Tom Hanks health: Star on managing diabetes – ‘I watch what I eat to a point of boredom’
Tom Hanks delivers ceremonial first pitch at baseball game
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
The actor, 65, first opened up about his Type 2 diabetes diagnosis on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2013. Type 2 is the more common version of diabetes that is mostly associated with old age and obesity. According to Hanks, the doctor suggested he should get down to a similar weight as he was as a teenager to rid of the disease. Hanks replied: “Well, I’m going to have Type 2 diabetes then, because there is no way I can weigh [what I weighed] in high school.” Despite his resistence towards a massive drop in weight at the time, the star has made several life adjustments over the years.
In an episode of the podcast Sooo Many White Guys in 2018, the star opened up about how he deals with the condition as part of his daily routine and explained its cause in more depth.
He said: “Part of it is because of my genes and part of it is because of the horrible lifestyle that I led of eating anything.
“So now the first thing that I do is I try to take care of that.”
“I try to get, every single day, one hour of activity.
“That can be anything from a treadmill or a walk or a hike with a dog but it has to be one hour every single day.”
In a past interview with the Radio Times, the Castaway star admitted he had been a “total idiot” about his weight and relationship with food.
Hanks said: “I’m part of the lazy American generation that has blindly kept dancing through the party and now finds ourselves with a malady.
“I thought I could avoid it by removing the buns from my cheeseburgers.”
Despite his early naivety about healthy eating, the Forrest Gump star said in the podcast the is careful about his diet, although he has a few slip ups.
“I watch what I eat to a point of boredom,” Hanks said.
“So after that, have some coffee, read the paper. Get up, get the workout out of the way, take a shower.”
People develop Type 2 diabetes when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin, the hormone which removes sugar from your blood.
The condition can become dangerous as the sugar builds up and can increase blood pressure, which itself increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.
It says: “Losing around 15kgs within 3-5 months significantly increases your chances of remission.”
What are the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes?
According to the NHS, the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes include:
Feeling really tired
Losing weight unintentionally
Always feeling thirsty
Urinating more than usual, especially at night
Blurred vision
Source: Read Full Article