About 40% of all girls with diabetes have eating disorders. Girls in puberty are already, in general, insecure about their figure or appearance, and see themselves (rightly or wrongly) often as too fat. In puberty, hormones often drive you to eat. A lot of girls, after their first period, gain weight. They eat the same amount even though they are no longer growing. If you have diabetes this effect is even stronger. Both high and low glucose levels can make you feel hungry – making it more difficult to lose weight. You need to eat after you have taken insulin, even if you are not hungry, and unlike kids without diabetes, you can’t skip a meal. If you eat too little, you can become hypoglycemic. This can be an everyday issue.

What can you do about it?

It’s already a challenge to stay at the right weight without diabetes. Lots of girls try to diet, and when that doesn’t come easily, they often jump to more drastic measures such as meal replacement shakes (Slim Fast), skipping breakfast, or worse. With diabetes, even more tricks can be played: skipping an insulin injection to stay at high levels, leading you to pee more which causes you to lose sugars and thus calories. This can be really dangerous. You might lose a few kilograms quickly, but because of your high blood sugar levels, you’ll have a higher chance of complications later. And when you lose weight too quickly, you gain it back quicker, often even more than you lost. A healthy diet and lots of exercise is a better way to get to a healthy weight. Even if that road can be longer when you have diabetes. It takes a while to find the right eating pattern and learn to adapt your diabetes to your healthy lifestyle.

It’s complicated

Sometimes it’s really a puzzle. Do you have problems with your weight and can you not figure it out? Ask your diabetes nurse or dietitian for help. They have a lot of experience and can give you advice and useful tips.