• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Newly diagnosed / eating disorder/ feelings of shame

M

Miss_Toria

Newbie
I was diagnosed this week with type 2 diabetes. I’m feeling Ive done this to myself. I have binge eating disorder and I’m overweight. Feeling very alone at the min. Part of treatment for binge eating disorder is not to diet. But that’s the treatment for diabetes to get it under control. I feel I am going to be pulled in all directions.
 
Hi @Miss_Toria and welcome!

Sounds like you’re having a rough time.

I am in no way an expert in this area, but it may well be worth exploring with your doctor or whoever is treating your binge eating disorder what is and isn’t possible. While diet is important for managing type 2, it is about a way of eating rather than restricting food intake. What I mean by that is that you remove or reduce carbohydrates from your diet but replace them with either protein, fat or above ground vegetables. The aim is to reduce blood sugar levels - weight loss is often, but not always, a side effect.


Edited to correct typo
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the forum. Firstly, you did not do this to yourself. Do you know what your hba1c was?

The low carb high fat or keto way of eating ate more ways of eating rather then diets.

What sort of food do you like to eat, maybe we can suggest alternatives for you.
 
It is a tricky time. I was a binger in my time (I also purged) but can also say now that I am free from those urges and weight stable. I still don't weigh myself but that is the only residual behaviour from my 15 years of disordered eating.
I think it helps not to be too hard on yourself in terms of expectations of NOT slipping up. We all do and the threat of future complications isn't enough to dissuade us in that moment that you make a bad choice!
But you will need to practice and practice making better choices. Every choice is a chance to kick the carb addiction that's given you this issue into the kerb and the more you eat high quality fresh foods, the less tempting the junk will seem even if that seems improbable now. If you start a binge then keep thinking of what you can do right now to make a better choice rather than thinking 'I've blown it and I will be good tomorrow/Monday/2021!'
Rather than any very restrictive diet, I'd advise 'Prioritise protein, fill up on fat and careful on carbs' as a good mantra to keep your blood sugars stable and keep you feeling full. Eating like this is a tactic to prevent you getting physical food cravings but you do need to deal with the emotional side of this too.
For your mindset I've found Robert Cywes (aka the carb addiction doctor) good on YouTube.
Primal Potential also taught me a lot as it is much more about mindset for moving away from emotional eating towards taking responsibility for your choices. A lot of this stuff is free but she also does a great 12 week course which I have done and really bennfitted from. She is a a formerly obese US woman who really gets binge eating IMO!
 
I used to binge eat and still do occasionally but on low carb foods.
The way I managed to get low carb was to think about foods I'd miss or that I crave and find substitutes. So mainly toast, cake, rice and chocolate!
But I also focused on foods I can now have without feeling guilty - extra cheese, butter on my veg, cream, oil based dressings.
I hope you can also focus on all the things you can eat that felt like guilt foods before.

At first I'd buy those small packs of cheeses and keep them at eye height in the fridge so if I wanted to snack they were the first thing to hand. 20g of cheddar sometimes got rid of the cravings for sweet food. If it didn't I have small portions of low carb treats in the freezer, ice cream or low carb/keto cake. I'd also make sure I had hard boiled eggs, chicken or ham ready to snack on.

I am fine with cauliflower rice with low carb curries, now eat the meat and pasta sauce alone or just with cheese, and I buy a small loaf of low carb bread that lasts me two weeks or longer by eating lettuce or ham wrap sandwiches in between. I also make 90 second keto bread with a mix of ground almonds and milled flaxseed - which is great toasted with cheese or a little sugar free marmalade.

I still eat some chocolate but only no added sugar or good quality 85% dark (eg Lindt or Hotel Chocolat) - I've never managed to eat a whole bar of dark the way I could with cheaper milk chocolate.

And part of the goods news is that even eating more fat then I'd had for years my cholesterol still improved, particularly my triglycerides which had been too high.
 
If you love to snack, then there are some really tasty low carb options out there. The Curators "Pork Puffs" have a similar flavour to pork scratchings, but are more like Quavers in texture, so you don't break your teeth on them. The only pitfall is that the specialist foods tend to be a lot more expensive than the regular equivalents.

If you live alone or with someone supportive, then perhaps you can just avoid having high carb foods in the house (says me with a freezer full of bread.) But there's also getting into the mindset that, as someone struggling to reduce blood glucose, non-fibre carbs are just as bad for you as you've always been told sugar was. And they come from the most surprising of places: 6 teaspoons of sugar's worth in one slice of white bread (edit: 2 slices) and about 5 in the wholemeal that people keep telling you that you should be eating instead.

Food is quite possibly the hardest addiction to break. It's not as though you can just stop 'using' it, as you can with alcohol and other drugs. With the need to eat comes the temptation to over-eat and to eat the wrong things. And what does an addict do when they get bad news? They go straight to their crutch. So be wary of that while you're naturally stressed over your current situation.
 
Last edited:
Hi there @Miss_Toria , and welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry you're feeling pretty bewildered and lost at the moment. I'm sure, given a little time, things will get easier. Sometimes it's just not easy to see that.

