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Diabetes: The Deadly Epidemic
Not only is diabetes the sixth leading killer of Americans, claiming more than 73,000 lives a year, but the type 2 form of the disease is now a deadly epidemic. Diabetes affects nearly 21 million men, women and children, more than double the figure of 1980. The reason? Rising rates of obesity and physical inactivity (the condition strikes mainly overweight, sedentary people). Diabetes can lead to many complications, including blindness, lower limb amputations, kidney damage, heart disease and stroke. It's also linked to increased risk of yet another fatal condition: Alzheimer's disease.Denise trudged on. Pausing frequently to catch her breath, she walked for 20 minutes, until she'd completed a quarter-mile lap around the neighborhood. "I was very proud that I'd gotten that far, since it was the first time I'd really done any exercise in eight years," she says. Then she realized that she had a new problem: She didn't know what she was allowed to eat. The nurse had given her a slide-rule device to calculate how many servings of starches and other menu items to have each day. But how big were the portions supposed to be, and which foods were starches?
She spent another hour in front of her computer, poring over diabetes websites until she'd figured out what to have for dinner. Instead of her typical meal of Hamburger Helper, noodles and gravy, she'd have ground round with no bun and steamed broccoli. Gabe went to the store for groceries, while Denise headed online to order a book with dietary advice for diabetics. "I had to learn a whole new way of eating through trial and error," she says. "Now, I have whole-grain cereal for breakfast, a big salad for lunch and small servings of meat or low-fat dairy products for dinner, with lots of veggies. I even learned to love asparagus!" When the urge to snack strikes, she'll have a bowl of strawberries with Splenda, a handful of nuts or sugar-free Jell-O with fat-free Cool Whip.
Along the way, she battled temptations. At her grandnephew's birthday party, the cake arrived, covered with thick, creamy chocolate icing, Denise's absolute favorite. And people kept offering her a piece or suggesting she sample just a sliver. "Even though I'm a real chocoholic, I didn't have any," she says. "When I get the urge to eat something I shouldn't, I remind myself that I want to live. And I want my son to know that I'm doing everything I can to stay healthy -- for him and my granddaughters."
Amazingly, considering her years of failing at every diet, she hasn't cheated on her 1,800-calorie plan, not even once. She's devised several strategies to combat cravings. "First of all, I don't keep food that's bad for me in my house because I figure 'out of sight, out of mind.' And if somebody who doesn't know I'm diabetic gives us a box of candy, I put it in the freezer or tell Gabe to hide it somewhere for himself." She's also experimented with different diabetic foods to find replacements for her former favorites. "It took a while, but I finally found brands of sugar-free chocolates, jelly and pancake syrup I actually like."
Every day, rain or shine, she goes out for her walk, enduring leaky umbrellas, blisters and pulled ligaments on her road to fitness. She told herself that she had to use her legs so she wouldn't lose them to diabetic complications, the way her mother-in-law did. And she's stuck to her diet so well that when she went back for her one-month checkup, she was 25 pounds thinner. The stern nurse had changed jobs, so Denise saw her smiling family doctor instead. "Wow, you've really been working hard at this," he exclaimed. "Your blood sugar is back in the normal range. This is wonderful! Let's try another month without medication and see what you do."
She basked in the doctor's praise and left his office more determined than ever. She bought a pedometer to track her mileage, then increased the distance each week. After she'd gotten stronger, she started working out with weights three times a week. By the end of the second month, Denise had dropped another 15 pounds. As her weight loss became increasingly obvious, her neighbors learned what was going on. "They were practically out with pompoms in their yards, saying 'Go, Denise, go!' and 'Looking good!'"
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