We're getting closer. I believe a 5-year-old with diabetes will live long enough to be cured.
I have high blood sugars, and Type 2 diabetes is not going to kill me. But I just have to eat right, and exercise, and lose weight, and watch what I eat, and I will be fine for the rest of my life.
I believe very strongly - and I never brought this up as a player - but I put up, I feel, Hall of Fame numbers with diabetes. If I didn't have diabetes - nobody realizes that, when I was diagnosed at 18, even the doctors didn't know what to do about diabetes.
Insulin is not a cure for diabetes; it is a treatment. It enables the diabetic to burn sufficient carbohydrates so that proteins and fats may be added to the diet in sufficient quantities to provide energy for the economic burdens of life.
You eat as many vegetables as you can, and try to cut your carbs and your sugar. That's going to make the job of being a diabetic so much easier.
You can have diabetes and have a piece of cake. You cannot have diabetes and eat a whole cake.
Because I don't produce insulin, I have to put insulin into my body, which means that I have a pen with a needle on it. I have it with me. You have to stick it in your thigh, or your arm - a lot of different spots you can put it.
For diabetes in particular, we know there's a relationship between lack of glucose regulation and complications like blindness and kidney failure. So if you were diabetic and you knew that you could get your glucose in a tight, normal range just by adjusting your lifestyle, wouldn't that be great?
Both children and adults like me who live with type 1 diabetes need to be mathematicians, physicians, personal trainers, and dietitians all rolled into one.
I had to start being aware of what I ate, what I'm planning to eat and take my twice-daily medication accordingly. That's not so difficult now, but when you're 10 years old, it's tough, let me tell you.
Insulin is a crisis medication.
I've become a representative of the American Diabetes Association, and then I just became national spokesman for the American Heart Association for a campaign called The Heart of Diabetes, which brings the awareness of cardio-vascular disease to diabetics.
I have a great race team, great grew members, awesome health care team, endocrinologist, nutritionist, and of course family and friends. It truly is a team effort, both when you are dealing with diabetes in regular life and also on the racetrack.
I have developed recipes that are diabetes-friendly for my restaurant menus.
Don’t use the language of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ when talking about blood sugar numbers – these are data points, not judgments of your ability to manage your diabetes.
I need insulin to stay alive. It's just therapy to keep going. What I can do is make sure that I keep my blood sugar down to a reasonable level. I can exercise, and I can eat properly. And insulin plays a very big part in that.
My team fills two separate drink bottles for me in the car. One is water, and the other has orange juice. I just turn a valve and go from water to juice... to adjust my glucose levels.
I do not love to work out, but if I stick to exercising every day and put the right things in my mouth, then my diabetes just stays in check.
Diabetes is not curable. It's sustainable.
I know a lot of people in Washington would say, well, you know, indigent people can't manage their health savings account. They're too stupid. But they're not too stupid. Somebody has a diabetic foot ulcer, they learn very quickly not to go the emergency room where it costs five times more to take care of it. They go to the clinic.
You can live with diabetes. It's not the worst thing to have, but you have to manage yourself and have some self control.
I gave up bread, and I've lost a bunch of weight, which is very good because I'm diabetic.
A diabetic always wants to help another diabetic.
I know the food groups that I like to have and are good for me and those that I have to stay away from. And so, I don't need to know exactly what I'm going to eat, but I take my insulin probably 20 minutes before I'm going to sit down.
With the glucometer, I always know how much blood sugar I've got, so I can adjust my insulin or the food I eat.
