Eating to Lose: Healing From a Life of Diabulimia

by Maryjeanne Hunt

Overview

A hopeful and empowering memoir of one woman's struggle with diabulimia, an eating disorder linked to diabetes.

Diabulimia is the dangerous and often fatal practice in which people with Type 1 diabetes deliberately give themselves less insulin than they need in order to lose weight. Maryjeanne Hunt started limiting her insulin intake at age 14 and spent 22 years abusing her body with sugar highs, excessive exercise, and starvation in an attempt to be skinny and "perfect." In Eating to Lose, she shares her journey to health, true healing, and hard-won wisdom:

"Weight management could have been a lot easier and effective if only I'd listened to my body and given it what it really wanted all along. Our bodies want health and energy and life. They crave to be nourished and they crave to move with vigor. When we give our bodies what they really want, they reward us big-time - with wellness, happiness and you guessed it, cooperative and healthy body weight."

Timely and relevant, Eating to Lose sheds light on an often ignored and misunderstood condition and offers the possibility of recovery for those battling with diabulimia and the people who love them.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936303274
Publisher:	Springer Publishing Company
Publication date:	12/05/2011
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Maryjeanne Hunt was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1971. As a teenager she developed diabulimia and battled her eating disorder for 22 years. Now fully healed, she has been free of her eating disorder since 1997. Maryjeanne has held a position as wellness columnist for CNC Newspapers, published nationally since August 2009. She has been a licensed personal fitness and certified weight management coach since 1987, where she counsels others on wellness, diet, and body image. Her story has been featured on ABC News and Oprah Radio.

Table of Contents

Foreword v

Introduction vii

Collision Course 1

1 Body Image Setup 3

2 Verdict: Type 1 Diabetes 9

3 When Body Image and Diabetes Collide 17

Broken 27

4 Somewhere Between Extremes and Balance 29

5 Discovering Fitness 39

6 Battling Infertility 49

7 Motherhood 59

8 Verdict: Diabulimia 67

9 Breaking Illness Open 75

10 How Children Learn 87

Renovation 93

11 Owning It 95

12 Reshaping Tomorrow 107

13 Verdict: Choosing Wholeness 115

14 Paying It Forward 123

15 Shopping Resurrected 135

Epilogue 139

Resources for People with Eating Disorders 143

Resources for People with Diabete 145

Index 147

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Elizabeth A. Brennan, M.A.(University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine)
Description: The book describes a woman's personal journey throughout her struggle with body image, disordered eating, and type I diabetes. Written in the first person, the book offers a detailed and honest account of Maryjeanne Hunt's personal battle to find balance, beginning in adolescence and proceeding through adulthood.
Purpose: The purpose is to offer readers a personal account of one woman's journey to overcome her struggle with an eating disorder and type I diabetes. This is a worthy objective, given the high co-occurrence of eating disorders among adolescent and young adult women diagnosed with type I diabetes. It is important to raise awareness of this dangerous disorder among individuals, caregivers, and society as a whole.
Audience: Although it is written for the general public, the book also would serve as an excellent resource for students, clinicians, and physicians working with patients with eating disorders, diabetes, or both.
Features: The book proceeds chronologically, opening with Maryjeanne Hunt's adolescent years when she received a diagnosis of type I diabetes and began to struggle with body image. Her story chronicles her college years, early married life, and motherhood. The author seamlessly incorporates relevant medical details in a clear and concise manner that does not interrupt the narrative flow.
Assessment: This story offers an insightful and honest perspective on a woman's struggle with body image and disordered eating. She humbly describes her successes and failures over the years, as well as the inner turmoil that often followed both. Her story proceeds in a way that simultaneously entices and informs the reader, making this book a valuable resource for professionals and any woman struggling with food and weight, with or without diabetes.

Doody's Review Service

"Maryjeanne Hunt's personal story provides hope that recovery is possible - a message that recent research confirms. This book is written in an engaging style that will leave readers with a better appreciation for the unique struggle of eating disorders and Type 1 Diabetes. For those readers engaged in their own struggle, the book will help them realize that they are not alone." - Ann Goebel-Fabbri, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Behavioral and Mental Health Unit, Joslin Diabetes Center

"In her book about diabulimia, Maryjeanne Hunt describes a coming to grips with the power food and weight had over her and how she learned to live with it and transform it into healing. Diabetes, especially Type 1 Diabetes, can lead to eating disorders in a misguided attempt to control blood sugars and lose weight, often by omitting insulin injections. This book is well-written and inspiring for all of us who have a love-hate relationship with food whether or not we have diabetes." - Rita G. Mertig, MS, RNC, CNS, DE, author of What Nurses Know: Diabetes and The Nurses' Guide to Teaching Diabetes Self-Management

"Maryjeanne Hunt shares the most intimate details of the dangerous bondage created by her distorted body image and her healing to a life nourished by 'nature's intelligence' and divine imperfection." - Florence Brown, MD, Joslin Diabetes Center

"For women with diabetes, food is medicine, and as a result, we are more likely to develop disordered eating behaviors. Maryjeanne Hunt shines a light on this too often overlooked side effect of living with diabetes. Readers follow Hunt's inspirational journey of overcoming diabulimia and embracing a healthy lifestyle. This is an honest story that hits home and will keep you thinking long after you've turned the last page." - Amy Stockwell Mercer, author of The Smart Woman's Guide to Diabetes

"Maryjeanne Hunt's personal story provides hope that recovery is possible - a message that recent research confirms. This book is written in an engaging style that will leave readers with a better appreciation for the unique struggle of eating disorders and Type 1 Diabetes. For those readers engaged in their own struggle, the book will help them realize that they are not alone." - Ann Goebel-Fabbri, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Behavioral and Mental Health Unit, Joslin Diabetes Center

"In her book about diabulimia, Maryjeanne Hunt describes a coming to grips with the power food and weight had over her and how she learned to live with it and transform it into healing. Diabetes, especially Type 1 Diabetes, can lead to eating disorders in a misguided attempt to control blood sugars and lose weight, often by omitting insulin injections. This book is well-written and inspiring for all of us who have a love-hate relationship with food whether or not we have diabetes." - Rita G. Mertig, MS, RNC, CNS, DE, author of What Nurses Know: Diabetes and The Nurses' Guide to Teaching Diabetes Self-Management

"Maryjeanne Hunt shares the most intimate details of the dangerous bondage created by her distorted body image and her healing to a life nourished by 'nature's intelligence' and divine imperfection." - Florence Brown, MD, Joslin Diabetes Center

"For women with diabetes, food is medicine, and as a result, we are more likely to develop disordered eating behaviors. Maryjeanne Hunt shines a light on this too often overlooked side effect of living with diabetes. Readers follow Hunt's inspirational journey of overcoming diabulimia and embracing a healthy lifestyle. This is an honest story that hits home and will keep you thinking long after you've turned the last page." - Amy Stockwell Mercer, author of The Smart Woman's Guide to Diabetes

From the Publisher