Building a ThoughtFull Plate 

At ThoughtFull Nutrition, we rarely have hard and fast rules because they are often very limiting to exploration. That said, we do practice this “rule of 3” because it offers a baseline for the expectation of nutritional rehabilitation. 

3 meals a day offers sources of a variety of nutrients and blood sugar stabilization, which leads to better mental clarity and decision making.

It is important to note that variety is less scary than previously recommended: ThoughtFull Nutrition uses Taste, Texture, Temperature to determine “variety”. 
It is okay to move away from “eat the rainbow” – a privileged and elitist philosophy to eating. Not everyone has access to loads of color, although ideal not always accessible.

Generally speaking, if you are able to have a warm burrito, a cold sandwich, and chips and dip – there are different nutrients coming, and always, fed is best to find a baseline on the journey to healing a relationship with food and body. There are no bad foods, except foods that could kill you – definitely don’t eat those. We don’t play with food allergies. 

3 snacks – snacks can be difficult to incorporate because of appetite limitations. Snacks are a fantastic way to push the fullness boundary to build into fully nutritionally supporting your body, though. Snacks are usually smaller than meals and can be a good starting point before consistent meals are introduced, if needed. Start small and build – TFN’s outlook. 

3 food groups – what are the food groups? You may be very familiar with the basic ones: fruit, vegetable, meat, dairy, and carbohydrates, and that is great.

I am going to offer one more food group: “fun foods” in order to expand curiosity around healing your relationship with food.

The purpose of “fun foods” is to encourage understanding your body and giving yourself unconditional permission to eat. The unconditional part is one of the hardest parts of eating because our society has labeled and has us labeling/categorizing food as “good” and “bad”; “go, slow, and whoa”; “healthy” and “unhealthy” foods.

Adding the idea of “fun” foods is also to encourage exploring what foods bring you joy. My “fun” foods may not be your “fun” foods;

we all start in the same section of what a “fun food” is, though – the chips, candy, cookies, cakes, brownies, croissants, etc.

Habits are a discussion for later in the healing journey or as the individual in treatment wants to talk about.

3 hours apart during waking hours- digestion occurs about every 3 hours, with the exception of folks who struggle with slowed gastric emptying and/or motility. In these cases we suggest the a similar “rule of 3” where we start with lower quantity of food for a period until the hurdle is regulated. 

To maintain adequate blood sugar regulation and bowel stimulation, we really do need to have consistent nutrition coming in during waking hours. Everyone is different in regard to macronutrient breakdown. There will be loads of variances, and that is okay. You do not fit into a box; and we do not expect you to. 

The plate below can be used as a starting point for you in planning what your plate looks like. The spaces are generally even on purpose so that you can have the autonomy to decide whether or not you want more carbohydrates to protein, fat and fiber,  or more protein to carbohydrates, fat and fiber, etcetera. (The space sizes are mainly different to accommodate the list of foods per “food group.”)