Can't Stop Binging On Gluten!

[Rachel Keating]

I've been diagnosed with celiac disease for almost 5 years and I've never stayed true to the diet. I immediately starting binging on gluten right when I got diagnosed with celiac disease... my excuse was "tomorrow I will start being gluten free and eating healthy so I can overeat today". Five years later and 100 pounds heavier, I'm completely done. I can't stop eating and am completely lazy. It's affected my social life, my school work, and everything else. I used to be up for anything and be so energetic, now I am self-conscious and afraid to go places because I am scared I will get sick. I have a gym membership but never go because I'm too depressed and have no motivation. I need help or some kind of boost to help me out. I don't know if anyone else has dealt with the situation of binge-eating on gluten because you have been told u can never eat it again but it's obviously a problem for me. I don't know what I'm looking for here, maybe some inspiration or knowing that I'm never alone? I'm only 20 years old and feel like this is so stupid I am already dealing with physical issues like possible diabetes. Thanks for reading

[MollyBeth]

Rachel! Stop eating Gluten! You are going to kill yourself! The effects may not happen tomorrow or in five years or even ten...but eventually down the road it is likely that you will have long term problems develope from eating gluten. You have got to stop planning your future diet and start living cause guess what? Tomorrow is Today! It's will power that is going to get you through this and you have to make the decision to start living a healthier life. You will find this web site to be very helpful and supportive. I hope you decide to stop eating gluten today.

[Roda]

You definately need to follow the diet and probably need labs to see if you have any deficiencies from damage done while you are eating gluten. You could try and find something else to focus on. There are a lot of support groups out there maybe you can find one and get some ideas on how to cope and eat. There are a lot of good things to eat and with a little planning you can make a lot of good food. I originally lost 10 lbs before being diagnosed and since gluten free I have gained it all back. I am appx 30 lbs overweight, so I am not starving by any means. I am treating some vitamin deficiencies now and gaing a lot more energy. I feel like I can start doing some exercise now to help burn off the extra pounds.

[kmcr80]

I've fallen into that rut as well...the whole "I'm going to binge today and do better tomorrow" routine. It is a vicious cycle that you should take care of asap...it could have really detrimental long term effects.

[teemaree]

Rachell, do you not feel pain after eating gluten?...........don't you get a foggy head?.. or headaches?

or stomach pains?... or bad gastric?

Cause I can assure you, if you keep on eating gluten, you will regret it, you will end up with all the above and maybe worst...

You don't want to put yourself through that do you?.........having to go through pain and agony and mind altering problems , even from a simple accidental glutening?................

It's hell............and I can promise you , you will not get a moments rest from it.....

Maybe it is easier for me to stay the hell away from gluten, because of all the damage and pain it has caused me..and continues to cause me, even looking at a picture of wheat gives me the heeby jeebeys.... I hate it, because of what it has done to me...IT IS POISON!..........

Maybe each time you grab for the gluten goodies.... picture it as a nail in your coffin?... not as yummy food... but as nails...placing you one step further to bigger problems.........

Please sweetie..........look at the posts here, the pain and agony so many endure..........Why do you want that for yourself?..........

And when you look at gluten free stuff.........just tell your mind that it tastes great , and there is worst things you could have to eat.....instead of yummy fruits and vegetables and meat!... it's crunchy full of goodness...

Please Rachell... be kind to yourself...........

I must say though, when my family sit there and eat all the things I once enjoyed, I do get a little jealous, but that soon disappears when I think about the pain it causes me...........just replace the want and need with the thoughts of most excruiating pain ............because that is what will happen if you eat gluten!

[Judyin Philly]

Morning

Well, at 67 years old and un dx'd for 20 years.............I'd do anything to have know obese people could be celiac..........course at that time they'd never heard of celiac

I have a friend who has had 2 rounds with celiac related cancer...........

I pray your reconsider your decision.

Judy

[luvs2eat]

You sure must not have the gastric issues I have when glutened. I can't IMAGINE eating gluten on purpose. When I was diagnosed, I sort of OD'd on the foods I COULD have cause I was so upset at all the foods I could no longer have... and gained about 30 lbs.

I'd only repeat what everyone else has said. Even if you don't have the immediate physical reactions to eating gluten... you're CERTAINLY doing damage to your body!

Maybe there's a gluten free organization if your local area? Meeting other peeps w/ Celiac might help a lot.

[sbj]

Rachel:

Please get your butt over to a meeting of Overeaters Anonymous.

Open Original Shared Link

One hour is not asking too much - please give it a try!

[Mtndog]

Hey Rachel- I too was going to suggest you see someone. It might help you understand why you won't follow the diet.

