Recovery from bulimia nervosa begins with restoring balance and rebuilding trust in your body. This process typically involves a coordinated, multi-dimensional approach that includes psychotherapy, medical management, nutrition support, and, in some cases, family-centered care.
Central to this approach is structured, dietitian-led guidance that focuses on improving your relationship with food. This support helps stabilize eating patterns, reduce urges to binge or purge, manage triggers, and build confidence around what and when to eat. When planned thoughtfully, nutrition can offer a sense of stability and support, making recovery feel much more sustainable.
Foods to add to your diet during bulimia recovery
Significant nutritional gaps caused by the eating disorder often pose a challenge to bulimia nervosa recovery. These may result from purging, restrictive eating, or irregular meal patterns, leaving the body short on vitamins, minerals, and energy.
Replenishing lost nutrients is an integral part of healing. Consider including the following foods in your diet:
Protein sources
Protein is essential for tissue repair, immune health, and muscle maintenance, all of which are needs often heightened during recovery. Research suggests that higher-protein breakfasts in people with bulimia may increase peptide YY (PYY), a hormone associated with fullness, and support appetite regulation throughout the day.
Many people fall into a cycle of restricting earlier in the day, often in response to a binge or as an attempt to compensate, which can intensify hunger and increase binge-purge urges later on. Including adequate protein earlier in the day helps stabilize blood sugar and appetite, making it an important step in disrupting this cycle.
Try incorporating:
- Animal-based: eggs, lean chicken, turkey, fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, cod, trout), Greek yogurt, cottage cheese
- Plant-based: lentils, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, tofu, tempeh, edamame, quinoa, seitan, hemp seeds
Complex carbohydrates and whole grains
Carbohydrates like bread, pasta, or rice are often labeled as “bad,” and it’s common to feel out of control around them. However, regularly including complex carbs in balanced meals may reduce cravings, irritability, and energy fluctuations. Fiber-rich carbohydrates also promote bowel regularity.
While general guidelines suggest about 25g of fiber per day for women and 38g per day for men, most adults fall well below these targets, making intentional inclusion especially important during recovery.
Examples include:
- Grains: brown rice, oats, quinoa, barley, whole-grain bread, whole-grain pasta, farro, buckwheat
- Starchy vegetables: sweet potatoes, pumpkin, butternut squash, carrots
- Legumes: lentils, black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, split peas
Healthy fats
Dietary fat is often avoided due to fears about weight gain or heart disease, yet it plays a critical part in balanced diets. The World Health Organization recommends that 20–35% of daily calories come from fat, with an emphasis on healthier sources.
Fats support hormone production, brain function, and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, and they help increase satisfaction and fullness after meals. In fact, nearly 60% of the human brain is made of fat, so your body actually needs it!
Good sources include:
- Plant-based: avocado, almonds, walnuts, cashews, pecans, chia seeds, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds
- Oils: olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil
- Fatty fish: salmon, mackerel, sardines, trout, herring, anchovies
Fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are rich in phytonutrients, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, and carotenoids, that help reduce inflammation and protect cells from oxidative stress, which can increase during periods of undernutrition.
Eating a wide variety of produce ensures broader benefits for both body and brain:
- Fruits: berries, apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi, pears, grapes, mango, pineapple
- Vegetables: leafy greens (spinach, Swiss chard), broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans, asparagus, Brussels sprouts
This list is far from exhaustive, and you are encouraged to add any fresh or frozen produce that is accessible, enjoyable, and culturally relevant to you.
Calcium- and vitamin D-rich foods
Low vitamin D levels and impaired calcium absorption are common in people with eating disorders. This can affect bone health, muscle function, nerve signaling, and heart health. Calcium supports these systems directly, while vitamin D enhances calcium absorption and helps maintain bone strength. Meeting daily needs of about 1,200 mg of calcium and 600–2,000 IU of vitamin D is especially important during bulimia nervosa recovery.
Whenever possible, nutrients should come from food first. While calcium needs can often be met through diet, vitamin D is harder to obtain from food alone and also depends on adequate sunlight exposure. Supplements may help fill nutritional gaps, but overall nutrition and hormonal balance are still key for bone health.
