Each body has different fuel needs based on a combination of genetics, energy level and stage of recovery. During the beginning of your recovery, your meals and snacks are planned specifically for your individual needs to heal your body and brain. Compare this stage of nutritional rehabilitation to physical therapy when you are rehabilitating your muscles after an injury. Following a progressive plan that builds from staff-dependent to more independent moves, your physical therapy helps restore your muscles and body to its normal functions. Likewise, nutritional therapy is rehabilitating your body and brain, and normalizing the function of hunger and fullness cues as it heals. As you begin taking over the portioning of your own meals and snacks, simple but flexible guidelines will continue building the foundation from which you can experience how different fuel groups nurture your body. As you grow stronger in your recovery, and your hunger and fullness signals are working for you again, you will be able to notice how each different combination of fuel groups meets your nourishment and pleasure needs. You will be able to move away from guidelines towards the recovery goal of eating intuitively.