Halle Berry: My battle with diabetes

[alisbabe]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=371528&in_page_id=1774

As the cameras rolled, the young actress knew she desperately needed to lie down. But before she could do anything she collapsed on set and was rushed to hospital.

Hollywood star Halle Berry then lay dangerously ill in a diabetic coma for a week before waking to a life that would never be the same again.

"Diabetes caught me completely off guard," she explains.

"None of my family had suffered from the illness and although I was slightly overweight in school, I thought I was pretty healthy.

"I fell ill - dramatically - when I was on the TV show, Living Dolls, in 1989. I felt I needed energy but I didn't even have a minute to pop out and get a chocolate bar. I didn't really know what was wrong."

Halle, now 39, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, where the body is unable to produce enough insulin to process sugar into energy.

Unconscious for a week

"I thought I could tough it out, but I couldn't have been more wrong," she says. "One day, I simply passed out, and I didn't wake up for seven days, which is obviously very serious."

Type 2 Diabetes can take years to develop, with sufferers experiencing symptoms like Halle's constant feelings of tiredness. Others include blurred vision, weight loss, raging thirst, genital itching and tingling in the hands and feet.

Experts believe that more than half a million people in the UK alone are unknowingly living with the disease. Likely indicators are being overweight, leading a sedentary lifestyle and eating a sugar and carbohydrate-laden diet.

The condition is also more common, and develops at a younger age in Afro-Caribbean and Asian communities because of genetic predisposition.

It is most likely that Halle, who was born in Liverpool to a white English mother and black Afro-American father, falls into the last group.

As she came round in hospital, doctors explained to her the seriousness of her condition.

Although her pancreas was still producing some insulin it was less than she needed and her condition was beyond the stage where a diet change or new exercise regime would stop it progressing.

She was told she would need daily insulin injections for the rest of her life, as well as a complete overhaul of her diet. And just in case she had any doubts about making such big changes, the medics spelled out exactly what uncontrolled diabetes could mean.

'I could lose my legs'

"They told me I might lose my eyesight, or I could lose my legs," she remembers, with a shudder.

"I was scared to death, I thought I was going to die."

They explained that due to excess sugar in the body diabetics can suffer kidney failure, have a five times higher risk of developing heart disease and 80 per of people with diabetes will die from cardiovascular complications.

Blindness is caused by a condition called retinopathy, in which blood vessels in the retina become blocked, leaky or even start to grow haphazardly. The worst-case scenario would be an early death.

And with hindsight, Halle credits those doctors' tough words with saving her life. She's also enjoyed a top-flight career, winning a coveted role as a Bond girl and a Best Actress Oscar for her role in the film Monster's Ball.

"I went into hospital on my last breath, and came out feeling a hundred times better. I knew it was time to take better care of myself and I can honestly say that I am a healthier person than I was before I was taken ill."

Dramatic diet change

The first thing Halle did was to change her diet to one low in fat, sugar and processed carbohydrates. So out went any sweet deserts, junk or processed food and in came a whole new way of eating.

"I started to eat loads of wonderful fresh vegetables, chicken, fresh fish and pasta. I cut out red meat and cut back on fruit because it can contain quite a lot of sugar.

"Now one of my favourite dishes is something simple but tasty such as grilled tuna and garlic mashed potato."

Although Halle says she craves salty rather than sweet things (her favourite foods are butter pecan ice cream and salt and vinegar crisps), if her sweet tooth does get the better of her she will satisfy it by sweetening her food with honey, molasses or low-calorie sweeteners.

But it wasn't just her food intake that needed to change. "I needed to pay attention of everything that could affect my blood sugar level, including diet exercise and stress," she says.

So she took on personal trainer, Robert White, who puts her through her paces four times a week. On top of this she enjoys daily sessions of yoga and loves to rollerblade near her Hollywood home.

The final piece of the jigsaw in Halle's successful diabetes management was control of her blood sugar and insulin levels.

"I have to test my blood sugar levels at least a couple of times a day," she explains.

"I do a tiny pinprick, usually on my fingertips, and test it with a special kit which tell me how high or low my blood sugar levels are.