If you're 20 years old and feel like that (no energy, motivation, depressed, weight gain and possible diabetes) it CLEARLY is affecting you!

Think of it as an addictive behavior- and you are certainly NOT alone in that. Please get help!

[jerseyangel]

Hi Rachel

I want to add that depression and anxiety are common symptoms of Celiac (I had/have both), and very possibly once you adhere to the gluten-free diet 100%, you may find that you will begin to have more motivation to stick to it.

Please, begin the diet in earnest now--get help if you need to. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 49, even though I had symptoms for well over 20 years. The sooner you go gluten-free, the less chance you have of developing related problems.

We're here to help.

[Rachel Keating]

Thanks everyone, I had no idea that so many people would have responded so quickly, and it definitely makes me feel like I'm not alone. My sister has Celiac Disease too and she deals with it amazingly. I never had the immediate symptoms of eating gluten right away until just this year and it's been going on for a couple of months. I am definitely listening to what you guys said, even if it made me a little teary-eyed, because at 20 years old I guess I wasn't really thinking about the long-term affects of what I'm doing today. I'm sure 30 years from now I would have looked back and kicked myself in the butt. The whole cancer thing scared me to death, seeing as cancer already runs in my family. Thank you so much for all the support.... and the kick in the butt. I didn't realize how much that would help.

[Takala]

One of the problems with this disease is that when it damages the lining of the intestines it also leads to nutrients not being absorbed properly by the body anymore, and the lack of those nutrients can make one act in ways that they wish they weren't. The cravings are quite "real," not imaginary and not a matter of willpower so much as eating the foods that don't do this and that work better for people who metabolize simple, easy to digest carbohydrates differently than the general population. You may also want to start taking a gluten free B complex multi vitamin, and a calcium and a magnesium supplement. I swear, based both on my research and personal experience, the B complex and the calcium and magnesium all interact and they will help kill these cravings. Doctors have now also said to increase the Vitamin D levels, also, because the previous RDA have been too low. (have been told this by my own doctor)

You've seen those skinny people who eat a lot of carbs and are hyper..... that's not us.

There's a subset of people, who get what is called "insulin resistance," and gain a lot of weight from yo- yoing back and forth on high carb starvation diets, that can do better on proteins, good fats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and maybe some dairy and some starchy vegetables and a little bit of grains, maybe. Their bodies convert extra sugars to fat on the body more easily. That could more likely you.

Some of the diets that tend to fight this reaction to carbohydrates are ones like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Atkins, South Beach, Zone, they tend to be the meat and veggies type diets with fat. And when I say fat, I mean things like Olive Oil and Avocados and Nuts, Coconut milk, real dark chocolate and oils, etc. This might not sound attractive at first, but it depends on how you cook with it. The fanciest, classic restaurants actually serve a lot of food like this. The problem with American cooking is that it tends to be a lot of gravy and breading and fried bread and fried grains. Atkins took a lot of criticism about his diet, especially the "intro phase", but the one thing you notice on one of these meat and veggie type routines is that when you eat fats, you don't get hungry, because fat is the slow burning fuel that lasts the longest.

Females also are (unfortunately) to fear "fat" in the diet and to eat lots of grains and carbohydrates by our culture, which is geared towards less exercise and much access to fast food that is full of sugars, corn syrups, and simple carbohydrates. When you eat simple carbs combined with fats and sugars, that is the fastest way to put on weight. Your blood sugar immediately spikes up, you feel sated for a little while, and then it crashes, and you feel like you MUST eat sugars or carbs like bread, immediately, to bring it back up again.

People don't even know to eat VEGETABLES these days, several servings a day, to help kill hunger pangs. And real fruit instead of junk. But if you eat too much fruit, the fructose levels can cause too much problems with the way calcium is regulated, which is why you also need magnesium to regulate this.

Another problem is when you gain a lot of extra weight in the form of body fat, you actually have to eat less to maintain it, and exercise less, than muscle weight. So it is not your imagination that you might be eating less than thinner people right now. This can change as you try to exercise a bit more as you start to feel better.

[Rachel Keating]

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little freaked out by how perfectly u just described me haha I am on a prescription for Vitamin D from my doctor, and have been told that I have Metabolic Syndrome. Which is insulin-resistance. Wow. U summed me up to a T right there lol

[Jamie]

You definately need to follow the diet and probably need labs to see if you have any deficiencies from damage done while you are eating gluten. You could try and find something else to focus on. There are a lot of support groups out there maybe you can find one and get some ideas on how to cope and eat. There are a lot of good things to eat and with a little planning you can make a lot of good food. I originally lost 10 lbs before being diagnosed and since gluten free I have gained it all back. I am appx 30 lbs overweight, so I am not starving by any means. I am treating some vitamin deficiencies now and gaing a lot more energy. I feel like I can start doing some exercise now to help burn off the extra pounds.

