I NEEED ADVICE!! could IF work for me? + t1 diabetes page

[SarahEmily]

Hey everyone, I better introduce my-self... My name is Sarah and I am 22 years old =) I think that when I post my primal success story it's going to be the best one ever, because I have def. had my fair share of troubles when it comes to food/weight/health. I began my paleo journey about a year ago and feel like I am only beginning to break the ice on figuring this stuff out for me.

I have been toying with the possibilities of IF over the past few days as I think it might suit me and my lifestyle.

First off, i'll just give a quick/long background on my-self.

I have type one diabetes, I have celiac disease and I also have binge eating disorder... Since I was a young child I have never been a bird-like eater or a picky eater. I was always the one to finish everything on their plate, as a teen I was always struggling to not eat the last of the food on the plate (I think this is mainly because I restricted my food at other times during the day, so when meal time came around it would be a chore for me not to eat it all plus desert). During my teens I maintained a healthy weight 130 pounds at 5'4. As my frame is def at the upper end of medium size this was a pretty healthy weight for me.

Skip to my late teens (17ish) I developed an eating disorder and dropped to my lowest and ever since this time I have suffered from a series of eating disorders... over-exercising was first, slowly bulimia phased it, then as my body could no longer exercise so much I ended up back at about 130 lbs where I started.... but this didn't last long as I discovered if I skipped my insulin I could eat all I wanted (actually the sweeter the better for weight loss) and lose tonnes of weight. I dropped back down over 4 months with exercise aswell (I was binging alot!!!). Then I began binging so much that even skipping my insulin was not enough to keep the weight off... at this time I though I really needed to start giving my insulin again as skipping it was just giving me a reason to binge (and was also life threatning... ). I decided to really focus on getting control of my type 1 diabetes just over a year ago from now and went on to an insulin pump and discovered paleo/primal eating which really changed my life and helped alot.

But my binging has still stuck with me. I have gained almost 30lbs in the past year, bringing my weight to 170lbs at 5'4. This is not a huge price to pay for the great health I now have back from the control of my diabetes, but it's alot of extra weight to lug around and I am beginning to suffer foot pain, breast pain and I am started to get stretch marks. I should also say that I try very hard not to purge now as I know it only continues the horrible cycle.

I also forgot to mention my night time eating... this seems to have gone away on its own over the past few months (since trying out whole30 eating..) but I used to get up without a doubt EVERY night and eat at around 2am since I was about 15. I got my partents to lock doors so I wouldn't do it, even had a lock put on the fridge etc and generally I would always find a way to food..... I think this was related to my diabetes (low blood sugars at 2am) and then became a habit and I would eat anything even Tuna so I think I may have been generally hungry at least sometime, I followed some guidelines on MDA actually and they really helped me, but weirdly this issue seems to have gone away on its own in the past month or so.....

I am quite sensible and after all my experience with ED's I know that restricting leads to binging and diets are not the answer. But I have also found like many people, that cutting out cakes/sweets etc has left me feeling alot better and even when I binge now it is never on cakes etc. It is generally on paleo foods. What I want is to be able to focus on a diet that will stop my binging and I am wondering if IF could help with this. I have read some very conflicting views on this site and others, some say it ended my binging, some say it started it all over again and worse.... when I read these I kept thinking that if it made your binging worse you must have still been restricting....

If I am to try IF I plan to start with a 12/14 hour fast (say 4/6pm-6am) and I plan to eat 2 meals a day (but more if i am hungry). I would make these meals relatively large and would include a decent amount of carbs into my afternoon meal as I have found it improves my sleep alot.

I am not going to do any intense cardio, but I do plan to continue lifting weights 2X per week and Yoga 1-2 times per week, and also I walk to university a couple times a week (60mins total each time). I am not going to worry about sprints right now.

My biggest problem with eating is that once I start I find it hard to stop, I have always been a fast eater, I have always been a breakfast eater (hence making the fasting time in the evening, not the morning). And I feel quite comfortable eating big meals less often, thats why I thought 2 big meals would be good.. (I always feel hungry if I am eating smaller meals). Yet even when eating 3 medium size meals a day, I often easily go from 6am-3/4pm naturally without wanting lunch.

I just want this binging to stop!! And I know it's going to be hard work and it means trying out so many different things, but I no for sure I am on to something with paleo. I want to lose weight as-well, but I am really prepared to do it very slowly. I don't want to lose it in any way that is going to cause me to binge later on and gain it back plus more.