"Then using this as a guide I inject myself with the correct dose of insulin to level up my blood sugar. "People always kind of cringe when I say that," she laughs.

"Actually I feel very lucky that I can take insulin. It saves me from becoming ill." Now Halle, who also has only 80 per cent hearing in one ear after being beaten up by an early boyfriend, is on a crusade to enlighten the world about the dangers of diabetes.

She is a spokesperson for the Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical company that specialises in making products for diabetes and she regularly does public speaking on living with the condition.

"Diabetes turned out to be a gift," she says. "It gave me strength and toughness because I had to face reality, no matter how uncomfortable or painful it was."

Unfortunately, it looks like she's still on the fashionable high carb low fat diet :nono:

[alisbabe]

I've emailed her via her fan site to tell her about Dr Bernstein. You never know, she might be a low carb figurehead in the making. It'd certainly help her health anyway.

[Whoa182]

Seems like she is doing fine now with her current diet.

[Rosebud]

Seems like she is doing fine now with her current diet.
I wouldn't call a Type 2 who needs insulin to be "doing fine." We have many Type 2 diabetics here who have been able to gradually discard all medications, controlling their condition with their low carb diet.

It's a sad reality that Ms Berry WILL have complications as time goes by, because the diet she is following is not the answer.

Rosebud:rose:

[Whoa182]

We have many Type 2 diabetics here who have been able to gradually discard all medications, controlling their condition with their low carb diet.

Great! :thup: but she says the main part of her diet is mainly vegetables... this is good enough. I also know people who have controlled their diabetes and got off medication by eating lots of vegetables without intentionally restricted carb intake.

It's a sad reality that Ms Berry WILL have complications as time goes by, because the diet she is following is not the answer.

Probably.. but her diet is mainly vegetables... seems as though she is doing enough to help her self in the long term already. Although low carb wouldn't be a bad option for her to take either, minus the red meat :p


As her diet is mainly vegetables she probably will not get into too much trouble before effective treatments or cures come along as biotechnology matures over the next decade. She is still quite young, wealthy and will have access to these treatments in the future. Long before serious complications develop, treatments will likely be able to cure her or manage all her problems related to this disease.

[Rosebud]

Did you miss the pasta and mashed potato that she eats? ;)

Face it Whoa, a low carb plan is far healthier for diabetics - as for the rest of us - than a high carb one.

Rosebud:rose:

[Whoa182]

yeah i agree. but read the part I edited at the bottom of my previous post.

did you see all that pasta and mashed potato that she eats?

yeah, thats not a good idea! She should stay away from those two.

I do hope its sweet potato though! :lol: White potatoes are evil :nono:

[Duparc]

Yes, indeed, this young actress is doing fine, meantime, on her current diet while managing to control BS levels through medication but it can only be 'meantime'. The evidence is growing that certain foods adversely affect the body and their impact is not realised until later in life; so there is this delayed effect. While the body is generally resilient and focuses on homoeostasis its objective is eventually defeated through the constant barrage of an inappropriate diet. Your enthusiam and belief in the future and in medical science is appreciated but I am unable to share in it; not that I am a pessimist; indeed, quite the opposite; but I think Western society is on the threshold to a health disaster or a disaster indirectly connected to diet. I am not seeking to be gloomy nor to make predictions from fear; on the contrary; I think the evidence is with us.

[Angeline]

I agree with you Duparc. It's like smoking and saying that it doesn't matter because I believe science will be able to cure me if I get lung cancer. It's wishful thinking.

But the most frustrating thing is that not only did she not get all the facts, she was given the wrong information. If she decides that she loves potatoes and pasta too much to give it up and has to take insulin as a consequence, then it's her decision. But instead she is told that pasta and potatoes are part of a healthy diet for a diabetic. That's malpractice.

[Dodger]

My dad did fine on the ADA diet and using insulin to control blood sugar. He only had to have half a foot amputated. Then, of course, there was that heart attack a few years later that killed him.

