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Recovery Food Plan
by Kay Sheppard
LMHC, CEDS (AARFKShepp)
Before using this or any
other food plan, be sure to check with
your doctor for approval.
DAILY PORTIONS
Breakfast
1 fruit
1 protein
1 dairy
1 grain
Lunch/Dinner
1 protein
1 raw vegetable
1 cooked vegetable
1 starch or grain
Before Bed
1 fruit
1 dairy
Daily
1 fat
Daily Options
Spice 1 tablespoon
Condiments 1 ounce
Sweeteners 6 servings
Broth 1 cup
 Note:
Exclude sweeteners which contain
dextrose, maltodextrose or polydextrose.
This includes all packets. Saccharine
and liquid saccharine can be used with
this food plan. Read the warning on the
label.
WOMEN’S PORTION SIZES
Protein 4 ounces, 2 eggs
Starch 1 cup
Vegetable 1 cup
Fruit 6 ounces
Dairy 1 cup
Cottage Cheese 1/2 cup
Oil 1 tablespoon
MEN’S PORTION SIZES
Protein 6 ounces (beef & pork 5 oz.)
3 eggs
Starch 1 cup
Vegetable 1 cup
Fruit 6 ounces
Dairy 1 cup
Cottage Cheese 1/2 cup
Oil 2 tablespoons
Note: Men may need to
increase portion sizes to avoid rapid
weight loss. Maintain balance between
carbohydrate and protein when increasing
portions.
 Safe
Food Choices
Meat, poultry, fish and eggs.
Fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables.
Legumes and beans.
All whole
grains except wheat: amaranth,
hulless barley, brown rice brown basmati
rice, kasha (NOT Kashi), millet, steel
cut oats, oat bran, oat groats, quinoa,
rye, ryeberries, teff.
Dairy products including low fat milk,
plain yogurt, cottage cheese and
buttermilk.
Olive and canola oil.
Spices, check label for sugars and
starches.
Condiments such as mustard, horseradish,
vinegar and salsa.
When in doubt, leave it out!
TRIGGER FOODS
WE ABSTAIN FROM ALL
FORMS OF: Alcohol, cocoa, chocolate,
caffeine, all pre-sweetened products
including gum, desserts, yogurt, and
candy.
WE ABSTAIN FROM ALL
FORMS OF SUGAR: Sucrose, fructose, corn
sweeteners, dextrose, maltodextrose,
polydextrose, whey, syrups, malt, rice
sweeteners, honey, natural flavors,
manitol, sorbitol, caramel color,
artificial sweetener in packets.
WE ABSTAIN FROM ALL FORMS OF FLOUR:
Corn and corn meal, wheat, rice,
barley, rye, corn chips, tacos.
WE ABSTAIN FROM ALL FORMS OF WHEAT
PRODUCTS INCLUDING:
Macaroni, noodles, bread, pizza,
crackers, pita, bagels, muffins,
shredded wheat, and whole grain wheat
and wheat flour.
WE ABSTAIN FROM ALL HIGH FAT FOODS
INCLUDING: Fried food, butter, sour
cream, cream, cream cheese, dairy
products over 2% fat, hard cheese,
ricotta cheese, nuts, seeds.
WE ABSTAIN FROM THESE FRUITS: Dried
fruit, bananas, grapes, cherries, fruit
juice, mangos.
WE ABSTAIN FROM PUFFED AND POPPED
PRODUCTS INCLUDING: Popped corn, puffed
grain cereal, rice cakes.
Consult with your physician before using
this or any other food plan.
GUIDELINES TO
ABSTINENCE
Check labels for trigger
ingredients. Check the list of
ingredients every time you buy; food
processors change ingredients and add
sugars when you’re not looking! Best of
all buy fresh and frozen food that has
not been processed and whole grains
(except wheat).
Use a multi vitamin daily. Good
nutrition supports abstinence.
Prepare food by baking, boiling,
grilling, broiling, steaming, stir
frying in cooking spray (be sure it is
alcohol free),
When fat content goes down, starches
replace it. Beware of non fat and low
fat food.