Within our membership, we have quite a number of people who are either living with an eating disorder (ED) now, or in the past. That includes myself. My challenge was a good going anorexia - albeit a long time before my diagnosis. I do still remember, very clearly, how being in the grasp of an ED made me feel and how it made me view life.

It was a terribly tough time (so, you have my sympathy and empathy), but some years on, I often say it was the making of me. Don't get me wrong;I'm not saying it was a good thing, but more that during that time I learned so much about myself and other people that I think made me a stronger person.

In terms of how you move forward? I'd urge you just to take things slowly for now. Living with diabetes is a long game. Today and tomorrow matter, but we have to think further forward than that, so there's no crashing rush right now.

I see that Nicole has suggested some reading/viewing. Well, I'd like to too.

I think sometimes when something like over-eating, under-eating, purging or whatever crop up, we think there's nobody like us, but the chances are, there are being like you, all around you.

The video is 45 minutes long, but it is entertaining, as well as being very informative:


(Just as a parting shot. Some of those commenting and responding in the video are members of this forum)

As lots of questions. That's how we all start our journeys, but please do talk to your Doc, and/or whoever helps you with your binge eating to work out a way forward.
 
Hi Miss Toria!

I too struggle with binge eating disorder and was diagnosed type 2 two years ago. I have had the same issues as you - restricting eating isn’t helpful for binge eating disorder and I have found it incredibly difficult. I still sometimes slip into the thought pattern of “it’s my fault because I binge so much” but as time goes on and I learn more about it all, that it slowly and surely going away.

A keto diet has really helped me, because I haven’t had to restrict on calories or meals and I can still eat well without many carbs. I have a few low carb snacks just to curb the cravings - Ryvita crackerbread is 3.8g per slice and satisfies my need for crunchy carbs. Oppo ice cream, Lindt 90%, sugar free Werthers and Proper Corn individual bags of salted popcorn also all help trick my brain into thinking we’re getting something carby and less likely to binge. For slightly higher carb value items, multipack bags of Cheetos are between 7 and 8g or carbs and hit the spot when I want crisps.

I still slip up from time to time because eating disorders can be relentless but I try to count every day that I eat well as a victory. It’s a long journey but small steps are key to making it work long term. Wishing you all the best and know you are never alone when the forum is here x
 
Hello everyone, thank you for your responses. I’ve read them all and taken note of what you have said. It’s still a lot to process and although a close family member has diabetes type 2 I’ve still a lot to learn about it in terms of myself. Legit just been given the diagnosis and some tablets. Referrals have been made for everything else. I’ll look into the various recommendations made. Thank you for your help and support.
 
@DCUKMod Thank you for posting the video. It explains something that has been puzzling me for 4 years. I was a total sugar addict but didn't realise it at the time and just thought I was hopelessly weak willed.

I started low carb/keto 4 years ago because I was so scared at how fast my diabetes complications were progressing. The first month was hard but then it became so easy. Very soon there was no way I wanted to eat sugar or carbs - in fact I could not understand how they had been so irresistible in the past.

After watching the video I now realise that it was the low carb/keto that has sorted the addiction. At the time I thought I was exaggerating when l thought of myself as going 'cold turkey ' with the sugar and carbs. Obviously I wasn't exaggerating and that is exactly what I was doing.

4 years on diabetes is resolved and low carb/keto is how I want to eat forever because I feel so good on it. There is no way, especially after watching the video, that I want to ever risk being a sugar and carb addict again.
 

I do love that video for so many reasons, but for those at the beginning of their journey, with very disordered eating, bearing whatever label, I think it is important to demonstrate that they aren't alone, and how common their situations are to a greater or lesser extent.

A feeling of isolation can be a real crippler; impacting the ability to drive change.
 
Last edited:
I do agree. I remember how alone I felt and how I hid the addiction from my family and friends - eating huge amounts of sugary stuff secretly.

One ploy I had was to drive into a garage on my way home from work and buy a heap of chocolate bars and eat most of them on the way home. I was served by the same young man day after day. Then this one day he said to me 'you must stop doing this because you are going to make yourself really ill'.

I was so ashamed and cried all the way home. How right he was. Some years later I was diagnosed with an hba1c of 125 and put straight on insulin.

I wasted 4 years following the guidelines to base my meals on starchy carbs and injecting insulin. Thank goodness for this site and the huge amount of help from forum members.

So now - no sugar addiction, no insulin and diabetes resolved. All thanks to this forum and low carb.
 
The sooner you can get onto a low carb high fat style of food the better you will feel in yourself. You can still have the occasional dark chocolate in moderation, but I would suggest you reduce carb intake as soon as you can. You'll notice slowly the weight will drop off and you have ample energy. After a week or so you won't have any cravings and when you walk into a supermarket you can look at all those carby foods and imagine the true sugar content and simply head down to the veggie isle and find things like eggplant, big mushrooms, leafy greens, above ground veg and your body will be satisfied and you will feel full.

I now only eat once a day and plate is full of veg and either fish or chicken. Be careful overdoing the protein, moderate intake is the way forward.

You have to look at things like this. Your life vs junk / carb foods (which will eventually lead to complications). Choose life and live it to the full on something nutritious for your body.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…