[ItsTheWooo]

yeah i agree. but read the part I edited at the bottom of my previous post.



yeah, thats not a good idea! She should stay away from those two.

I do hope its sweet potato though! :lol: White potatoes are evil :nono:
First let me say I had no *idea* Halle Berry was a type 2 (!) diabetic. She has never had a weight problem. I thought at least some magnitude of weight problem is a requisite for diabetes. This just proves that if you under eat, but don't control your insulin, you're not safe... which further proves that diabetes is mostly about insulin and not mainly body fat. It just so happens if one eats normally failing sugar metabolism makes you ravenously hungry and much easier to gain weight for this reason.

I agree a sweet potato is more nutritious, but, in the context of sugar metabolism gram for gram the two are actually very similar. In fact the sweet potato might be slightly worse since mashed potato carbs are entirely starch, and, with certain preparation methods, can be rendered slightly indigestable (resistant). On the other hand, sweet potato carbs are more sugars and thus entirely absorbed. Every cook a sweet potato and see all that syrup ooze out? That's carmelized (oxidized) sugars. Not only are they pretty bad for you (oxidized food, like bbq meat, isn't that healthy) but sugar itself (gram for gram) is worse than starch because it is so available to our bodies.

Halle should switch to turnips or cauliflower and use fats to give creaminess to replace the starch :)

[SadLady]

She is probably what they are calling a 1.5 because she does not fit into the Type 2 parameters or the Type 1. She fits the parameters of the now famous Type 1.2 which is kind of a combination. Does not produce enough insulin, yet is not overweight.

[ItsTheWooo]

She is probably what they are calling a 1.5 because she does not fit into the Type 2 parameters or the Type 1. She fits the parameters of the now famous Type 1.2 which is kind of a combination. Does not produce enough insulin, yet is not overweight.

Not producing enough insulin and lack of overweight sound like T1... did you mean to say primary insensitivity to insulin (like type 2) and marked lack of insulin plus lack of overweight (like type 1)?

[Nancy LC]

I work with a skinny guy who is an adult onset diabetic... hmmmm... might be type 1 but I'm not positive. He commented how he went to pick up his diabetic meds and the pharmacist was really surprised he wasn't fat. Anyway, there is a big fat DNA link between, same gene, between that and celiac disease. And that is one of the genes I have.

[coolwater]

I'm really surprised to learn that Halle's diabetic! And a bit shocked at her outlined diet. I recall reading an interview done with her a couple years back where she described a very LC diet (you know how they always ask celebrities..."you have such a great physique! What do you eat?") and actually said her favourite dish was a big steak with veggies. Weird. :confused:

[tripletmom]

Halle Berry is a Type 1 (juvenile) diabetic, not a Type 2.

http://www.thebwp.com/wire/DA.cfm?ArticleID=1726
http://www.health24.com/medical/Condition_centres/777-792-808-1536,16928.asp

I edited to add that Mary Tyler Moore is also a Type 1.

My (late) MIL was a Type 1, and my BIL is also a Type 1. They are thin, thin, thin. Neither of them could do anything to gain weight, no matter how much/what they ate. My BIL is a model T1, he gets plenty of exercise and eats a great diet. We 'affectionately' call T1 "skinny diabetes" and T2 "fat diabetes", since my side of the family is riddled with heavy T2 folks, and my husband's side is riddled with skinny T1's.

[Whoa182]

Thanks for clearing that up tripletmom


Not only are they pretty bad for you (oxidized food, like bbq meat, isn't that healthy) but sugar itself (gram for gram) is worse than starch because it is so available to our bodies.

Hoefully the vinegar I consume with every meal sorts that out... along with the 60g of fiber a day =/

Ref:

1)Vinegar supplementation lowers glucose and insulin responses and increases satiety after a bread meal in healthy subjects.
http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2475

a bit more detail: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16015276&dopt=Citation

So if you guys don't like high insulin or high glucose levels... get some vinegar !

