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Diabetes : A Risk For Eating Disorders

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Diabetes directly correlates to a properly balanced diet. If you do not have good eating habits you could in time develop either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Diabetes plays a major impact in a person’s life as it can put them at risk for eating disorders. According to Tucunduva, Gonçalves, Koritar, and Alvarenga, (2013) patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes pose a greater risk for developing eating disorders as opposed to the normal population, such as anorexia, bulimia nervosa, and more. Through some research, evidence has shown that clients with diabetes have been presented with micronutrient inadequacies. This is bad for the adults themselves, but also in the development of their fetus, as evidence by Le Clair, Abbi, Sandhu, and Tappia, …show more content…

Dieting does not mean that someone should not eat, rather monitor your food intake. Diabetes is a disease that demands interdisciplinary treatment, including a specialized and careful nutritional approach. Erroneous concepts about eating and nutritional, combined with weight gain due to insulin therapy and the resulting body dissatisfaction, can contribute to restrictive, compensatory, and binge behaviors, which place the individual at risk of an eating disorder. (Tucunduva et al., 2013) The most common eating disorders presented from diabetes that affect a person’s body image and eating habits are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. As evidence by Tucunduva et al. (2013) 58.7% of his total diabetic patients were classified to be at risk for an eating disorder. The most frequent identified behavior was restriction or dieting, second was purgative behavior indicating problems controlling type 1 diabetes, and the third behavior was binge eating. Even though we instruct these patients to go on a diet, it does not necessarily mean to starve yourself. These diabetics are thinking they cannot eat anything because it will cause their glucose levels to rise, but in reality they just need to watch out for certain foods that are high in sugar, as well as monitor their food intake better. When people are forced to diet in some way, they tend to forget that they still need a certain amount of nutrients for their body to function

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