Larry Wright changes lifestyle to take control of his diabetes
Two years ago, Larry Wright of Sitka was diagnosed with prediabetes. He took the diagnosis lightly, and last November he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
That was Larry’s wake-up call. Over the past year, Larry, 54, made simple lifestyle changes that help him control his diabetes. This year, Larry, who is a 6-foot-2 computer tech at SEARHC, lost 60 pounds to go from 287 to 227. His glucose and cholesterol levels also are much improved.
“I treated the phrase ‘prediabetic’ lightly,” Larry said. “Don’t take it lightly, you want to treat it like the real thing. It’s a big difference preventing a disease than it is dealing with it. If I’d done these things when I had prediabetes, my (diabetes) diagnosis might never have happened.”
The diagnosis means Larry joined nearly 24 million other Americans with diabetes, and about a quarter of them don’t even know they have the disease. Diabetes is a serious health problem for Alaska Natives and American Indians, who are more than twice as likely to have diabetes than whites (Larry is part Tlingít). If left untreated, diabetes can cause major health issues such as heart disease, stroke, lung problems, kidney disease, blindness, dental problems and foot amputations.
Simple lifestyle changes can prevent or delay diabetes, and the changes are more effective if they happen before a person is diagnosed with diabetes. Since his diabetes diagnosis, Larry started eating breakfasts and cut out the snacks. He started walking with his wife, Jullee, and now walks a 2 1/2-mile course in the morning and again at night during the week, plays basketball on Saturday, and does a double-walk on Sunday.
“It’s all diet and exercise,” Larry said, adding that he takes no medicine for his diabetes and recently was able to eliminate one of his cholesterol meds. “I saw a heart specialist last November. He told me to walk, because I’ve got to lose weight. I also can do that for my diabetes.”
Larry said the big reason for his success is the support he gets from his family and from SEARHC dietitians, diabetes educators and doctors. They helped him find a manageable system that works for his lifestyle. To learn more about diabetes, contact your local SEARHC clinic.
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