[kwikdriver]

Your enthusiam and belief in the future and in medical science is appreciated but I am unable to share in it; not that I am a pessimist; indeed, quite the opposite; but I think Western society is on the threshold to a health disaster or a disaster indirectly connected to diet. I am not seeking to be gloomy nor to make predictions from fear; on the contrary; I think the evidence is with us.

If you'd have made this statement 5 years ago I would have agreed with it, but now I suspect it is no longer true. The realization that the stuff the masses eat is bad is slowly growing, and there are hints here and there that science is getting it, even though the official line isn't changing. But my guess is that there will be a moment of reckoning, a sort of health "Great Awakening," if you will, where the conventional wisdom changes, and people accept that a carby diet has severe, and negative, health consequences. I also suspect it will happen right around the time some drug company has a product to promote that addresses insulin issues.

[Nancy LC]

Halle Berry is a Type 1 (juvenile) diabetic, not a Type 2.

http://www.thebwp.com/wire/DA.cfm?ArticleID=1726
http://www.health24.com/medical/Condition_centres/777-792-808-1536,16928.asp

I edited to add that Mary Tyler Moore is also a Type 1.

My (late) MIL was a Type 1, and my BIL is also a Type 1. They are thin, thin, thin. Neither of them could do anything to gain weight, no matter how much/what they ate. My BIL is a model T1, he gets plenty of exercise and eats a great diet. We 'affectionately' call T1 "skinny diabetes" and T2 "fat diabetes", since my side of the family is riddled with heavy T2 folks, and my husband's side is riddled with skinny T1's.

Not all insulin deficient diabetics are juvenile onset. Sometimes it comes on in adulthood. My BIL is a skinny Type 2 diabetic.

[LC FP]

I guess by definition she's a type-1, since she got it prior to age 25.

But Type 1.5 is a real condtion, and even though most of them get diagnosed as type 2s, they don't respond well to low carb diets, don't do too well with oral meds, and even exercise and weight loss don't help much. I know, because I ran a poor (thin) 50 yo guy almost to death before I gave up and started long-acting insulin, which worked like a charm.

Here's a link:

http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes_types/diabetes_type_15.php

Since insulin resistance is minimal or non-existent, medications designed to reduce insulin resistance such as Avandia and Actos are not effective. Other meds that stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin, slow digestion of carbs, or reduce excess glucose production by the liver are often effective in controlling the blood sugar for a few years.

I bet if you overtreat a type 1 (or 1.5) with insulin and allow them to overeat, they could develop insulin resistance and enjoy the benefits of both type 1 and 2.

[LC FP]

As a point of interest, my 50 yo man with type 1.5 DM, had these lipids 3 years ago on metformin:

TC 150
HDL 60
LDL 77
TG 64
(guess I should have known he wasn't a type 2 !)

Now on 14 units of insulin daily and metformin:

TC 165
HDL 41
LDL 99
TG 114

Maybe I should start Lipitor??

[zedgirl]

I thought at least some magnitude of weight problem is a requisite for diabetes.

Malcolm Kendrick talks about this in a series of articles he has written for Red Flags. Basically he says that you can’t make a direct link between Type-II diabetes and obesity. Amongst other contradictions, there are too many populations that are not obese but have very high rates of type-II like emigrant Asian Indians and Japanese, Native Americans and Australian aboriginals. If you look at super-obese people like sumo wrestlers, they have no signs of insulin resistance at all. Another interesting thing he says is that if you remove 25 pounds of fat through liposuction it doesn’t impact in any way on IR but if you lose it by dieting it will almost completely reverse IR.

His belief? It’s the type of fat……subcutaneous or visceral………visceral being the culprit. You can have lots of visceral fat and be of normal weight yet you are very likely to have a high blood sugar level.

[kwikdriver]

His belief? It’s the type of fat……subcutaneous or visceral………visceral being the culprit. You can have lots of visceral fat and be of normal weight yet you are very likely to have a high blood sugar level.

There is, I recall, a relationship between visceral fat and insulin problems.

