Fitness Files: Eat a vegetable, don’t be one

When I left classroom teaching, a young teacher with a 100-watt smile took my place. Marlie’s zany originality, no-nonsense manner and empathy for children made her exactly the person I hoped would replace me.

That year, she turned 30. Rebelling against “old age,” she invited friends to a huge warehouse full of bouncy contraptions. We clambered onto blow-up trampolines, slid down slides and walloped each other with inflatable bats. The adventure ended in a floppy sword fight between Marlie’s mother and me, the two oldest ladies, acting the most immature.

Next we went to Marlie’s house for “kid treats” — suckers, Oreos, gummy bears and Skittles.

I dove into the candy and cookies as enthusiastically as I’d jumped on the inflatables.

Relishing a Snickers, one of my teacher friends asked, “Is this health food?”

Our hostess answered, “I don’t worry about that. I’m pre-diabetic, but if I get diabetes, I’ll just take another pill and fix it.”

Inside my head, the fun of the evening screeched to a halt.

Diabetes is not a disease to dismiss so easily. I’d heard that diabetics had potential problems with circulation and future trouble with eyesight, but I had no idea of the far-reaching ramifications of the disease. The Mayo Clinic lists heart disease, stroke, nerve damage, digestive diseases, kidney damage, eye problems and hearing impairment as possible complications. The website Healthline adds depression, amputation and birth defects.

Any diabetes discussion has to differentiate between Type 1, an autoimmune reaction often identified in childhood and thought to be unpreventable, verses Type 2, which, according to WebMD, “can be prevented … by maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly.”

Marlie was headed for Type 2. Although she led teachers to after-school fun and scheduled music concerts and Disneyland trips, she found no enjoyment in exercise and healthy eating.

She wasn’t alone. The American Diabetes Assn.’s 2015 report states that there is a 41% increase in diagnosed diabetes patients, at an estimated cost of $245 billion in healthcare.

How could Marlie decelerate the dangerous slide into full-blown diabetes? WebMD says it simply: Exercise 30 minutes a day, take off 5 to 7% of weight — for a 200-pounder, that’s 10 to 14 pounds — “load up on vegetables … whole grains” and get rid of chips and colas.

She did it. But not the way you’d think.

Sadly, Marlie’s mom, who’d slain me in a toy-sword fight, was diagnosed with dementia. Marlie, her caretaker, learned more than she ever wanted to know about her mother’s drug regimen. For example, she read that prescription medications were often responsible for dementia in seniors. Watching her mom’s prescriptions, she was too busy to look at her own.

However, when her kids told her she was “getting as confused as grandma,” she blamed it on stress. Then she surveyed her own pill collection. What could she stop taking? Consulting with her doctor, they chose the cholesterol drug.

“If you took off seven pounds, you’d get rid of this one,” he told her.

Next time I saw the new, slimmer Marlie, she opened with, “I’m clear, I’m clear! I was in a fog with that statin pill. I’m pounding the racquet ball every day after work, weight’s sliding off, eating my veggies. No more statins for me.”

“What about the pre-diabetic diagnosis?” I asked.

She looked at me blankly for a moment. “Oh, that,” she said, “that went away with exercise, better diet and the first 10 pounds.”

Marlie lost her mother this spring.

“I remember my mom every day,” she told me. “I hear her voice saying, ‘Eat fruit and vegetables,’ and I finally listen.

“Also, I’ll never stop exercising,” Marlie continued. “I love it, and I got rid of that foggy medicated feeling.”

Marlie got rid of foggy thinking, too. She traded reliance on a potentially troubling diagnosis and a future pill prescription for the fun of “good eats” and aerobic recreation.

Newport Beach resident CARRIE LUGER SLAYBACK is a retired teacher who ran the Los Angeles Marathon at age 70, winning first place in her age group. Her blog is [email protected].