My thoughts on Minnie Maud (the homeodynamic recovery method)

Minnie Maud, also known as the all-in method or the homeodynamic recovery method (HDRM), is a do-it-yourself approach to eating disorder  (ED) recovery.

I attempted to recover from my eating disorder on my own, because eating disorder recovery is expensive. I wound up in the hospital because my body couldn’t handle the sudden amount of food. 🤢

I didn’t think I was that sick, so I didn’t think I’d need any kind of medical intervention.

What is Minnie Maud?

Minnie Maud is an at-home eating disorder treatment plan created by Gwenyth “Gwyn” Olwyn, a regular everyday person…ish.

Gwyn was forced to stop updating her website and putting out eating disorder guides after a BBB review. She’s not a doctor — she impersonated one. She’s never had an eating disorder, either.

Community = cult

When Gwyn was active, she had forums. You couldn’t dispute any of her claims with more recent science (her studies were all dated what would now be considered 30 years ago). She was quick to shut all of that down.

The more into Minnie Maud you were, the more you were celebrated…except you could never reach remission. You had to continue on with it. There was no point at which you were done with the program.

Any doubt you had about Gwyn or the program was a personal failure. You had to accept her method as the truth without fact-checking. She’s on a pedestal and more knowledgeable than anyone else in eating disorders, despite not having had proper training or personal experience with them herself.

Oddly, the program promised to stop your obsession with food, but people were even more obsessed about it. Community members were referred to using food-related terms of endearment, like “sweet pea” or “cupcake”.

Debunking Minnie Maud has more evidence of this so-called ED treatment program’s community being a cult. There are still cult members who actively publish about Minnie Maud and encourage dangerous behaviors, like Follow the Intuition.

Proponents of Minnie Maud encourage a new kind of disordered eating: faux restrictive ED recovery.

Minnie Maud pros

1. Makes refeeding fun

The refeeding process of eating disorder recovery is when you start eating again or start eating enough. “Eating enough” is quite subjective, as all bodies are different.

The homeodynamic recovery method encourages patients to eat what they want. Ergo, people utilizing Minnie Maud to the fullest get to eat whatever they want.

Eating pints of ice cream has been THE most helpful atypical anorexia recovery hack I’ve ever seen — and ice cream is my go-to when I can’t be bothered to eat solids.

Like, I actually did get a lot of decent advice for the refeeding process from Minnie Maud that I don’t know I would have gotten through medical professionals.

Many Minnie Maud refeeding tips regarding the foods to eat are accessible to me as an autistic person with sensory sensitivities.

Instead of punishing me for not being able to handle the textures of meat a lot of the time, Minnie Maud says, “Go forth and eat what works for you.”

In 2020, I ate a lot of Halo Top because the calorie counts were on the package, and it was “easy” for me because ice cream is more liquid. I know this brand is associated with dieting; I perceived it differently and loved it for a different reason.

2. Challenged typical ED recovery standards

Eating disorder (ED) recovery would still include some form of restriction — some “eat this, not that” or even doctors fearful of their patients’ weight gain.

You know, nothing that helps eating disorder patients recover from their illness.

Ten years ago, no one challenged that. Now, though, registered dieticians challenge diet culture and the way it permeates eating disorder recovery treatment plans.

I fired a psychiatrist

I believe doctors I allow to treat me are on the team that is keeping me alive and well. I treat them as such. They’re not above me just because they’re a doctor.

The autistic part of me couldn’t care less for hierarchy. 🙄

I fired my first psychiatrist because

1. He was sooo focused on me NOT gaining weight in recovery
2. He encouraged me to exercise, even when I told him that my muscles and body ached even more from the movement
3. He made food rules, i.e. telling me not to eat more than 2000cal per day, eat organic

In other words, he was not working towards keeping me alive and well — he was enabling my eating disorder.

His recommendations were also extremely basic; I didn’t feel like I was receiving proper care. I worried his attitude would drive me back into severe restriction.

I switched to someone else who listened to me and actually understood.

A few years after, I hired a dietician to create meal plans for me based on what I could eat.

Calories are the LAST thing anorexics in recovery should be focusing on.

3. Makes ED treatment accessible

Minnie Maud provides a decent guide for recovery to those who cannot afford official medical treatment.

What too few everyday people understand is that eating disorders are both mental and physical illnesses.

“Just seeking therapy” isn’t going to resolve it. In my experience, therapy made my recovery worse because talking and thinking about food made me want food less.

It also didn’t result in me eating. Beyond that, I did actually need medical assistance when I first began recovery because I was so malnourished.

However, I didn’t always have insurance or the ability to pay for my medical expenses. Minnie Maud filled the gaps when I needed a program between medical intervention.

Some people have claimed to have recovered using HDRM and found better food freedom with the methods than they did in a facility. I presume this is the case because treatment facilities often focus on eating the “right” way, so you try to be a good patient.

Few eating disorder treatment protocols in practice today qualify as evidence-based, likely because doctors don’t know enough about eating disorders.

I think most people think of anorexia nervosa when they think of anorexia or eating disorders, even though atypical anorexia nervosa is more common.