I've always been suspicious of the notion that fat, itself, is the cause of some of these problems. It seems more likely to be another symptom. You diet down and get your insulin under control, and all these symptoms disappear. The way to test this is to go in and surgically scoop out visceral fat. This has been done (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10576150&dopt=Abstract) and, surprise! no relationship was found, although the researchers hemmed and hawed and refused to draw a conclusion, presumably because the results didn't meet their expectations or whatever the conventional wisdom is.

BTW, sumo wrestlers are very muscular, and lots of muscle mass helps with insulin resistance. When I was both fat and muscular, I had few problems with blood sugar; when I allowed my conditioning to lapse, I gradually became a wreck.

[steveed]

I must say that I am also surprised that the object of my unrequited desire has a diabetic problem. She sure doesn't look it, does she?

I just hope that when she eats her potatoes and pasta, she eats them with plenty of fibrous veggies and adequate protein to slow the roller coaster.

[ewert]

High cortisol effect promotes visceral fat proliferation. Most of the connections between anything and "visceral obesity" or "apple shape" or "beer belly" etc. are most likely in connection to cortisol and HPA axis in some way.

What does abnormal cortisol/HPA axis function do to insulin resistance? Why, it DIRECTLY CAUSES insulin resistance.

And people wonder why visceral obesity and insulin resistance are connected? :P I don't anymore... I'm real happy I examined HPA axis and cortisol biochemistry/metabolism/physiology for my studies on depression and dietary factors, because that single linkage right there is such a HUGE factor in many western world diseases it is frightening.

As for insulin, it might promote a vicious circle regarding this HPA axis, since it seems lowering cAMP/PKA activity disturb glucocorticoid receptor function, which may lead to lessened negative feedback, causing cortisol levels to rise. Also if I remember correctly, insulin stimulates an enzyme that converts inactive cortisone to active cortisol, which incidentally is in much higher quantities found in visceral fat cells compared to subcutaneous fat cells, meaning that insulin/cortisol axis gets so messed up with high carb eating that visceral fat gain is a certainty as is major problems from HPA axis dysfunction (causing worsening IR leading to a vicious circle where we start again from higher insulin...)

There, next question? ;)

edit: sorry about the French :P slipped by as I wrote it in a hurry

[Collateral]

I could've sworn tha Halle Berry was a Type 1 diabetic?

I read that in numerous magazines back in the day.

[Whoa182]

I just hope that when she eats her potatoes and pasta, she eats them with plenty of fibrous veggies and adequate protein to slow the roller coaster.

If she is eating Sweet potatoes then that would be fine, as its an Antidiabetic food. Good for improving insulin sensitivity, lowering LDL cholesterol and very high in antioxidants.

[ItsTheWooo]

If she is eating Sweet potatoes then that would be fine, as its an Antidiabetic food. Good for improving insulin sensitivity, lowering LDL cholesterol and very high in antioxidants.

That is nonsense. Sugar is sugar. A T1 (or 2) diabetic cannot use sugar effectively, nor can they handle dramatic fluctuations in the level. While I'm sure yams have things in them that make it better than refined sugar... its STILL sugar. If someone is allergic to peanuts, then, organic raw nuts are just as unhealthy as reeses pieces. Not that the two foods are the same in all respects, but in regards to how they affect peanut allergy, well, the difference is only as much as the amount of peanut each food contains. Same thing with carbs. I don't know why you cannot seem to accept that there are people, like myself, who are sensitive to sugar fluctuations and just *can not tolerate* very many carbohydrates. My own doctor tells me not to eat carbohydrates (starches/sugars), as would most educated doctors who knew anything about metabolic sensitivities to carbs.

The notion that diabetics need to eat "healthy whole grains and starches" is a lie. The only people who believe that still are moral vegans and people who are so hopelessly biased in favor of low fat they can't even see the truth. The body of evidence is so wholly in favor of carbohydrate reduction (for metabolic syndrome) that it is really not even a debate anymore that stuff like potatoes (yams) should hardly be eaten. The only debate right now is *how low* to go, or in other words, whether or not fat is okay (meaning if replacing carbs with fat is a good idea). In a few, they'll figure out it is... once the remants of the old school wash away.

