All of the packets of powdered sweeteners are nutritive, that is they contain some form of sugar which will trigger the
Recovery Food Plan A Guide to Clean Abstinence Recovery Food Plan by Kay Sheppard LMHC, CEDS This is the current food plan which supersedes any prior publications For more information about the food plan and recovery from food addiction, Read Food Addiction: The Body Knows and From the First Bite by Kay Sheppard Consult your physician before using this or any other food plan.
Goals of the Recovery Food Plan Eliminate the addictive substances. Balance protein and carbohydrate. Manage volume. Provide good nutrition. Distributes nutrients throughout the day to maintain a level of metabolism.
Daily Portions Breakfast 1 fruit 1 protein 1 dairy 1 grain or starch
Lunch/Dinner 1 protein 1 raw vegetable 1 cooked vegetable 1 grain or starch
Before Bed 1 fruit 1 dairy
Daily 1 fat
Daily Options Spice 1 tablespoon Condiments 2 tablespoons Sweeteners 6 servings (the best choice is to abstain from sweeteners) Broth 1 cup Note: Exclude sweeteners which contain dextrose, maltodextrose or polydextrose. This includes all packets. Traditionally non-nutritive liquid sweetener has been used with this recovery food plan. Read the warning on the label. Beware; overuse of sweeteners indicates a problem. We do not use stevia in any form on this plan. The best choice is to abstain from all sweeteners Consider 2 cups cooked vegetable at one meal and 2 cups raw at the other meal to save time and to make interesting soups, stews, casseroles and salads.
Women’s Portion Sizes
Men’s Portion Sizes *
Protein 4 oz., 2 eggs Tofu 8 oz. Starch 1 cup, 8 oz. potato Vegetable 1 cup Fruit 6 oz. Dairy: milk and yogurt 1 cup
Protein 6 oz., red meat 5 oz., 3 eggs Tofu 12 oz. Starch 1 cup, 8 oz. potato Vegetable 1 cup Fruit 6 oz. Dairy: milk and yogurt 1 cup
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Greek yogurt 3/4 cup Cottage Cheese 1/2 cup Oil 1 tablespoon =3 teaspoons
Greek yogurt 3/4 cup Cottage Cheese 1/2 cup Oil 2 tablespoons= 6 teaspoons
*For pregnant/nursing mothers and athletic women Note: Men may need to increase portion sizes to avoid rapid weight loss. Maintain balance between carbohydrate and protein when increasing portions.
FOOD PLAN FOODS PROTEINS: Women 4 oz., Men 6 oz. except red meat 5 oz. Beef* Chicken (White meat, no skin) Eggs (2 large for women, 3 large for men) Fish Shellfish Lamb* Pork* Turkey Veal* *Red meat is limited to three times per week. Turkey: check for dextrose or other starches or sugars in fresh and frozen turkeys Chicken: fresh or frozen chicken breast and tenders: dark meat chicken often trigger cravings; the best choice is to abstain Fish and salmon foil packs are great for travel. Not all foil packs are appropriate for our plan. Look for water packed tuna without added flavoring. Limit eggs to two eggs two times per week for a total of four eggs per week. Because eggs are highly allergenic we encourage limiting exposure to them. We know it is tempting to eat them daily. No Eggbeaters or egg whites. Be sure to select the leanest product available, animal fat triggers cravings Vegetarian Protein or Starch Edamame 1 cup beans without shells Soy Beans 1 cup Soy Milk 2 cups, unsweetened with 2 ingredients: soy and water Tempeh 4 oz. plain soy without rice or other added grains Tofu 8 oz. women, 12 oz. men Note: Tofu: weigh before heating; always keep unused tofu covered in water Grains and Starches 1 cup cooked Amaranth Barley not pearled, use hulled or hulless this is browner than pearled Buckwheat groats (this is not a form of wheat) Cream of Buckwheat 1/3 cup raw Kasha this is roasted buckwheat Millet Oat Bran 1/2 cup raw © Kay Sheppard, Inc.
