The Relations Between Eating Disorders and Celiac Disease

This is a very personal blog post but I feel like it could help a lot of people. There was an article written by Kate Johnson called "Celiac Disease Linked to Eating Disorders, Even Anorexia." This article speaks a lot about the difficulty of Celiac Disease and unhealthy eating habits. "The fact is, people with celiac have an uncomfortable relationship with food. And it will likely be a lifelong battle. Before their celiac diagnosis, food made them sick. After their diagnosis, food still often makes them sick, and eating remains a high-maintenance affair. Is this fertile ground for an eating disorder?" (Kate Johnson). From personal experience, I developed a very unhealthy relationship with food since I felt that everything I ate (besides home cooked meals) made me very sick. I lost almost 30 pounds during my eating disorder and I had many fear foods (that picture above is me). Looking back, my fear foods were the one's that I continuously got sick from while eating out. For example, pizza and pasta was very difficult for me to eat.

As someone with Celiac, we constantly have to plan our meals ahead of time before going out. Like calling restaurants to make sure they are Celiac safe, packing meals and snacks before going out, etc. In this article, Kate states that it has been found that "people with Celiac Disease are four to five time more likely to have had a previous diagnosis of AN, and they have twice the odds of battling anorexia in the future." As if we don't go through enough ... My extremely unhealthy weight loss journey consisted of starving myself for days, then binge eating once a week. I had no appetite, no interest in eating, and when I did, I got sick after every meal.

This issue developed around my junior year of high school and continued throughout my freshman year of college. I was constantly calling myself fat even though I was just skin and bones. I have since then recovered but am still hesitant about the amount of food that I eat and my body image. "Because of the nature of Celiac Disease, there is a great deal of focus on food, so you can become preoccupied by food. If the preoccupation leads to concerns about body image and desire to lose weight, an eating disorder may develop." (Golden). Being in college with this issue and Celiac was very difficult for me since I was getting sick from the dining hall almost every time I ate there. After a reaction at school, I would refrain from eating for about 2-3 days. This was because I was scared of food but also felt that my stomach needed time to heal. (I did this throughout my sophomore year as well). The pain we have when we eat even a crumb of gluten is something I'd never wish upon anyone. I hope this post gives people a better understanding of the seriousness behind Celiac Disease and the consequences that come with it. The article is linked below. It contains experiences of other people as well. 

https://www.allergicliving.com/2017/12/14/celiac-disease-gluten-symptoms-linked-to-eating-disorders-even-anorexia/?fbclid=IwAR2YpFwSflI9LzvN7_QlE_R3MLhGt6SYpBm2xMjISPID6lyV3E0cK0OhBRY 

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