Yesterday I was reading Scott Johnson's blog from dlife about diabetes and eating disorders. This is a topic that really hit home for me because I understand the preoccupation a lot of diabetics have with food.
Scott said, "I grew up using Regular and NPH insulin. These two types of insulin had some pretty nasty and awkwardly timed peaks that forced me to eat at certain times of the day, rather than when I was hungry."
I have the same problem...I was only on multiple injections like this for a year, but I feel like it really messed up my hunger instincts. I still feel as if I always have to eat snacks, even when I'm not hungry. I remember having to eat 80-90gram of carbohydrates at lunchtime that first year....that's a lot of food! I still feel like I have to eat that much food! It's so hard!
Another problem I have is knowing so much about everything I'm putting into my mouth. I'm constantly looking at nutrition labels, so I see everything fact about the food- the calories, the fat, the sodium........it's enough to make you crazy. Once you know so much about the food you were planning on eating, it almost makes you not want to eat it anymore. Thankfully, as I'm learning more and more about nutrition in my nutrition classes, I haven't really been having this problem as often. I'm eating mainly healthy foods now as opposed to processed junk.
The fact that diabetics are so capable of developing eating disorders scares me! Food is such a large part of diabetes management and shouldn't become an unhealthy habit. Although this is a scary topic, I'm happy that it's finally being talked about. Hopefully we can find a way to help diabetics, specifically teenage girls, better deal with it!
YAY! I'll add you to my blog roll.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a huge topic...even in managing Joe I find that once he boluses himself or I bolus him...we can get into a power struggle over food. He will get close to finishing what he is eating and then tell me he cannot eat the rest. I will then respond, "but we bolused you for it". Sometimes he will finish it and sometimes I make up the carb difference with milk, starbursts, juice, or glucose tabs. This does not happen often...like maybe once or twice a week.
I also see that my daughter could be at rist for some unhealthy food habits through all of this as well. I definitely ask her to go without or we all "sneak" extra carbs...when Joe isn't looking. I have been trying to get better about this...when Joe was 3,4,and 5 years old it was tough to manage the food component for sure.
I like that you stick to healthy whole foods. I try like heck to avoid processed junk for the kids. Joe eats a fair amount of carbs, but for the most part they are good carbs.