rambutan,duku-langsat, or snakefruit. Malaysian tropical fruits have many health benefits. Fruits in general are high in fibre which is necessary to improve digestion and prevent constipation and has no cholesterol. Malaysian tropical fruits contain a variety of micronutrients, vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, riboflavin, niacin and other phytochemicals. Some of these fruits are reputed to be able to prevent certain non communicable diseases such as blood pressure, diabetes, lower cholesterol or even cancer.

• Fruit Smoothie made with 2 fruits of your choice and ½ cup milk or yogurt
• 1/2 cup low-fat yogurt with ½ cup fruit
• 3 Dates with 3 Almonds and a Biscuit
• 2 Biscuits with few pecans
• 1 cup fresh fruit – kiwis, mangoes, pineapple, apples, grapes, etc
• Raw veggies with 1/2 cup hummus

Dinner

400 Cals

7pm

For dinner, a nutritionist might recommend a recovering bulimic plan the meal to include two servings of carbohydrates and one serving each of protein, dairy, vegetables and fat. Enjoy the meal slowly and stop eating before you feel too full.

8 ounces Water

Choose one of the Following

Protein	Carbohydrate	Vegetables /Salad	Fats	Dairy
3 ounces chicken	2 slices of any bread	1 cup green beans	2 tsp butter	1 cup Milk
3 ounces Fish	½ cup cooked rice or ½ cup couscous	1 cup mix cooked vegetables	1Tbsp olive oil	¾ cup yogurt
2 ounces meat	½ cup cooked noodles	1 cup broccoli	4 olives
2 medium eggs	½ cup cooked pasta	1 cup carrots	2 tsp salad dressing
4 Tbsp Hummus	1 chappati	1 ½ garden salad	1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/3 cup dry beans	½ cup cooked beans	¾ cup vegetable juice
2 ounce low fat cheese	1 large sweet potato 1 medium white potato

 

Sample Dinner Ideas:

• Grilled chicken, 1 cup of steamed vegetables like broccoli, pak choy, green leafy or 2 cups of leafy salad greens and 1/2 cup of pasta tossed with 1 tablespoon of butter, served with a glass of regular milk.
• 2 ounces beef grilled, 1 cup mashed potatoes, 1 cup of steamed carrots and Broccoli + 1 cup milk
• 1 chappati with a serving of Malaysian chicken curry (3 ounces chicken breast, green beans, coconut milk), serving of side salad + ¾ cup yogurt
• Grilled chicken breast, 1 medium sweet potato/1 T butter, 1 cup salad, 1 cup milk
• Baked Fish: Red snapper, Sea Bream or Mackerel with 1 cup vegetables, ½ cup pasta, 1 T butter, 1 cup low fat milk
• 1 chapatti with a serving of vegetable curry, a serving of 3 bean salads with 1 tsp olive oil dressing + 1 cup of milk.
• Stir fry sea food such as prawns, squid, clams with 1 cup vegetables served with ½ cup cooked rice and a cup of milk.
• Grilled Fish with 1 medium sweet potato and a serving of som tam salad. ¾ cup yogurt.

 

Evening Snack

150 Cals

9 pm

• 1 cup ice cream
• 3 dates with 3 pecans/almonds/pistachios
• 2 biscuits
• 1/4 cup almonds or other nut based trail mix