[Whoa182]

I'll find some studies for you that show sweet potato helped in blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity in animals and human t2 diabetics.

While I look for those read this:http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64

"An "Antidiabetic" Food
Second is the recent classification of sweet potato as an “antidiabetic” food. Sweet potato has been given this label because of some recent animal studies in which sweet potato helped stabilize blood sugar levels and lowered insulin resistance. (Insulin resistance is a problem caused when cells don’t respond to the hormone insulin, which is supposed to act as a key and unlock the cell in order to allow sugar to pass from the blood into the cell). Some of its blood sugar regulatory properties may come from come from the fact that sweet potatoes are concentrated in carotenoids. Research has suggested that physiological levels, as well as dietary intake, of carotenoids may be inversely associated with insulin resistance and high blood sugar levels. Once again, more research is needed in this area, but the stage is set for sweet potato to show unique healing properties in the area of blood sugar control."

Edit:

References are at the bottom of the page in the link i gave you.

I don't experience these real bad problems with high sugar levels and insulin so I can't realy comment on how a diabetic would feel after eating a sweet potato. I guess I'll have to believe you, despite what the evidence says. You could always try two Tbsp of balsamic vinegar with it though :)

I always have used balsamic vinegar on my dinners but I ran out of it a few weeks ago then didn't use it for a while. I bought it again to put on my meals and I actually really noticed a difference in my mood and how I felt after the meal. Worth a try, you can get cheap or balsamic vinegar :)

Anyone here tried it for lowering/stabilizing blood sugar?

[ewert]

"Antidiabetic" food = not so terribly bad as refined grain products? ;)

Because that is what most of the studies show... "this food here isn't as disastrous for your health as that one, so this one here is healthy for you". Unfortunately it is just wrong in most cases...

[Whoa182]

Because that is what most of the studies show... "this food here isn't as disastrous for your health as that one, so this one here is healthy for you". Unfortunately it is just wrong in most cases...

I seen some videos of Centenarians in okinawa, most say that they had been eating sweet potatoes everyday for decades and its been the main part of their diet (these were 100-110 year olds). Okinawa's elders lived off sweet potatoes because otherwise they would have starved to death. If a person that is 20 and said to me, "I've been eating all these potatoes and im free of disease!, they wont cause no problems" Then I'd be a bit more cautious, but since sweet potatoes are the main part of okinawans diets (longest lived people on the planet) then I think that eating lots of sweet potatoes would be the least of anyones worries.

You can read a bit about them here

More sweet potato, please, I want to live longer . . .
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,632-1995228,00.html

[pinktulips]

Halle, get rid of those garlic mashed potatoes!

She said she limits fruit because of its sugar; she'd do a lot better to eat mashed cauliflower instead of the potatoes and not fear fruit so much; according to latest research most fruits have a low glycemic load and berries are ultra low.

[SadLady]

Here is the description for the Type 1.5.

Sorry if I was not clear enough.

http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes_types/diabetes_type_15.php

[ewert]

A big problem with mapping "longest lived people in the world" stuff is, that a human life span is long enough to contain significant advances in technology and sciences.

I do believe controlling insulin, through calorie restriction as a "ritualistic" way or carb restriction as a more "easy" way, promotes longer lifespan. I recall some old saying about Okinawan eating habits, along the lines of "eat only till 80% full" or some such.

However, and this is a BIG however, in the last 100 years we have had two world wars, many smaller ones, multitudes of epidemics, a few pandemics, lots of different diseases that ravaged one place worse than another, etc.

And it all boils very well into the one quite humorous comment on the calorie restriction thread: to live long, don't die. For "the moments longest lived people", it most certainly is a very profound factor. They didn't die when lots of other people did, not because of better health, but often because of luck and location...

As for Halle Berry, her start of diabetes definitely sounds like insulin dependent diabetes, as in generally thought of as "Type 1" diabetes or "juvenile onset" or whatever other of the many versions thrown around to mean diabetes in which the function of pancreas is busted, and needs injected insulin. Going into diabetic coma from type 2 diabetes as the first sign is kinda rare, as in vvvvvvery rare.