ABSTRACT
The “Mastered Eating” phase moves beyond eating with intuition and instinct alone. It integrates spirit, soul, spirituality, purpose, and other transcendent responses to life. The self-mastered eater grows closer to 300 or more degrees of perspective on their eating, relationships, and life. They learn to look back with compassion and look forward with confidence. People fully recovered from eating disorders are mastered eaters. Some people still journeying toward full recovery have mastered their eating. Mastering recovery and life demand that clients keep practicing skills and decisions aligned with recovery. Like guitar practice, recovery practice can generate new knowledge and flow. Indeed, practice itself is a self-mentoring process familiar to most experienced psychotherapists, dietitians, physicians, electricians, heavy equipment operators, chefs and schoolteachers. Both clinician and client must self-study how nutritionists respond to lapses and relapses. Clinicians must practice welcoming and accepting these clients, and not shame or judge them.
