Advice needed

[Inchindown]

How can I stick to a diabetes friendly diet when I have a binge eating disorder?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[lucylocket61]

How can I stick to a diabetes friendly diet when I have a binge eating disorder?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

do you have anyone on your mental health team you can talk to?

 

[Inchindown]

do you have anyone on your mental health team you can talk to?

I did see a psychiatrist for a while and she referred me to a psychologist. That was almost 2 years ago and I'm still waiting for an appointment.

I also saw a psychiatric nurse for a while but I didn't like the direction she was taking things so I stopped seeing her.

I've managed to reduce the number of binge events to less than 1 per day on average. But I've not been able to completely eradicate them.

 

[Antje77]

Would it be possible at all to steer your binges to lower carb foods? That wouldn't help with the bingeing of course, but it will keep your blood sugars more stable at times you cannot stop eating.
Also, have you looked into DWED, an organisation for diabetics with eating disorders?
There is a sub-forum here as well about eating disorders, which I can't find right now because I'm a bit thick with doing internet on my phone.
I wish you all the best with handling both diabetes and your eating, good luck!

 

[Mbaker]

I remember reading that if one is particularly good at meditating, the power of deep meditation can assist persons with eating and other disorders. I can't remember the technical pathway, but it could be about the control exhibited. It's worth a try as meditation is good for diabetes.

 

[bulkbiker]

What are your binge eating triggers? Is it higher carb food (which often leads to sugar peaks and the desire for more of the same)? If so purge it all from the house. Make sure you only have low carb fatty stuff so you get fuller quickly.
Mine used to be stress so I try my best to avoid it.. retirement helped a lot! Although I now find when eating a keto diet I really don't get the urge to binge any more. I'm sure it has a lot to do with carb addiction which I believe I had.

 

[DCUKMod]

I did see a psychiatrist for a while and she referred me to a psychologist. That was almost 2 years ago and I'm still waiting for an appointment.

I also saw a psychiatric nurse for a while but I didn't like the direction she was taking things so I stopped seeing her.

I've managed to reduce the number of binge events to less than 1 per day on average. But I've not been able to completely eradicate them.

Sounds like you've already made good progress, in limiting your binges. In the words of Lao Tzu, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". It sounds like you've walked some distance already.

Do your binges happen at any particular time of the day or night? Is it fair to assume you could have recognised your triggers?
I'm not asking you what those triggers are, as that could be very private, but is there anything you could do to change up around your trigger?

 

[Inchindown]

I remember reading that if one is particularly good at meditating, the power of deep meditation can assist persons with eating and other disorders. I can't remember the technical pathway, but it could be about the control exhibited. It's worth a try as meditation is good for diabetes.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not really meditation type of person.

 

[Inchindown]

What are your binge eating triggers? Is it higher carb food (which often leads to sugar peaks and the desire for more of the same)? If so purge it all from the house. Make sure you only have low carb fatty stuff so you get fuller quickly.
Mine used to be stress so I try my best to avoid it.. retirement helped a lot! Although I now find when eating a keto diet I really don't get the urge to binge any more. I'm sure it has a lot to do with carb addiction which I believe I had.

I don't really binge on anything in the house. I tend not to keep food in the house that can be eaten without cooking.
I just get the urge to binge and I get in the car and head to the local shop and buy a bag full of stuff .

 

[bulkbiker]

I don't really binge on anything in the house. I tend not to keep food in the house that can be eaten without cooking.
I just get the urge to binge and I get in the car and head to the local shop and buy a bag full of stuff .

Get someone to hide the car keys.. would having to walk to the shops put you off?

 

[Inchindown]

Sounds like you've already made good progress, in limiting your binges. In the words of Lao Tzu, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". It sounds like you've walked some distance already.

Do your binges happen at any particular time of the day or night? Is it fair to assume you could have recognised your triggers?
I'm not asking you what those triggers are, as that could be very private, but is there anything you could do to change up around your trigger?

Almost all of my binges happen late in the morning. All my other meals are normal.

I just seem to have got into a rut at that time of day. Not really sure how it started, but the feeling I get just before the binge is exactly the same as I used to get when I tried to stop smoking.

It's just a painful urge which increases in intensity the longer I try resist it. Some days I win and some days I lose.

 

[lucylocket61]

I don't really binge on anything in the house. I tend not to keep food in the house that can be eaten without cooking.
I just get the urge to binge and I get in the car and head to the local shop and buy a bag full of stuff .

