Why Regular Eating Matters in Eating Disorder Recovery

When clients come to me one of the first things we consider is whether they are eating regularly. I typically see clients who will skip meals, often breakfast, in an attempt to save on calories, or who will go for long hours without eating, only to struggle with overeating or binge eating later on in the evening.

Regular eating is the first step in an eating framework called RAVES. Designed by Australian Dietitian Shane Jeffrey, it provides a back pocket guide to help clients find their way back to a more positive relationship with food. There are five steps to RAVES which help provide a stepping stone approach from disordered eating and eating disorders to Intuitive Eating.

The RAVES approaches allow both the client and the practitioner to consider if each of these steps is being achieved which helps inform and guide how best to support, and where interventions should start.

The steps are:

Regular

Adequate

Variety

Eating socially

Spontaneous

I’ll be coming back to each one of these stages periodically, but for now, let’s start at the beginning with regular eating.

Why Skipping Meals Backfires

Regular and adequate eating forms the first phase of RAVES. This typically looks like eating every 3 hours with 3 meals a day alongside two to three snacks. This can feel hugely challenging for many clients who are used to suppressing or ignoring their hunger cues. At this point hunger cues may not be present or may be unreliable, for example you may not experience any hunger cues and therefore take this as a cue you don’t need to eat. The reality is that leaving extended periods of time in between meals means you may be more vulnerable to powerful urges to overeat or binge eating later on in the day. Regular eating helps provide structure and stability. I liken it to being able to swim to the side of the pool so you can catch your breath in between laps.

The Benefits of Regular Eating

Regular eating is one of the most potent ways of reducing binge eating and has also been shown to help reduce binge eating in bulimia nervosa. It also helps to establish a pattern and routine where the body comes to expect nutrition, which helps to normalise eating, as food restriction forms a part of all eating disorders, this is incredibly helpful. With time, regular eating can help to restore hunger cues that have been suppressed or ignored, often for years.

Eating in a structured way provides a platform for establishing nutritional adequacy and helps replenish the body, supporting both physical and psychological wellbeing. Without sufficient eating opportunities throughout the day, it becomes harder to meet nutritional needs. A pattern of three meals plus two to three snacks creates these opportunities while also helping to stabilise blood glucose levels, support metabolic efficiency, and improve digestive function.

Facing Fears About Weight

Introducing regular eating can feel hugely challenging. A common fear is that eating more often will automatically lead to weight gain, especially if you’re currently bingeing.

These fears need gentle unpacking. It’s important to understand what any weight change actually means. A shift in body weight does not equal a change in body composition, and fluctuations in our weight are normal and to be expected.

Part of rebuilding your relationship with food is learning to trust that your body knows how to regulate energy. There is very little reason for your body to gain weight unnecessarily. In fact, regular eating helps your body become more efficient at using energy. It provides the fuel needed to repair and restore, supporting the many physiological systems that keep you well.

Experimentation can be a powerful tool here. By trying regular eating and noticing the outcomes, you start to gather real evidence that challenges the story your eating disorder may be telling you about food and weight.

Unpacking these stories and getting the help you need will help make space for meaningful change.

How to Introduce Regular Eating.

When we’re looking to start exploring eating more regularly, it’s very likely that client’s will start to worry about what they will eat. This isnt suprising. Clients will often come with a long list of food rules. Eating for them, and for most of us, has become too complicated. This is often compounded by social media which has led many of us to believe that feeding ourselves has to be this performative, well curated, perfectly aesthetic experience. That’s not the reality that either I or my clients live in. If you were invited to my house for breakfast you would see me hoofing down food whilst hoarding children out the door, dealing with last minute school slips that have to be signed, and trying to locate school shoes that the dog has invariably hidden in the garden. Suffice to say I am not creating aesthetically pleasing breakfasts, but they do get the job done and keep me full for a few hours which is all I want from them. I’ve digressed, but the point I’m trying to make is that regular eating only needs to focus on getting food in that sounds good and is manageable at this stage. This could be a muesli bar on the bus, a handful of blueberries at your desk, or a segment of a satsuma on the school run. The important part of this stage is to establish intention and a predictable rhythm to your day, nutritional balance and adequacy can come later.

You may find it helpful to have a look at your day and schedule in specific three hour slots, such as 7am for breakfast, 10am for a snack, 1pm for lunch etc. Or if you need more flexibility, it may be useful to consider windows of time, e.g. dinner is between 7 and 7.30pm. Or you may find it helpful to tether eating to an activity, e.g. breakfast is after I shower, a morning snack is on my dog walk.  

Progress, Not Perfection

Regular eating is a skill, and just like learning anything new it can take time. There will be times when things dont go to plan, but each attempt is part of rebuilding trust with your body. Remember we’re not aiming for perfect. We are all perfectly, imperfect humans. Focus on your intention, reflect on the barriers, and try again with kindness. With practice, regular eating becomes less about “getting it right” and more about supporting yourself day to day.

This work is challenging and support is key. Please reach out if you feel you would benefit from 1:1 support. You can send a message here to arrange a call to discuss how I can support you.