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Oat groats this is a whole grain Oats, steel cut 1/3 cup raw Quinoa, all colors Quinoa Flakes 1/2 cup raw Rice brown Cream of Rice Ryeberries Cream of Rye Teff: brown or ivory All grains are measured one cup cooked. We have the raw equivalents for some grains as noted above. Rolled oats are not on the plan because they are too processed and trigger cravings Beans 1 Cup Starch We do not use beans for protein. They deliver too much starch and too little protein. Basically, starch is our drug of choice and animal protein stabilizes blood glucose levels better than plant protein. Soybeans which are high in protein and soybean products are the exception: soybeans, edamame, tofu, and tempeh. Be sure to rinse the starchy liquid from beans before eating. Aduki Beans Black Beans Black-Eyed Peas Cannellini Beans Chick Peas Edamame Garbanzo Beans Kidney Beans Lentils Lima Beans Mung Beans
Navy Beans Northern Beans Pinto Beans Red Beans Refried beans, be sure they are sugar and fat free Soybeans Split Peas White Beans White Kidney Beans Others
Starchy Vegetables Peas 1 cup Potatoes (all varieties) 8 oz. cooked, 10 oz. raw before cooking Squash 1 cup: All Hard Squashes such as Acorn, Buttercup, Butternut, Calabaza, Carnival, Delicate, Hubbard, Kabocha, Red Kuri, Spaghetti, Sweet Dumpling and Turban Sweet Potatoes 8 oz. cooked, 10 oz. raw before cooking Yams 8 oz. cooked, 10 oz. raw before cooking VEGETABLES: 1 cup serving size Check ingredients every time you buy canned vegetables OK to have 2 cups cooked at one meal and 2 cups raw at the other meal Artichoke Hearts, canned in water Asparagus Bamboo Shoots Bean Sprouts © Kay Sheppard, Inc.
Onion Parsley Parsnips (looks like a white carrot) Pasta sauce; watch ingredients, no natural flavors or sugars Peppers Page 3
Beets Belgian Endives Bok Choy Broccoli Brussels Sprouts Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Celery Chinese Cabbage Cilantro Cucumber Eggplant Endive Escarole Garlic Green and Yellow Beans Greens Jicama Kale Leeks Lettuce, all varieties Mushrooms Okra FRUITS: 6 oz. Apple Apricot Berries Cantaloupe Cranberries Figs, raw Grapefruit Honeydew Kiwi Lemon Lime
Pickles, check deli style dill pickles in cooler section Pimentos Pumpkin is 1 cup cooked vegetable or 6 oz. if used as fruit Radishes Romaine Lettuce Rutabaga Salsa 1 cup cooked vegetable if in jar or can Fresh raw vegetable salsa = 1 cup raw vegetables Sauerkraut Scallions Snow Pea Pods Spinach Sprouts Squash: Yellow Crookneck or Zucchini Sugar Snap Peas Swiss Chard Tomatoes (crushed, diced, juice, raw, sauce etc.) Turnips V8 Juice regular 1 cup = 1 cooked vegetable Beware low sodium V8 has sugar Water Chestnuts Watercress Yellow Crookneck Squash Zucchini
Nectarine Orange Peach Pear Pineapple Plum Pumpkin is a fruit 6 oz. or a cooked vegetable 1 cup Rhubarb Tangerine Watermelon
No dried fruits (concentrated sugar) Check frozen fruits for sugar No applesauce, cherries, grapes, bananas, mangoes on the food plan Frozen fruits are convenient and keep well Weigh portion of fruit you will eat without the pit, core or peel (unless you eat the peel) DAIRY Non Fat Cottage Cheese 1/2 cup 1% fat is the lowest fat content in a clean product, Nancy’s is available in health food stores. Milk, fat free 1 cup Powdered Milk, fat free 1/3 cup © Kay Sheppard, Inc.
