Meals at Mirasol

One of the goals of treatment is to provide the client with the experience of normal eating. We emphasize normal, healthy, and mindful eating. We focus on teaching our clients how to live life in balance; not only nutritionally, but also physically, sexually, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. The client learns how to make responsible decisions for herself, by herself, with support and guidance from the staff in terms of food and eating-disordered behaviors. She learns that she is the one who has ultimate responsibility for all of the choices she makes in her life.

We believe that during a client's treatment she should eat the healthiest food available while her body is healing. She may choose to eat differently when she's not in treatment, but the importance of healthy food to help a compromised body heal needs to be a part of any reputable treatment program. We are not rigid in our food plans, but we do use organic and whole foods whenever possible. We also treat vegetarian and vegan clients and work with many food sensitivities. We carefully assess each client to make sure that her choice of a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle is not a part of her eating disorder. We have successfully treated many clients with vegetarian and vegan lifestyles.

Because everyone's profile is different, we do not have a standard diet protocol. We believe that many institutionally regimented diet/calorie prescriptions that work in a structured setting may not work at home and we want our clients to be prepared to transition to their normal living situations. We provide healthful nutrition options and a supportive environment that empowers clients to continue to make choices that work best for them. We focus on intuitive eating and we help clients to relearn what it feels like to be hungry and full. If clients have been working successfully with a nutritionist locally prior to treatment, we encourage them to bring the food plan with them to treatment.

For more information, please read about Normal Eating.