Many people are baffled to find that my recovery didn’t consist of feeding tubes, and I even thought I wasn’t “sick enough” because I didn’t need them.

4. No exercising

Something the all-in method gets right is banning exercise.

The biggest thing in anorexia is movement. Being autistic, I stim, which doesn’t help matters. I find my body automatically stims even more when it’s starving, though — an attempt to self-regulate despite unfulfilled needs.

I’ve seen critics discount Minnie Maud because there’s no exercise. Even my family criticized literal doctor’s orders for me not to exercise during my own recovery.

It’s like…this concept of not exercising is perceived as becoming “never exercise again”.

I think people don’t understand how exercising

• enables eating disorders or
• can easily undo all attempts at recovering from anorexia.

Minnie Maud cons

There are far more cons to the all-in method. They are my case against Minnie Maud.

1. Heavy focus on calories

Minnie Maud is an outpatient eating disorder treatment program, with minimum caloric intake guidelines. These caloric guidelines are based on the US Dietary Guidelines, which have since been deemed problematic by anti-diet culture.

In anorexia remission, I’m capable of eating 2500-3500cal/day without undereating. I have a high metabolism when I’m eating “enough”, but then get hungrier and need more food to compensate for the high metabolism.

3000 calories is what it takes for my menstrual cycle to return and stick. Anything below that, and my cycle is amiss. The only way I make this happen is through shakes, smoothies, juice and grazing throughout the day.

I’m fairly active. I’m autistic and have a lot of vestibular stims, plus I love dance — so I expel a lot of energy throughout the day, even when I’m sedentary.

Minnie Maud encourages eating as high as 10,000 calories if you’re that hungry. This is a dangerously high caloric intake.

It also encourages you to focus on calories — so you’re still obsessing over them, even if it’s “just a different way”! Your main focus remains on how much food you’re eating.

Your brain starts to obsess over eating more, especially when it feels good, because…what? Someone on the internet who managed to do a lot of research told you it was a good idea?

Instead of a literal doctor who can make sure you’re not going to suffer from heart complications during recovery? (Yes, that’s a thing that can totally happen, and it’s not fun. It can also lead to sudden death!)

Rapid weight gain risks

Rapid weight gain, even if you were underweight, causes serious health issues if not monitored properly. A person cannot simply start eating after not consuming many calories the last few days.

I started vomiting a few hours after DIYing the re-feeding process. I ate a little, then a lot, because I was so hungry. But I woke up with extreme chest pain, a fast heartbeat, and the inability to keep down even water.

My grandmother tried to talk me out of going to the hospital, but I knew something was wrong.

The hospital didn’t know how to treat eating disorders, so I was discharged after a few hours and sent with two juice boxes, two sandwiches, two Jell-o cups, and a bag of chips…and referrals for luxury eating disorder recovery clinics.

I found an outpatient one per a recommendation from a nurse and began recovery…and it was extremely different from what I’d read about Minnie Maud — but also similar in some aspects.

The all-in method appeals to people with restrictive eating disorders who, for whatever reason, cannot pursue official treatment.

3. Doesn’t make you face fear foods

Fear foods are foods you avoid due to calorie count, fat intake, or some other lie your eating disorder told you.

When you’re autistic and anorexic, foods you avoid due to sensory sensitivities are often ignored by professionals who think your eating disorder-ridden self is just being manipulative. 😢

Foods I avoided because I was scared of gaining weight were ice cream, pizza, butter, cream cheese, various desserts, and whipped cream.

Ice cream and pizza, I fell into fast because

1. “Pizza has all the food groups”, my psychiatrist said (and even my dietician)
2. Ice cream = liquid = easier to digest during the early days of the refeeding process

Living with my cousin, I ate a lot of cream cheese without even knowing it. 🥴 Butter took me some time, even though I was fine having foods with butter.

My main butter qualms were/are buttered toast with(out) jam. I hope that I’ll be able to truly enjoy this treat again one day; for now, my brain finds it repulsive except during extreme hunger. 🙈

4. DIY outpatient ED recovery

Attempting to fix an eating disorder by yourself is dangerous.

Knowing you engage in disordered eating behaviors is good. After all, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem!

Depending on the severity of your eating disorder’s effects on your body, you might be able to go through outpatient treatment since you’re willing to recover.

This is all conjecture and subjective, though. I’m not a doctor — I only have personal experience with the anorexia recovery process.

I also have tried out Minnie Maud, and it didn’t well because it’s a bad recovery plan based on the Minnesota Starvation Experiment (1944-1945).

No family-based treatment (FBT)

One underrated, often ignored benefit of pursuing official eating disorder intervention: Your family is educated by literal professionals about eating disorders.

Your therapist, psychiatrist and anyone else on your ED recovery team become your advocates. Their job is to help you recover and literally save your life.

Your family may hinder that process, in turn enabling your eating disorder to continue — so your medical team steps up and says, “No,” because you can’t and you won’t.

Real ED recovery involves your family having to learn about it OR you quickly developing the audacity to put up a boundary that prevents them from butting in.

