I was talking with a friend about binge eating and it made me think of diabetes (doesn’t everything?). There’s been a lot of press in the past few years about diabulimia, but no one really talks about diabetes and binge eating. I’m not talking about the diabetics are lazy fat people nonesense, but the reality of living on a restricted diet. Especially back in the 80s and before when sugar was considered deadly. I know it’s taken me a long time to come to terms with “forbidden” foods and even things like how much peanut butter I eat when I’m low. I sometimes catch myself falling into old habits where I underestimate what I ate because I ate more tortilla chips than I should, even though that’s just silly. The chips are eaten and I should dose for them and move on.
Anyway, I was just wondering what your experiences with this are. There’s so much guilt and personal responsibility about what we eat and how much and when. Do you think this is one of those really common things that we just don’t talk about?
Hi Mollyjade…There seems to be a few people on this site who know what they should and shouldn’t eat, put their health first and comply. I think most of us struggle a bit more, have good days and bad, trying to do the best we can. It is hard not to beat yourself up about it, though. I suspect that most of us are eating those chips, hopefully dosing, and wanting to do better.
I don’t think it’s a denial thing. I can’t even remember life before I was diabetic. Diabetes is normal to me. Being diagnosed at a young age (3) in the 80s is how I learned this behavior. The attitude back then was no sugar whatsoever. So obviously, no cake, but also no cereal with more than 3g of sugar, no granola bars, no carrots cooked with honey, no honey-baked ham, no whipped cream. And there were also very set meal and insulin schedules that didn’t allow for extras at mealtimes (no second helpings if you’re still hungry) and nothing between meals that wasn’t on the free exchange list. And then in the 90s, they reversed this and said, whoops, carbs are carbs. Eat your treats in moderation. And you can dose based on what you eat instead of the other way around. But by that point I’d already learned these habits of sneaking a bite of something when no one was looking.
Flo…I was diagnosed at 50 and agree about learning new tricks. However, someone brought up the point to me shortly after my diagnoses, that I was lucky to not have had prior years of potentially damaging high bs #'s, so that’s how I look at it. In the 60’s and 70’s, I doubt we would have been told much about diabetic control that we would think accurate today…it’s got to be easier for us now, at least in terms of knowledge. (Also in terms of accepting responsibility for our health…I would have been a terrible teenaged patient.) I wish that knowledge was a bit more inspiring to me. I know what to do, it’s just hard. Good luck.
Mollyjade…maybe just recognizing the cheating (and thanks for pointing it out as I do it too,) is enough to help control the behavior. It might be a long established pattern, but knowing you are prone to it, helps you be on the lookout for it and might help you alter it.
I’m not really having problems with it. I notice when I’m doing it and stop. Old habits and all. I was just wondering if this is one of those things we don’t talk about. It’s entirely possible that this is just a “me” thing.
