Diabulimia is a serious eating disorder that most people have never heard of

Anorexia, bulimia and even binge eating are perhaps the eating disorders that come to mind for most people. But there are other, lesser-known categories, including something called diabulimia.

Diabulimia is a “media-coined” term that refers to an eating disorder involving a person with diabetes — typically Type 1 diabetes — who purposefully restricts insulin in order to lose weight. Medical professionals, however, use the term ED-DMT1, Eating Disorder-Diabetes Mellitus Type 1, which is used to refer to any type of eating disorder involving Type 1 diabetes, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.

Insulin shuttles glucose into your cells, which then burn it for fuel or store it as fat. Without insulin, as is the case with Type 1 diabetes, glucose can’t reach the cells, and it simply floats in the bloodstream unused. Excess glucose, when built up, can quickly damage blood vessels throughout the body and wreak havoc on organs.

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