Thursday, July 2, 2009

A thin line

The line between eating healthy and dieting can be very thin. Eating disorders lay just around the corner. Didn't you hear the news, that the average age for people with eating disorders nowadays, is 13? Jeez... 13?! How come? Is it because us parents show our kids how important it is to eat healthy, to make sure you don't over eat? Is it the media or do the kids have skinny roll models they worship? I don't know, but it does scare me. We have two beautiful daughters and it would be devastating if they would have some sort of eating disorder. I have seen what it does to a person. Some of my friends have eating disorders and it's awful. There's nothing glamourous about it. It sucks, it really does. It takes over your life. For a long period of time, you may think you are in control, but forget it, it is the other way around. The disorder controls you and you become a slave of food, eating, not eating, throwing up, hiding food, lying about food. The scale is your best friend, but at the same time your worst enemy. It is sad, you know.. it really is..

When you are diagnosed with diabetes, a great part in good control is: food. You need to know what it does to your body and how it affects you. You must eat healthy, because diabetics are more vulnerable to heart disease than healthy people. So cut out the fat, cut out the sugars, eat your greens, exercise...

Does it surprise you that many diabetics develop some sort of eating disorder? Ever heard of diabulimia? It's the combination of diabetes and bulemia. People on insulin know that insulin is not very nice to maintain a healthy weight. It is a hormone after all. The more insulin you need, the more your weight may go up. So some diabetics use less or almost no insulin, in order to loose weight. It's absolutely wrong and very dangerous, but many people do it. If you use less insulin than your body requires, you have high blood glucose and your body starts to starve. It gets dehydrated and you may end up getting into a coma. But you're right, you will loose weight, that's for sure. That's what makes it so tricky. That's what makes it so hard to give yourself the insulin it deserves and still maintain a healthy weight. I compare it to Russian roulette. Your life is at stake if you play this game. Find help. You're not the only one out there..


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