Meal Plans vs. Flexibility: What Really Helps in Recovery?
If you’ve ever wondered, “Do I need a strict meal plan to recover from an eating disorder, or should I learn to be more flexible?”, you’re not alone. Honestly? This is a classic question I get from clients. The short answer: you need both, just at the right time, with the right support.
Meal Plans in Recovery: The Pros and Cons
Meal plans can be incredibly helpful, especially in the early stages of recovery. Why?
They give structure when food feels overwhelming.
They take away the mental load of decision-making (because “what should I eat?” can feel like rocket science in recovery).
Ensures you get enough adequate nutrition (not just calories, but proteins, fats, carbs, vitamins, minerals)
Helps stabilise blood sugar, energy levels, and hunger cues
Reduces the risk of skipping meals or bingeing because “I don’t know where to start”
But meal plans also have their downsides:
Can feel rigid or rule-driven
If used too long, might reinforce “food as rules” rather than trust
Doesn’t always teach you how to respond when life throws curveballs
They don’t always teach long-term flexibility or trust in your body.
Flexibility: The End Goal (But not the start)
Food freedom. No guilt. “I want that pizza” without panic. That’s the dream for many in recovery. Flexibility is what lets you move from structure toward living your life fully, with food being a part of it, not the boss of it.
Flexibility includes:
Listening to hunger/fullness cues (when safe)
Being able to respond to spontaneous food offers
Navigating social eating without meltdown
Not getting stuck in “all or nothing” thinking
It’s about variety, spontaneity, and balance.
It’s about rebuilding trust with your body instead of outsourcing decisions to a piece of paper.
But here’s the caveat: flexibility is rarely possible unless safety, structure, and nutritional adequacy are fairly stable first.
Why Multidisciplinary Care Matters
Trying to do this solo is like rebuilding a house with only a hammer. Recovery from an eating disorder is complex and multifaceted. A multidisciplinary team (MDT) gives you more “tools in the toolkit.”
Here’s who you usually want:
Eating Disorder Psychologist: who can support you in understanding and healing you relationship with food, including beliefs, distress, coping, and trauma.
A dietitian who understands eating disorders (for meal planning, re-feeding, RAVES etc.)
Medical monitoring / physician / GP / psychiatrist: to monitor blood work, physical health, and manage medications
Support roles : peer support, family, group therapy, Physiotherapists (if applicable) to help improve relationship with movement
With an MDT, you get safety, expertise, and checks and balances. One practitioner might say flexibility is ready; another might say your body still needs structure. They collaborate, keeping you safe and making sure no area of recovery is neglected.
Meet the RAVES™ Model: Your “Back Pocket Tool” for Eating Recovery
One framework often used in MDTs is RAVES™. Developed by Australian dietitian Shane Jeffrey, it’s a simple yet powerful acronym to guide nutritional recovery. The RAVES™ Eating Model+1
RAVES stands for:
R = Regularity
A = Adequacy
V = Variety
E = Eating Socially
S = Spontaneity
You can download their handout/flyer here:
RAVES™ Eating Model handout (PDF) Eating Disorders Families Australia
How RAVES works (phases + what each principle means)
Regularity & Adequacy are the early anchors: eating frequently, reliably, and with enough food.
Then you layer in Variety, Eating Socially, and Spontaneity, gradually unpicking rules and rigidity.
Eventually, for many, RAVES leads toward Intuitive Eating (if that’s your goal); trusting your body, responding to cues, and letting go of rigid rules.
RAVES gives you a roadmap; it doesn’t expect you to jump straight to spontaneity. You build your way up, step by step.
So… Which One Is Better? The Middle Ground
The trick is knowing when and how to loosen the structure safely. It’s not “either/or”, it’s “structure now, flexibility later, and a dance between both as you heal.”
As you progress in recovery, you’ll likely shift through phases of more structure, then more flexibility, then maybe back to more structure when life gets chaotic again. That’s totally normal.
Both meal plans and flexibility have their place.
✨ In early recovery, meal plans can be life-saving scaffolding.
✨ As you heal, the goal is to gently loosen those structures and build flexibility.
Think of it like learning to ride a bike: meal plans are the training wheels, and flexibility is the moment you can ride freely down the street without them.
How Therapy Can Help
At recoverED Clinic, we support you through this process with compassion, evidence-based strategies, and a whole lot of patience. We work closely with your wider team of professionals, including dietitians and advocate for your wellbeing. Sometimes that means working with a meal plan; other times it means experimenting with flexibility. Often, it’s a mix of both.
Recovery isn’t about choosing between structure or freedom, it’s about using the right tool at the right time.
A Friendly Reminder
If you’re stuck in the “do I need a meal plan or not?” debate, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
You don’t have to choose between meal plans or flexibility forever; recovery is about timing, pacing, and support. And frameworks like RAVES help you and your team see where you are and where you’re heading.
💬 Ready to explore recovery in a way that feels supportive, sustainable and tailored to you? Get in touch with our online psychologists today. PS. we work with a range of specialised eating disorder clinicians, so if you would like a recommendation on a compassionate eating disorder-informed dietitian or GP, we’ve got you covered.
