My teenage daughter is recovering from anorexia and remains in therapy and sees a nutritionist - but meals are becoming a struggle again after more than four months of not having issues. She has gained weight, but is still slightly underweight. She was very unhappy in her recent outpatient program (and it wasn't a very good one, honestly and there is no other outpatient program near us), so we removed her and have an alternate plan in place - but I am concerned that now with fewer checks on her she is eating less. She still needs to gain weight., and to develop better long term eating habits. Meal stress had really leveled off, but it is back and it is my job to make sure she is fed. For example this week I can see her pushing very hard to limit her eating - taking every meal, but getting only about 75% of the exchanges. This struggle gets very old for me and she can be very argumentative and manipulative. I know I have to be tough, but I don't want to push so hard that we lose the trust we now have. Any advice?

Sorry your local program was ineffective. Can you look into a support group? I go to ANAD (Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders), and I know of another one called EDA (Eating Disorders Anonymous). You can find them on-line.

Thanks for the response. Yes, we do go to a support group (one for family, one for my daughter on her own). I also try to go to support groups held at the hospital in Berkeley, which provide a lot of information - but knowing how hard to push and when to not push is often difficult. M

Introduce some Non-scary foods, is she into tofu at all? Tofu and vegetables on soba noodles yum! Lot's of lean proteins and good sustaining complex carbs, healthy dinners! Pick foods that are easily digested. For anorexics recovering the physical feelings can be awful, bloating and constipation.It really must make them not want to eat.