I understand, and even if I dont actually binge, I have the hours of cravings and emptiness and distress to deal with. It is very hard. Sometimes I win the battle, sometimes i dont. I wish I had some wise words to fix this for you (and me), but I can only offer you solidarity and companionship over this.

Sometimes it helps if I get out a pen and paper and write down all I am feeling and thinking in a mad jumble and then have a big glass of water while reading what I have written, and often that leads to both tears (or similar release of emotion) and a clue to what is going on and what triggered me. Would anything similar help perhaps? Sometimes I draw out my feeling too. I have ME so cant work my emotion/binge attack out, but remove myself to another room to change my surroundings. Or put on music to drown out and distract the feeling of emptiness. I dont purge, I have not been a purging person.

I call them binge attacks as I feel like i am being attacked by an out of control overwhelming feeling which sweeps me away. Nowadays i can often feel one coming on and do what I said in the middle paragraph. Sometimes I just get taken over by it and swept along, and then come to myself, hours later, feeling distressed and uncomfortable. Its like I am sill there, but helpless while part of my mind takes over.

I have been diagnosed with Post traumatic Stress Disorder, and the binge eating is part of that. I am happy to share and help if you think it would be useful.

 

[lucylocket61]

@DCUKMod I see we have a section for Eating Disorders and Diabetes for type 1's. Is it possible to have one for type 2's, or is there one already and i cant find it? There seems to be several of us on here who have, or are recovering from eating disorders. Thanks.

 

[DCUKMod]

Almost all of my binges happen late in the morning. All my other meals are normal.

I just seem to have got into a rut at that time of day. Not really sure how it started, but the feeling I get just before the binge is exactly the same as I used to get when I tried to stop smoking.

It's just a painful urge which increases in intensity the longer I try resist it. Some days I win and some days I lose.

Inchindown, what happens if you are busy before lunch? Does the urge not happen, or do you have to drive through it, then binge later?

I'm not asking you to write about everything that happens, because the open forum maybe isn't the best place for that, but more to ask you to consider that. I think where I'm going with it is would reordering you day be helpful or even possible?

 

[ringi]

Try eating a steak and egg when you want to binge, repeat after 20 minutes if needed. This will rresult in you filling full up and will not imcrease your BG much.

 

[Inchindown]

Get someone to hide the car keys.. would having to walk to the shops put you off?

I live on my own and the dog won't cooperate.

As for walking, it's a 9 mile round trip to the nearest shop so walking is definitely not an option.

 

[bulkbiker]

I live on my own and the dog won't cooperate.

As for walking, it's a 9 mile round trip to the nearest shop so walking is definitely not an option.

Ok so.. what do you have for breakfast if you have it?.. is that what is causing the late morning problems?Also what do you consider to be a diabetes friendly diet?

 

[ringi]

I live on my own and the dog won't cooperate.

As for walking, it's a 9 mile round trip to the nearest shop so walking is definitely not an option.

Have you asked your dog what they think about the walking option.......

 

[Inchindown]

Try eating a steak and egg when you want to binge, repeat after 20 minutes if needed. This will rresult in you filling full up and will not imcrease your BG much.

Thanks for the suggestion.

The trouble is that if I had 2 steaks and a box of eggs in the fridge, I'm just as likely to eat the whole lot in a single sitting.

My strategy is to buy exactly what I need for each meal. I very rarely binge when I do this. If I have to buy more than is needed for a single meal I throw the surplus out.

That works for breakfast, dinner and a late snack. But I just can't seem to achieve the same level of control for lunchtime food.

It's in the couple of hours before lunch that I have most difficulty resisting the binge urges.

 

[Inchindown]

Inchindown, what happens if you are busy before lunch? Does the urge not happen, or do you have to drive through it, then binge later?

I'm not asking you to write about everything that happens, because the open forum maybe isn't the best place for that, but more to ask you to consider that. I think where I'm going with it is would reordering you day be helpful or even possible?

The points you raise are not easy for me to answer.

Well I'm never really busy as I'm retired and have been since 1994 when I had to give up work on health grounds. I'm now 67 and was diagnosed with T2 a little over a year ago.

Having been retired for 24 years I seem to have outlived my hobbies and my general state of health prevents me from being too active.

So it's entirely possible that boredom and comfort eating lie at the core of my problems. I just don't seem able at the moment to change my behaviour so that binge eating is less of a problem.

I've been a binge eater for far longer than I've been a diabetic. I just find it hard to deal with both conditions at the same time.