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Yogurt, non-fat, plain 1 cup Greek yogurt, 0% fat, plain 3/4 cup Note: Clean low fat buttermilk is too difficult to find; it has been removed from the plan DAIRY SUBSTITUTES Soy Milk 1 cup unsweetened with 2 ingredients: soy and water 2 oz. any protein or tempeh 4 oz. tofu women, 6 oz. men 1 egg
FATS- Daily Serving: women 1 tablespoon=3 teaspoons men 2 tablespoons=6 teaspoons Avocado oil Coconut oil is controversial; it is a saturated fat and should be avoided by people with high cholesterol Flaxseed oil Grapeseed oil Mayonnaise: Duke’s Mayonnaise Not the Fat Free version, Whole Foods Canola Mayonnaise Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar (l serving fat, equals 1 tablespoon) Olive oil Extra Virgin Nut oil Seed oil Sesame oil Sesame oil Toasted It is best to avoid these poor quality oils: Canola, Peanut, Soybean and Vegetable Oil No Corn oil Herbs and Spices 1 Tablespoon per day Basil Ginger Chili Powder Italian Spices Cinnamon Nutmeg Dill Others Garlic Powder Condiments Two Tablespoons per Day Horseradish Bragg Aminos Dill Pickle or Dill Pickle Relish Mustard Yogurt Tomato Sauce Vinegar Salsa Milk Ketchup (make your own, recipe in Absolutely Abstinent Cookbook p 96) Daily Options Broth 1 cup Condiments 2 tablespoons Spices 1 tablespoon Sweeteners 6 servings © Kay Sheppard, Inc.
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Note: Exclude sweeteners which contain dextrose, maltodextrose or polydextrose. This includes all packets. Traditionally non-nutritive liquid sweetener has been used with this recovery food plan. Read the warning on the label. Beware; overuse of sweeteners indicates a problem. We do not use stevia in any form on this plan. The best choice is to abstain from all 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 sweetener appropriate for food plan is liquid sweetener. This is a non-nutritive product. Non-nutritive sweetener means that it has no nutritional value and therefore contains no sugar or carbohydrate which provide calories and trigger addiction. Limit artificial sweeteners to six or less servings per day. Although we have traditionally used liquid sweeteners, the best choice is to abstain. Overuse of sweetener signals that it is a problem. 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. Usually the first ingredient is dextrose which is a sugar. 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 other disguised sugar and not appropriate for our food plan.
Trigger Foods
We abstain from all forms of alcohol, cocoa, chocolate, caffeine, and artificially sweetened products including gum, desserts, yogurt, candy, & soda. We abstain from all brands of diet soda.
We abstain from all forms of sugar such as sucrose, fructose, corn sweetener, dextrose, maltodextrose, polydextrose, whey, syrups, malt, rice sweeteners, honey, natural flavors, manitol, sorbitol, caramel color, stevia, inulin, artificial sweetener packets, guar gum, xantham gum, isomalt and licorice root.
We abstain from all forms of flour such as corn and corn meal, wheat, rice, barley, rye, almond, coconut, bean and products such as corn chips and tacos
We abstain from all forms of wheat products including macaroni, noodles, bread, pizza, crackers, pita, pretzels, bagels, muffins, shredded wheat, whole grain wheat, wheat flour, modified food starch, triticale, kamut, bulgur and spelt.
We abstain from all high fat foods including fried food, butter, sour cream, cream cheese, dairy products 1% or higher fat content, hard cheese, ricotta cheese, nuts, seeds, olives, avocados. (Cottage cheese at 1% fat is the exception.)
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We abstain from the following fruits: dried fruit, applesauce, bananas, grapes, cherries, fruit juice, mangos, raisins, and pomegranate.
We abstain from puffed and popped products including popped corn, puffed grain cereal and rice cakes. We abstain from rolled oats. We abstain from corn and all corn products
Guidelines to Abstinence
Check labels for trigger ingredients. Check the list of ingredients every time you buy; food processors change ingredients and add sugar when you’re not looking! Best of all buy fresh and frozen foods that have not been processed and whole grains (except wheat).
Prepare food by baking, boiling, grilling, broiling, steaming, stir frying in cooking spray. Be sure the spray 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.
Weighing and measuring food is crucial to the success of the recovery food plan. This is the way we manage volume. Volume triggers addiction and cravings. Any small deviation from the food plan renders it useless.
