Hey Ginger,
I know “diabulimia” [skipping insulin and running really high blood sugars to lose weight] is bad for you, but is it really that bad if I just do it for a little while to lose weight quickly?
-Anonymous
To make a long story short: YES. It isn’t worth it. You can and will damage your body in permanent ways by skipping your insulin for the sake of losing weight—even if you only do this for a few weeks or months. Not only will you not maintain the weight you lost so quickly and drastically, but you’ll also seriously hurt your eyes, your fingers, kidneys, etc. You name it! Many people have reported the damage they’ve experienced from practicing diabulimic habits. I read one article from a woman who had caused all the damage poorly managed diabetes can cause over the course of twenty or thirty years by the time she was only 28 years old.
Your body needs insulin. When you skip your insulin and your blood sugars are running so dangerously high, you can’t transport the glucose in your blood to where it needs to go. The short term result of this is serious damage to your kidneys, your vision can go from fine to near blindness in a matter of months, you can develop major diabetic neuropathy which means you won’t be able to feel and properly use your fingers and toes, major stress on your heart, inability to get nutrients to your bones and muscles and cells which leads to conditions like osteoporosis.
All of these things can happen in a very short period of time from continually skipping your insulin just to be thin. It’s not worth it. Plus, at some point you will have to start taking your insulin again or you’ll wind up comatose in the hospital. When you start taking your insulin properly, you’ll gain the weight back. The way to properly and safely lose weight isn’t a secret: exercise and healthy food. Diabulimia is a quick, dangerous and ineffective shortcut that is not only going to make you sick from day to day, but will injure your body in permanent ways. It’s just not worth it.
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