Binge eating disorder (BED) describes a pattern of disordered eating that revolves around episodes of rapid and uncontrollable food consumption, similar to a “binging” episode of bulimia nervosa, but without any reciprocal purging or compensating behavior.

Diabulimia is intentional insulin restriction. People with diabulimia skip or shrink their insulin doses to lose weight.

Most people with diabulimia have type 1 diabetes. Some doctors call the condition type 1 diabetes with disordered eating (T1DE) or eating disorder diabetes mellitus type 1 instead. There is no official diagnostic term, as this condition is relatively new and poorly understood.

While some people may be concerned that they aren’t getting enough exercise, there is such a thing as too much exercise. Regular exercise can be great for physical and mental health, if it is medically appropriate and done in combination with adequate rest and nutrition, but when exercise becomes a compulsion, it can become physically and mentally harmful.

What is Purging Disorder? Some people may assume that if a person is purging regularly, then they must be suffering from bulimia nervosa (BN). However, individuals who are purging, but don’t have binging episodes associated with BN, may have a different eating disorder: purging disorder.

Non-purging bulimia involves eating a lot of food at once (bingeing) and then using methods like diet and exercise to limit weight gain. People with this form of bulimia can feel invisible, as their symptoms aren’t commonly discussed. But their suffering is real, and the dangers of non-purging bulimia are significant.

Bulimia nervosa is a serious disease that can affect every area of a person’s life. In the United States alone, approximately 30 million people have diagnosable eating disorders, and 1.5% of American women have bulimia. (1)

Family members are sometimes among the last people to know when a loved one suffers from an eating disorder. Often, eating disorders develop gradually and the changes in a person’s body are either not obvious or happen so slowly that parents and siblings do not notice the difference.