Schedule meals approximately 4 1/2 to 5 hours apart to maintain 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 caffeinated coffee and decaf coffee; caffeine is an addictive substance that stimulates appetite. Decaf is not safe for us and has proved to be a cause of relapse.
Plan, report, and commit your food to a sponsor a day ahead. Keep it honest by reporting changes.
Limit red meat (beef, lamb, pork and veal) to three times per week. Limit eggs to two eggs two times per week for a total of four eggs per week. Because eggs are highly allergenic we encourage limiting exposure to them. We know it is tempting to eat them daily.
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Iodized salt contains sugar, which keeps iodine in suspension. Look for salt without iodine as a sugar-free choice. Assume restaurant salt contains iodine and sugar if not marked. Be sure to use an iodine supplement.
Check labels on all meat products for added starch and sugar, such as dextrose in fresh and frozen turkeys. Processed meats often contain sugar, starch and too much fat. Any meat high in fat such as chicken thighs can trigger cravings.
Check your toothpaste and mouthwash. We choose only brands that are alcoholfree and glycerin-free. Some Arm & Hammer tooth-pastes are appropriate for our plan. Check the ingredients before purchasing. Thera Breath mouthwash is currently acceptable for our plan. Not all Thera Breath products are right for us, check the ingredients before you buy.
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 protein with no added fat, seasoning or marinade, dry baked potato, large salad, no bacon, eggs, cheese or croutons, with oil and vinegar on the side (no balsamic vinegar). Take your cup and scale with you.
There is no cheese on the recovery 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. If you are thirsty your body is telling you it needs water.
Avoid extreme exercise programs. The food plan supports about 45 minutes exercise a day.
Pumpkin is used as either a fruit which is 6 oz. or cooked vegetable which is 1 cup.
Use a multi-vitamin daily because good nutrition supports abstinence.
Get 8 hours of sleep.
Check list of resources at the end of this list.
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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. 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. Definition of Abstinence p 89 From the First Bite One of the greatest struggles in recovery is defining abstinence, which is a must for reaching and maintaining physical recovery. Some who have difficulty staying abstinent never get physically clean. When a food addict ingests even a small amount of an addictive substance, cravings are triggered and along with them the urge to binge. It has become popular to use an abbreviated (no sugar, flour, wheat) definition of abstinence. There is a problem with this abbreviation. We could abstain from sugar, flour and wheat for the rest of our lives and continue to stay in the disease forever by eating high-fat foods, volume and refined carbohydrate snacks. We could eat them all day and all night and still say that we are abstinent. We could show up at meetings and claim to be abstinent right after a huge binge. This definition is just too limited. Abstinence needs to be defined as abstinence from all addictive foods and behaviors, including personal binge foods and volume, plus a commitment to a weight and measured food plan. Volume triggers addiction, just like refined foods. Any small deviation from the food plan renders it useless. When in doubt leave it out.
Resources Order Kay’s books go to Kay's books and cookbook List of phone meetings go to kaysheppard.com Online meeting go to kaysheppard.com Great Spices go to Penzeys Read ingredients on products, not all are appropriate for our food plan. Good travel scale, go to Joseph Joseph TriScale Good home scale, go to Escali Primo Digital Kitchen Scale
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Rosario’s sausage mix has recently changed hands and we cannot recommend this product until we are sure that the new company is reliable. Vanilla extract contains alcohol or glycerin which are addictive. We use the powdered form. Here is a product that is reasonably priced: Vanilla Power Clean cottage cheese, go to Nancy's Cottage Cheese Contact the company to find a store. Most Whole Foods carry this product. Clean Mayonnaise go to Duke's Mayonnaise Clean Soy Sauce go to Bragg Liquid Aminos Clean Vitamin go to Solaray High Energy Multi-Vita-Min Clean Salad dressing go to Newman's Own Olive Oil & Vinegar Clean toothpaste go to Arm & Hammer PeroxiCare Toothpaste Recipe for a clean mouthwash go to Clean mouthwash Always check labels before you buy! When in doubt, leave it out! For more information about recovery from food addiction read Food Addiction: The Body Knows and From the First Bite by Kay Sheppard, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified Eating Disorders Specialist.
January 2017
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