Binge eating

[lauren1993x]

Hello i’m new here. I have been type 1 for 24 years and over the past 2 years i have been struggling with binging on junk food, having chocolate as a meal and snacking on not just one biscuit but 5/6 at a time.
This all began when i was having a rubbish time with ex leading to emotional eating this is still occuring altho im happily single and living back home.
Has anyone been in the same boat as me and has any advice

 

[rebrascora]

I binged and comfort ate for many, many years before diagnosis with diabetes (6 years ago). Going low carb has helped me enormously to regain some considerable control over the cravings. Basically, the more carbs I ate, the more I wanted. The less carbs I have now, the less I crave them and I mean all carbs not just chocolate etc. So bread, pasta rice breakfast cereal, tatties and I really don't find it difficult to avoid these foods anymore on an everyday basis, although it did take some getting my head around at first.
I was misdiagnosed as Type 2 initially, so I put a really significant amount of dietary effort into pushing it into remission through low carb. Of course as a Type 1 I was never going to achieve that, but by the time I was correctly diagnosed I found there had been so many health benefits from going low carb that I decided to stick with it. I do occasionally have bread or a biscuit or a couple of roast spuds or even a few chips although it is very infrequent and I still eat chocolate but it is at least 70% dark chocolate and I am not tempted to binge on that. But keeping my carbs low (about 70-100g a day) along with regular exercise really helps me control the binging because I mostly just don't get the cravings anymore, but if I eat more carbs it's very easy for me to return to my former ways. I guess I am an all or nothing person and there are lots of delicious and filling low carb things to eat once you start experimenting so it isn't like I find it hard, just a bit more planning required.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear you’ve been experiencing some challenges with your eating patterns @lauren1993x

It can be so difficult when going through a period of significant emotional upheaval, and food can be a way of offsetting some of that, and seeking comfort, control, or escape.

T1 in itself carries risk od developing disordered eating, because of the peculiar way we have to interact with food, and our much more complex relationship with it post-diagnosis.

The great thing is that you’ve identified that there’s something about your eating that you aren’t happy about. That’s a signficant step towards addressing it, and making progress towards a resolution.

You may find some resources from a specialist charity like BEAT may give you some strategies. They won’t be diabetes-specific, but may offer some useful thoughts?

The UK's Eating Disorder Charity - Beat

Struggling with an eating disorder? Caring for someone who is? Beat is here to support you.

www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk

 

[Inka]

Welcome @lauren1993x 🙂 I had two EDs. I found that it was a vicious circle: eating chocolate, biscuits, etc, and eating irregularly caused imbalance and instability that then made me crave more of the very things that were contributing to the problem.

My advice is to try to gradually introduce more balanced meals and snacks, even if you start out small. Over time you’ll then find that the urge to binge greatly reduces.