Legitimate ED recovery treatment exposes you to people who help you develop that audacity. They encourage you to use it to shut down anything that threatens your recovery.

I think a lot of people go into Minnie Maud hoping it will 💯 cure their eating disorder. However, there is no cure to eating disorders, — only remission, where you eat food freely and without any rules.

5. It’s dangerous.

Honoring your extreme hunger and consuming loads of calories after a day or more of restriction is dangerous.

Your body is lacking nutrients needed to digest food properly. Your electrolytes are probably all out of whack.

An electrolyte imbalance prevents your body from functioning properly. This means it needs to be balanced, not high or low. Otherwise, serious problems may occur.

6. Lack of complete recovery process

A lot more goes into recovering from a restrictive eating disorder than “just eating”:

1. You have to heal your relationship with food. You have to learn that food is food and has no morals.
2. Your vitals need to be monitored. If a doctor doesn’t think they’re too bad, OK.
3. You need to eat according to a plan and gradually increase.

7. You will need to recover from Minnie Maud

Minnie Maud is so appealing to people who know they have a problem, or even people who don’t know, because it’s still disordered eating.

You don’t work through any of the mental-related aspects — you enable them.

With the HDRM, you’re still obsessing over food. Food is still in control of your life. You’re obsessing over calorie counting. ED recovery doesn’t involve calorie counting. That’s for your doctor and dietician to worry about — not you.

People with eating disorders are incapable of overseeing/managing their recovery themselves. They don’t have the ability to think clearly.

Only when you get to “the other side” of that — the ability to look back and realize how out of your mind you truly were — might you agree. Your ED prevents you from thinking logically.

Firm boundaries are necessary in ED recovery. You don’t need to become an “ED recovery warrior” yourself — you need people who will do that for you. Your ED is a wolf in sheep’s clothing in recovery, and only professionals know how to pull it out.

Minnie Maud alternatives

Critics of Minnie Maud and the homeodynamic recovery method say its creator, Gwenyth Olwyn, draws from pseudoscience.

Here are recommendations based on real science and expertise, for all budgets.

1. Hire a dietician

Dieticians have strict guidelines and get certified. Nutritionists often don’t need as much as dieticians do.

Seeking out a dietician who specializes in restrictive eating disorder recovery may be a long game, but is helpful if you can afford it.

A dietician can order labs to monitor your blood levels and create meal plans around your nutritional and special dietary needs.

I enjoyed worked 1:1 with a dietician, because I felt like I had more autonomy and choices than simply being told what to eat or else. I’m autistic and not going to make all my food from scratch, so I got meal plans that honored my need for frozen foods, microwave meals, etc.

2. The Plate-by-Plate Approach

DIYing eating disorder recovery on your own is dangerous, so definitely seek out a licensed medical professional before you go into anything yourself.

My dietician used the Plate-by-Plate approach on me, which I continue to use even after my time with her ended.

Planning meals for me has always been difficult, but meal planning in anorexia recovery is harder. I never considered what nutrients exactly I’d need before, and I didn’t even know I needed certain nutrients until I began recovering.

Visual meal planning

The Plate-by-Plate approach is visual, and there are two “levels”.

You can adjust amounts based on your preferences and eat more of something if you want to! It’s not about restriction; the visuals are there to help you be mindful about the plate when planning your meals.

Recommended by ED recovery specialists

Unlike Minnie Maud, the Plate-by-Plate Approach is recommended by eating disorder recovery specialists. Some ED recovery facilities even use it.

There are also studies and research supporting the Plate-by-Plate Approach.

How it works

You need a 10-inch plate to start and will be filling the entire plate.

There are two plate templates, which Christine Byrne, a registered dietician nutritionist, explains well.

3. Therapy

You need therapy. You need SOMEONE who is stronger, louder and more persistent than your eating disorder.

Eating disorders are like cancerous tumors that take up residence in your brain and affect your thinking capabilities. You can’t reason as well with them. It’s not 100% you.

Tabitha Farrar is a major ED recovery advocate offers 1:1 eating disorder coaching. Her blog is also a priceless resource.

Tabitha’s posts are more direct — something I needed, from someone who knew what it was like, before I even knew I needed it.

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Lots of people want to be unicorns in ED recovery, but no one is. Please don’t attempt to overcome this obstacle without proper help.

I didn’t have supportive family during my early ED recovery days. Even now, I only have one relative who is adamant about me recovering from atypical anorexia. 👀

If I had had to rely on my family to help me recover, I would have died by now. My family is all about

• yo-yo dieting,
• trying out the latest fad and
• giving food morals.

Worse, they believed I needed to eat less.

“You’re in this situation in the first place because you eat too much junk.” ~ a relative

That was when I realized they only saw what they wanted to see and based their perception of me on their own faults.

DIY eating disorder recovery didn’t work for me then.

It works for me now somewhat, when I relapse, because I do actually want to recover and know well enough what I need to do in order to do so. I practice intuitive eating and do my best. When I’m financially capable, I will hire a dietician again.

What are your thoughts on Minnie Maud or the all-in ED recovery method?