How did you gain that 30 lbs? Was it just simply from going gluten free and there was nothing you could do to stop it? I was just diagnosed today. I have hypothyroidism and I already have a very tough time keeping weight off. But I do...by excercising like a maniac and eating really healthy... all I need now is to gain more weight out of nowhere and not be able to do anything about it.

[Nancym]

How did you gain that 30 lbs? Was it just simply from going gluten free and there was nothing you could do to stop it? I was just diagnosed today. I have hypothyroidism and I already have a very tough time keeping weight off. But I do...by excercising like a maniac and eating really healthy... all I need now is to gain more weight out of nowhere and not be able to do anything about it.

Well first thing get your thyroid straightened out because losing weight when you're hypothyroid is dang near impossible. You can cut your calories/carbs drastically and maintain though.

Next I'd avoid the gluten free replacement products. They're worse than what they replace as far as starches and sugars. Concentrate on eating whole foods. Avoid starches and sugars. Eat non-starchy veggies, low sugar fruits like unsweetened berries, meat, fish, eggs, nuts. That should put the brakes on weight gain and when you get your thyroid issues worked out you should lose weight. Make sure you get plenty of protein and fat too. Protein and fat keep you full a loooong time and don't spike your blood sugar or make you over-secrete insulin like cereal or something starchy does. That just sets you up to be hungry in short order.

[Tabbiekatz]

I know about binge eating...I do it as well, but not with anything that contains gluten. I do miss the doughnuts though.....

Imagine yourself on the toilet (sorry for the visual, but it will become clear here in a minute.)

You start sweating, A LOT!

You can feel massive gas bubbles going through your colon.

Ringing in your ears.

Then all of a sudden, you hit your head on the concrete floor in the bathroom, not knowing where you are or what your name is to say the least. You've passed out, and it will take 3 days to recover from this episode because you had 1/4 piece of bread (or the equivalent there of).

Not to mention if there is a mess or not afterwords.

This is what you have to look forward to in about another 3-5 years if you don't stop. If you can't find a support group in your area, Please call Jenny Craig or weight watchers, they have groups every where and with your dietary requirements can modify anything and find you a support group you can go to. Even if you have to pay a little bit, It is much better than the alternative.

[Watercolor]

Rachel, I was just diagnosed Celiac. But I've been a compulsive overeater/binge eater for 30 years. Telling me I couldn't have something would lead to deprivation, then a binge. Over and over again. What helped me was the bulletin boards on www.something-fishy.org, said to be the best eating disorder website around. Yes, you are eating disordered. Don't wait until you have type II diabetes, like I do. It takes a long time to recover emotionally from the need to binge. Start today.

[Thommy-girl1]

Yeah, getting off the forbidden gluten is rough. I've been gluten-intolerant for years and just recently been diagnosed as full-blown Celiac. My problem was, I knew I needed the test earlier. My mother was diagnosed about 4 or 5 years ago, and kept telling me to get checked. I kept saying, I'll do it later, I can't afford the tests, I'll miss my favorite snacks too much (and YES, there ARE gluten free doughnuts!!! ) Recently, I went into the ER for some extremely concerning abdominal problems. About an hour after checking in and letting the doctor know what was up, he checked into my medical history with other incidents of me visiting the ER. He came back in and told me that I needed to start the gluten-free diet OR ELSE. I was reminded then that my muscle and joint pain, severe abdominal stress, headaches, and everything else, was attributed to the Celiac. Things my mother had been warning me of for years. I also found out that Celiac could potentially cause infertility. My husband and I have been trying for 2 years to have a child, and the one time I was able to get pregnant, I miscarried because of unrelated health issues.

I'm twenty three years old, and up until I started the diet full-time, I felt fifty. Even though it has only been a short time since the official diagnosis and my body is still re-aligning itself, I have had more energy, and I have been far less irritable and depressed. My husband is even considering getting checked because his mother is gluten-intolerant as well.

Do yourself a favor, honey. Go on the damn diet. What is there to lose?

