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Health
At 50, Rick Hughey had
gone a little soft around the middle.
Admittedly, he loved pizza and sug
ary soft drinks, but he also was a
devoted three-times-a-week runner.
That’s why he was stunned when his
doctor told him he had type 2 dia
betes, a condition in which the body
doesn't use insulin effectively and
that more than doubles the risk of
heart disease.
“I was in disbelief to the point of
shock,” says Hughey, now 58, the
owner of an advertising agency in
Overland Park, Kan. And for good
reason—he certainly didn’t fit the
typical profile of a type 2 diabetic.
The disease, which often is he
reditary and strikes people who are
overweight, was absent in his fam
ily. And at 5 feet, 11 inches, Hughey’
weighed a slim 170 pounds and had
a lifelong love of running. In fact,
one of his earliest childhood memo
ries is of racing in his backyard with
his sisters.
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DIABETES:
A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
"When I run, what I feel is pure
exhilaration,” he says. ’’lt makes me
feel alive and strong and healthy
and joyful."
So, while some people newly diag
nosed with diabetes may think exer
cise requires more blood-sugar mon
itoring, Hughey wanted to use his
love of running to his advantage.
“I thought, ‘I want to control this
and take as little medication as pos
sible,' ” he recalls. “My doc said that
daily exercise is the ideal model, so
I committed to that. I knew I had
to be as relentless as diabetes is, and
I saw running as a path to what I
needed to do. It made me more dis
ciplined and motivated.”
Hughey increased his running
regimen to 1 to 3 miles, at least five
times a week. He also started train
ing for occasional track meets, com
peting in sprint races against others
his age.
Ramping up exercise was the right
decision for Hughey—and other dia
betics and those at risk of developing
diabetes should follow his example,
says Kathy Byrne, a registered nurse
who conducts community diabetes
education programs in Tamarac, Fla.
(pop. 55,588), and Margate, Fla. (pop.
53,909). Getting moving naturally
lowers your blood-sugar level and
helps your body use insulin better,
both of which increase the energy
that diabetes may sap. she says.
In addition to exercise, changes to
diet also are crucial, as Hughey dis
covered. “If you're eating a diet high
in fiber, low in saturated fats, and
throw in exercise, the body can me
tabolize the food and build muscle,”
Byrne says. “Type 2 diabetes can
strike anybody, and most people
never expect that they’re neglecting
their bodies. You think, 'I can eat
sugar and pizza,' but these are things
that shouldn’t be in your diet.”
These days, Hughey has an ex
emplary—yet realistic—diabetes
diet: He avoids sodas, pizza and
white flour tortillas, but he still lias
a square of dark chocolate at lunch
and a glass of wine with dinner.
"You have to give up a lot, to make
choices when you have diabetes. I’ve
done that," Hughey says. “But you
don’t want to feel life isn’t worth liv
ing. So I make a celebration of the
evening meal with a glass of wine.
You can splurge a little.”
His disciplined eating—“l go
through a virtual boxcar of broccoli
on an annual basis"—and increased
running have paid off Hughey’s
weight is down to 155 pounds; as a
result, the hip pain he used to feel has
disappeared. He takes oral medica
tion and reads his blood sugar once a
day, and feels fortunate that discipline
is one of his strong points. “Diabetes
has made me feel healthier and more
in control," he says. "It’s a fragile bless
ing, but it is a blessing.” ★
Story by Dorothy Foltz-Gray of Knox
ville. Tern.
Page 12
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