PS futher info... I have been to therapy for this which was good at the time as it helped me with other issues but not so much with my eating disorder, I have also informed my diabetes specialist and dietician about the night-eating (of which they were very un-helpful about), I am aware that binging is not just to do with diet and hormones etc and I know that I seem to also do it out of stress/boredom sometimes.... BUT my 3 main triggers in the last year have been:

1. Blood sugars going too low or too high.
2. Night-eating and then feeling really crappy the next day so continuing to eat crappy.
3. I am actually really hungry and end up overeating... not really binging

I know this is probably the longest post ever, but what I am asking is for advice on my plan for IF.... also other peoples experiences with IF..... anyone else who has has success with primal and type1 diabetes, primal and binge eating, IF and binge eating.... I just want to hear your stories because I think advice from people who have been through this stuff is going to be much more useful to me than standard advice I get from a doctor. Thanks in advance!

[Damiana]

Take care of your bingeing disorder first before you begin an eating plan that requires you to fast IMO. I think you should try a Whole30 and cut out the sugar and crap, if that goes well for you then you might try IFing. I like to IF because my body dossier naturally but other women don't react well to it.

Oh, and throw out all your junk food. Can't binge on it if you don't have any.

[murf73]

I would second the suggestion to not fast until the eating disorder is under control. IF occurs naturally when your body really isn't hungry. Right now, with an eating disorder your body signals are probably all screwed up. Just focus on eating primally.
Also, what is your fat percentage in your diet? I've heard that eating HFLC (like 65-75%) helps binge eating disorders. There is a thread on this forum about the ketosis challenge. I would look into that. But don't do fasting until you've healed your mind and body and your body can give you honest signals.

[lemontwisst]

...as a teen I was always struggling to not eat the last of the food on the plate (I think this is mainly because I restricted my food at other times during the day, so when meal time came around it would be a chore for me not to eat it all plus desert).

I will agree with the other posters that you need to get the binge eating under control before considering IF, and you posted the very reason why yourself.

Since you have identified what your main triggers are, I think you need to adjust your lifestyle, meal timing, etc, to control these things first. Eat two or three satisfying, well-balanced meals a day to keep your blood sugar in check. Keep with the Whole30 WOE if it's been helping with the night eating. Don't let yourself get ravenous during the day so you end up overeating...even if you've been okay in the past going until mid- to late-afternoon before eating again after having a big breakfast, plan to have a lunch with you so if you do get hungry before then, you don't have to force yourself to wait it out to the point where you're going to eat everything you can when you get home or to wherever your meal is going to be.

Whatever you figure out, best of luck to you - it sounds like you've made a ton of progress and the rest will come together in time.

[s-piper]

I also have binge eating disorder, and I 1000% agree with other posters to not jump into intermittent fasting right away. As a matter of fact, I plan for that to be the absolute last aspect of PB that I add to my lifestyle if I ever do at all.

I have, however, found that this way of eating helps with the urge to binge. Before it'd be unbearable and impossible to resist. I'd feel like a junkie needing a fix. Well cutting down on grains and sugars definitely takes a lot of the edge off that feeling. There's still a mental aspect to it, so I haven't been totally binge free since starting Primal, but now a few bites into it I have this feeling like I want to stop competing with the urge to binge...where as before the only feeling was that there really wasn't enough sugar in the world to satisfy me so I'd just settle for as much as I could get my hands on.

A previous poster suggested a Whole30 and I think that really sounds like the best idea. That'll get you into eating clean whole foods that don't spike your blood sugar and more into the mindset of nourishing your body rather than hurting it. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, so if I'm getting any of this wrong I apologize...I'm simply speaking of my own experience and how I treated myself in that ED mindset.
Oh and on the topic, please please never again skip your insulin if your blood sugar is high to try to lose weight.

[SarahEmily]

Thanks Damiana, it's not so much junk food these days I just kinda pig out on healthy stuff. My bf also sometimes has things in the house (cream/butter etc) which I don't normally eat... I sometime pig out on these, but generally I always want something sweet. Okay so I get that no fasting lol. Might have to do another whole30 then... despite the fact it is restrictive, it actually helped me so much the first time around =)

[SarahEmily]

ah thank you for the advice and I will def. check out the high fat diet. Today I had 96grams of fat and 72grams of carbs.... I know that some people like to go very low carb, but I def. find that anything lower than about 60grams leaves me feeling pretty yuck (and I know because I have to record my carbs everyday for my entire life... thats one part of having diabetes lol).

[SarahEmily]

thanks lemontwisst.... I really like your advice. I will def. be having 2 large meals every day, and I think thats a really good idea to keep something with me for if I do get hungry. I suppose I have to take this whole thing one step at a time.

[SarahEmily]

gctsvcxq- I don't eat sugar at all. I eat whole30 all the time (except when I binge, about 1-2 times a month)

[SarahEmily]

s-piper.... don't worry I never skip it anymore. I am much past that stage where I NEED to be skinny and blah blah blah. Yes I agree whole30 is great and I don't think I will be doing another one right away, but ever since I discovered whole9 in Novemeber last year I have been eating primarily whole30 approved foods anyway (except for the few times i have binged of cousre and the alcohol over the holiday period!!)