[njdevsfan09]

I am was a HUGE believer of the "I will start tomorrow, so let me be at my worst today" routine. In fact I was like that until a week ago today. I finally had it and I am now 1 week gluten free. I think alot of it for me was laziness. I wouldnt make myself lunch, dinner etc so it was going to the store and finding stuff that was quick and gluten free. That 9/10 times turned into I reallllly want a sub so I'll really be gluten free tomorrow. It was killing me inside. It wasnt even the effects from the bread. It was my criticisim for being so lazy and selfish even. I now make myself breakfast (which is often cut up fruit or yogurt) lunch (leftovers or salad with a small bag of utz chips) and dinner (im not big into meat, so i usually cook with lots of vegetables. eggplant is my alltime favorite) I even made my first Gluten Free cake & icing which came out fantastic! My mother loved it and said it was better than regular cake. Everyday is still a struggle but I try to keep myself busy. At work I make sure there is nothing that has gluten in it (except my 4 yr old nieces snacks, i dont touch them) because work was my biggest problem with gluten. I have a boring desk job so whats better then eating snacks all day? At home I keep myself occupied by cleaning. I HATED cleaning with a passion but lastnight I found myself watching TV and re organizing my dressers. Throwing stuff away I dont need. With 4 other people in my house in which none of them are gluten-free it is extrememly hard seeing the pizza, cookies, cakes, chips that I cant have. But I gotta do it. I want to be healthy.

[julirama723]

I just wanted to say, Takala, your advice was excellent! I agree 100%!

[celiac-mommy]

There are some control issues as well, regardless of the Celiac. I have suffered from binge-eating-disorder for the last 3 years. This came after a 100# weight loss. With the thought of not "being able" to eat certain foods, I would end up binging on something else to satisfy the craving, then going back and binging on the "forbidden" food anyway. The following day I would hardly eat anything to make up for all those calories. No one ever knew. It wasn't until I ate every single brownie I made for my daughter's Valentine's day party the next day that I forced myself to admit I have a problem. I hid it so well that my dh didn't even believe me because someone with an eating disorder must be morbidly obese or super skinny-and he NEVER saw me binge. But, once I was able to admit to myself that I had a problem, I was able to move forward and deal with it. I can't say that it's 100% ok 100% of the time, but I am now aware of what's going on and am able to stop myself (if I want to )

I think admitting you have a problem is your 1st step to heal. I think you are very courageous.

[njdevsfan09]

Yesterday my sister brought home pizza rolls & bagel bites. I was SO tempted to eat them. But I didnt! Thats when I thought..Hey this could really work! Its all about self control...which I had none of a week ago. As of now, I think I may have a little.

[ang1e0251]

Good for you. Self control is a huge step. I consider myself to be very in control but I haven't taken charge of my weight for awhile. It's just laziness and not wanting to work that hard.

I would prefer to cross my arms and blink and be skinny!

[Rebecca's mom]

Rachel,

A lot of your issue could also be that when you were diagnosed you were still a teenager (15 yrs. old?). Now that you are older, and responsible for your own well-being, it appears as if you are starting to take charge of your health. I am confident that you will find, as most of us already have, that eating gluten-free becomes easier and easier the longer you do it. The best thing is that more and more food manufacturers are starting to make gluten-free products - General Mills has already converted several of their Chex Brand cereals to gluten-free, and I read just the other day that Betty Crocker will be introducing gluten-free cake and cookie mixes this summer!

If it helps at all, I, too, am significantly overweight - have been ever since I was an adult (scrawny kid, though!). When our youngest daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease last April, I decided that our home was going to be gluten-free - she has Down syndrome, so I wanted her to be able to go to the pantry and/or refrigerator and pick out whatever she wants to eat without worrying that she will get hold of something "unsafe". After reading all of the yummy foods that are "allowed" on a gluten-free diet, I knew that I wasn't going to be deprived one bit.

Here's the surprising (and totally unexpected) part - in the past 10 months, since being on a gluten-free diet, I have LOST 38 pounds WITHOUT EVEN TRYING. No kidding! The ONLY thing that I have eliminated from my diet is gluten. Who knew that one simple change could make such a huge change in a person's life? I had no idea how BAD I had been feeling until I gave up gluten, either. My bet is that if you pay attention to your body, you will find the same thing as well.

You've got lots of friends and support on this network; keep us updated on your progress. You're going to do just fine!

Teresa Koch

Fort Worth, Texas

[spinsterwitch]

Rachel:

Here's the deal. The bingeing you are experiencing can be a completely normal response to 1) your body not getting enough nutrients and wanting more, more, more food, and 2) the sense of deprivation that comes when we are denied something. I'm making a guess here, but I wonder if you have been dieting for a while. If you feel like your bingeing is out of control, the worst thing you can do is to try to go on a diet. I would recommend reading the book Intuitive Eating, and finding a fat-friendly therapist who specializes in Health at Every Size.

You need to get in touch with how your body feels and try finding a close bakery with fresh gluten free products (or one that delivers since they are all over the web now). You are also going to need to mourn the loss of things that you have to let go of. But this is all important to your long term health as others have noted.

Peace,

Kari