Eating Disorders + Body Image with Type 1 Diabetes
2022-04-21
Type 1 diabetes forces us to watch every crumb we eat. This constant focus on food can easily lead to disordered eating, struggles with body image and an overall funky relationship with food.
Common struggles around food and type 1 diabetes might include: binge-eating during every low blood sugars, purging after eating, restricting your calorie intake, or skipping insulin doses. If you are struggling in any way with your relationship with food, you’re not alone.
Here are resources to help you find treatment for disordered eating as a person with diabetes:
Diabulimia + Eating Disorders 101


What is Diabulimia?
What are the warning signs of the type 1 eating disorder "diabulimia"? What are the best forms of treatment? What behaviors or psychological characteristics can put a person with Type 1 at a higher risk for developing it?

Help Your Loved One with a Type 1 Diabetes Eating Disorder
Drawing on a series of recent interviews and over fifteen years of research and clinical experience with this unique phenomenon, author Ann Goebel-Fabbri provides groundbreaking insight into the lives of women who have recovered from eating disorders in type 1 diabetes.

Know the Signs: Eating Disorders + T1D
Having Type 1 diabetes is already difficult, and can be greatly exacerbated by an eating disorder, as Sara Mobäck discusses in this interview with BT1.

Prevalence & Treatment of Eating Disorders in Type 1 Diabetes
Learn why People with type 1 diabetes are significantly more likely to develop an eating disorder than their non-diabetic peers, and the most effective treatment approaches.Your Relationship with Food


Has Type 1 Diabetes Affected Your Relationship with Food?
There’s no denying that type 1 diabetes affects how we think, feel, and behave around food. Read a few tips and experiences from fellow T1Ds.

5 Tips to Stop Over-Treating Low Blood Sugars
Low blood sugars are the worst—but what makes them even more miserable is the desperate urge to eat everything in sight. Here are a few tips to help you break this habit.Diabulimia Recovery


Honesty: How this Type 1 Overcame Diabulimia
In a fit of rebellion and rage, I stopped taking all of my necessary insulin and started keeping my blood sugars high on purpose. What started out as an attempt to avoid having low blood sugars became a dangerous eating disorder that nearly cost me everything.

What to Expect During Recovery From Diabulimia
In your path to recovery from diabulimia, here are a few things to expect and prepare for. This path isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.

How Inhaled Insulin Helped Me Recover From Diabulimia
Cynthia Celt struggled with diabulimia — a life-threatening eating disorder — for nearly 20 years before she started using inhaled insulin.Diabulimia Stories


My Type 1 Truth: Shedding Light on Diabulimia
As Amy passed her 20-year anniversary of living with type 1 diabetes, she recounts her type 1 truth and shares her experience with diabulimia.

Life with a T1D Eating Disorder
Shelby Charles lived with type 1 diabetes for years and used it as a weight loss tool before understanding just dangerous her habits had become.

Diagnosis + Diabulimia: QiQi’s Journey
Eating disorders aren't discussed much in the diabetes world. Qiana shares her story about diabulimia to normalize the discussion about eating disorders.

Community Table: Eating Disorders + Diabetes
Every month, all year long, Beyond Type 1 will be hosting conversations around under-discussed issues facing the diabetes community. January featured a conversation about Eating Disorders and Diabetes, recapped here.Body Image + Body Dysmorphia


I Don’t Want to Hate My Body Anymore
As a nursing student, I understand what the lack of care towards this disease can do to a human being. I also am well aware that no one is invincible and anyone can be taken at the drop of a hat by this disease.

Body Image and Type 1 Diabetes
Erika Arff discusses body image and how it relates to type 1 diabetes.

Surviving an Eating Disorder with Type 1 Diabetes
Julie Vagle struggled with an eating disorder and her stress was compounded by a T1D diagnosis. She had to undergo recovery in order to make peace with both.

Body Image + Stigma in Diabetes
Four panelists discuss body image and stigma they have faced in the diabetes community as part of the Beyond Type 1 September Summits.

Years I’ll Never Get Back: Body Dysmorphia, Type 1 Diabetes and Self-Love
Loving my body was hard—it shouldn’t have been. TRIGGER WARNING: This story includes a personal account of disordered eating while living with type 1 diabetes.