Consider these sources:
- Dairy: milk, yogurt, cheese
- Fortified plant-based milk: almond, soy, oat milk
- Vegetables: kale, bok choy, collard greens
- Fatty fish: salmon, sardines, mackerel
- Other sources of calcium: fortified cereals, eggs, tofu
Hydration and electrolyte support
Purging behaviors, including vomiting and laxative use, can disrupt fluid balance and key electrolytes such as potassium, sodium, magnesium, and bicarbonate. These imbalances may affect heart rhythm, muscle function, and energy levels, and in some cases require medical monitoring. While supporting electrolytes through hydration can aid recovery, medical supervision is often necessary to ensure safety.
Some helpful options include:
- Water (consumed consistently in small, regular sips)
- Coconut water (used in moderation as a potassium source)
- Broths, soups, or oral rehydration solutions
- Hydrating fruits like watermelon
Practical tips for bulimia recovery centered on nutrition
The following strategies can help you include balanced, nourishing foods in your meal plan as part of your bulimia recovery.
- Start slow: Begin with smaller, balanced meals that are easier to tolerate. Softer foods like pudding, yogurt, smoothies, eggs, or soup can be a gentle place to start before moving on to heavier meals.
- Mix and match: Combining protein, carbohydrates, and fats helps stabilize energy and blood sugar. A simple guide is one-quarter protein, one-quarter fat, and half carbohydrates, though flexibility and enjoyment matter most.
- Avoid skipping meals: Irregular eating can make binge-purge urges stronger. Consistent meals and snacks throughout the day help reduce this risk.
- Include variety: Mixing up fruits, vegetables, proteins, and whole grains can help keep meals enjoyable while covering the essential nutrients you need. It also helps prevent meals from feeling monotonous.
What helps support recovery and prevent relapse?
Recovering from bulimia nervosa takes time and patience, and it’s normal for urges to resurface in response to stress, fatigue, hunger, or strong emotions. Slips and relapses can occur along the way. A slip is an occasional deviation from your plan, while a relapse is a sustained return to old behaviors that can affect your well-being.
Learning to respond intentionally rather than react automatically is how you ensure progress. The following strategies can help you reduce the risk of relapse and help support lasting recovery.
Maintain a consistent routine
A regular pattern of meals and snacks helps stabilize the body and reduce urges. While life isn’t always predictable, having a steady rhythm as a foundation provides structure and helps prevent isolated slips from turning into patterns.
Find a support system
Recovery is easier when you don’t face it alone. Staying connected with a therapist, a registered dietitian, or trusted friends and family can offer guidance, encouragement, and accountability to stay on track. Nutrition and mental health professionals, in particular, can also help you navigate triggers, maintain balanced eating, and manage emotional challenges.
Practice self-awareness
Noticing early cues, such as increased stress, fatigue, or skipped meals, can help you intervene sooner. Tools like journaling, mindfulness, or simply pausing to check in with yourself can help you respond thoughtfully rather than impulsively. This awareness also makes it easier to recognize symptoms of bulimia relapse, so that your recovery plan can be adjusted as needed.
Celebrate your progress
Recovery is built on small, meaningful steps. Completing a balanced meal, managing an urge, or handling a social eating situation successfully are all milestones worth recognizing. Acknowledging these moments can boost motivation and keep the focus on progress, not perfection.
Know when to seek help
Even with strong coping strategies, additional support may sometimes be needed. If urges, anxiety, or distress feel overwhelming, or slips become more frequent, reaching out to a therapist, dietitian, healthcare provider, or support network can be an important step forward.
For some people, medication may also be helpful in managing underlying anxiety, depression, or obsessive thoughts that contribute to disordered eating behaviors.
Make your recovery sustainable with support from Health Loft
Nutrition is a cornerstone of bulimia nervosa recovery. Eating well supports your energy, hormone balance, mood stability, and overall well-being, while reducing the likelihood of relapse.
With the right professional support, recovery becomes a guided, achievable process rather than a path you navigate alone. A nutritionist specializing in eating disorders can help you rebuild a positive relationship with food, establish sustainable routines, and develop strategies that nurture both your physical and mental health.
At Health Loft, our nutritionists have extensive experience helping individuals recover from bulimia and other eating disorders. We provide personalized care tailored to your needs, empowering you to restore trust in your body, strengthen healthy habits, and approach recovery with intentional, manageable steps.
Partner with a Health Loft dietitian to lay the foundation for lasting wellness and a balanced relationship with food.
This article was reviewed by Solveig Adalsteinsdottir, MS, RDN, LDN. It is intended for informational purposes only and does not replace personalized nutritional advice.
