Written by Robyn Dery APD
RAVES is an acronym which describes a step by step process for learning to eat in a healthy way. RAVES stands for Regularity, Adequacy, Variety, Enjoyment and Spontaneity. It can be viewed as a priority system for learning to eat, a map for how to tackle a sometimes overwhelming issue.
RAVES was developed by dietitian Shane Jeffrey for use in the treatment of eating disorders. However it has found to be useful in a variety of situations, not just in eating disorder treatment as many people need help forming a structure to aid decision making around food and health.
Regularity
This is the first priority in RAVES and the foundation of healthy eating. Regular eating means eating approximately every three hours. Regular eating improves your metabolism and helps to retrain your appetite. Regular eating helps to reduce grazing, prevent binge eating, improve your metabolism, strengthen digestive muscles, improve bowel regularity, maintain stable blood glucose levels, and develop regular hunger and satiety signals that coincide with meal and snack times. Eating every three hours also provides adequate opportunity throughout the day to meet nutritional requirements.
Adequacy
Achieving nutritional adequacy means ensuring you are getting enough food throughout the day to meet all the recommended nutrient requirements. This helps achieve medical stabilisation, nutritional rehabilitation if required and achieve a healthy, stable weight. Meeting your nutritional requirements enables you to do the things you want to do with your day and be your best. Nutritional adequacy refers to both the amount and the content. It means ensuring you achieve a balance of macronutrients – protein, fat, carbohydrate, and micronutrients.
Variety
This step involves developing a positive relationship with food, and lays the foundation for social eating, and ultimately improving your quality of life. Variety involves moving beyond safe foods or the idea of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. It allows food to become more interesting and enjoyable. This step also supports the previous step. As there are many different micronutrients required for a healthy body, by incorporating variety within each food group it enables a balanced diet that includes all required micronutrients, without having to over think it.
Enjoyment and eating socially
Eating socially means being able to meet up with friends at a cafe? or go out for a meal together. It means being able to enjoy a meal prepared for you by a loved one. It can be challenging to find a balance between enjoyment and meeting nutritional requirements for some but is essential to include in our consideration of how we eat.
Spontaneity
This is the final step in the process and is about having a natural relationship with food and eating. It is being able to be flexible and eating to appetite. It is about feeling hungry and being able to honour that hunger, it is about being able to eat in situations you haven’t been able to plan out. Fostering spontaneity helps to be able to enjoy such situations, while maintaining the previous steps. Spontaneity can be related to resilience so is advantageous for sustaining your healthy relationship with food.
Photo by Hugo Ruiz on Unsplash