Check the ingredients carefully they may
contain trigger substances.
Exercise sessions of 45 minutes per day
are appropriate for individuals using
this food plan. Avoid excessive
exercise.
Weighing and measuring food is crucial
to the success of the food plan. This
is the way we manage volume.
Schedule meals approximately 4 to 5
hours apart to maintain a level
metabolism.
Use a variety of foods in order to avoid
boredom. Using a single food
frequently, may indicate that it is a
trigger food.
Eliminate caffeine, an addictive
substance that stimulates appetite.
Plan, report, commit your food to a
sponsor in the morning and then let
go. Keep it honest by reporting changes
too!
Check labels on all meat products for
added sugars. You may be surprised to
find that dextrose is added to frozen
turkeys. All deli meat contains sugar
and starch.
Diet soda is a trigger due to the
caramel color which is made from sugar.
Other sodas with “natural flavors”
contain sugar.
Get support by attending meetings and
food groups. Get a sponsor who will
share his or her experience, strength
and hope with you.
When ordering in restaurants ask for dry
broiled protein, dry baked potato, large
salad with oil and vinegar on the side.
Beware of sugar added to balsamic
vinegar. Take your cup and scales with
you.
There is no cheese on food plan except
cottage cheese . Read the label
carefully . It is getting harder to
find clean cottage cheese.
Make water your drink of choice. It is
the fluid your body needs. Adequate
hydration supports abstinence.
GOALS OF THE FOOD PLAN
Eliminate the addictive substances.
Balance protein and carbohydrate.
Manage volume.
Provide good nutrition.
Distribute nutrients through the day.
For more information
about the food plan and recovery from
food addiction read Food
Addiction: The Body Knows by Kay
Sheppard, Licensed Mental Health
Counselor, Certified Eating Disorders
Specialist.
Be sure to read labels to ensure that
all foods are free of sugar, flour,
wheat and excess fat.
For more information on the food plan
refer to From the First Bite
by Kay Sheppard, LMHC, CEDS, Health
Communications Inc.
Watch Out for
Sweeteners
Let's talk about artificially
sweetened products including soda, gum,
and packets. None of the foregoing
products are on the food plan. The only
sweeteners appropriate for food plan are
saccharine tablets and liquid saccharine
sweetener. These are non-nutritive
products. Non-nutritive means that the
sweetener has no nutritional value and
therefore contains no sugar or
carbohydrate which provide calories and
trigger addiction. All of the packets
of powdered sweeteners are nutritive,
that is they contain some form of sugar
which will trigger the addictive
process.
Beware of all other nutritive sweeteners
if they are highly refined carbohydrates
Refined carbohydrate is the food
addict's drug of choice, usually the
first ingredient is dextrose which is a
sugar.
Limit artificial sweeteners to six or
less per day. This limit includes all
forms of artificial sweeteners.
In the not too distant past, several of
my clients have done battle with chewing
gum. Their experience with gum included
obsession, compulsion and withdrawal
symptoms. It is important to realize
that so called sugar-free gum contains
sugars including manitol, sorbitol, and
glucose syrup. Read the label and think
twice before introducing these forms of
sugar into your system.
Stevia is a refined carbohydrate that
triggers cravings. Fruit juice
sweeteners and rice syrup or disguised
sugar and not appropriate for our food
plan.
You Need to Know
The amount of protein in the food
plan is favorable to the brain chemistry
of the food addict. Combining protein
with carbohydrate makes the food plan
work because the protein moderates the
production of brain serotonin from the
carbohydrates. If you recall, brain
serotonin is the food addicts "drug of
choice". Carbohydrates are the most
effective precursor of brain serotonin.
They flood the brain with this chemical
which acts like a pain killer and a
tranquilizer. Since protein decreases
the production of brain serotonin when
combined with carbohydrate, it is vital
to a successful food plan. Reduction or
elimination of high quality protein
foods will render the food plan useless.
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