Health News Archive

Halle Berry's fitness work not just about beauty

By Carolyn Susman

Cox News Service

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The brief that came over the news wires was short on specifics and really nothing more than a sound bite in print.

The story lauded the actress Halle Berry for her seventh appearance on People magazine's list of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World."

And for going it one better this time for her appearance on the magazine's cover.

"The 34-year-old actress . . . says she works out daily with a treadmill and weights, and maintains a strict diet of chicken, fish, vegetables, brown rice and tabbouleh.

" 'I'm not obsessive, like I have to have the best butt or the best abs, but I like the idea of feeling strong and healthy,' " Berry is quoted as saying in the People story.

What was quoted was accurate enough, but only a partial view of why the actress keeps to such a rigorous schedule of exercising and eating such a restricted diet.

While readers of that "print bite" were thinking that Berry is a diet and fitness freak in order to maintain her gorgeous body for the proper on-screen look, there was a more serious reason.

And it's a reason that Berry has been open about, and discusses freely in the People article: She is a diabetic, having been diagnosed in 1989 with adult-onset diabetes, also known as Type 2, which impairs the body's ability either to produce enough insulin or to use insulin properly.

"To maintain her energy and prevent complications, she must test her blood-sugar levels daily -- 'On my fingers; it's not bad' -- and follow a no-sugar diet. 'I don't eat carbs a lot,' she says, 'mainly because I don't really like them,' " the magazine story said.

While Berry doesn't dwell on her illness, she uses attention such as her recent People appearance to be upfront about her condition. She was diagnosed when she collapsed on the set of a television show she was doing years ago, so her condition couldn't really be hidden.

She is also a good example of how, even though obesity is a trigger for many adult-onset diabetics, not everyone develops it from being overweight.

But putting the spotlight on diabetes in any form can wake people up to its consequences and prompt those who are overweight or have a family history of the disease to get a blood test to find out whether they have it. There is even awareness now of a pre-diabetic condition that can be managed with the goal of preventing development of the full-blown disease.

Just 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity, coupled with a 5 percent to 10 percent reduction in body weight, produced a 58 percent reduction in diabetes among pre-diabetics, according to the Diabetes Prevention Program study of the American Diabetes Association.

Being active and eating well are most always good life goals, even if it's to imitate a beauty like Halle Berry.

Just keep in mind that not everyone who is a weight-watcher or is keeping to a good exercise schedule is motivated just by thoughts of having the body beautiful.

As important, or even more important, are those who are battling disease and getting that special look as a secondary benefit.

Carolyn Susman

Back 06.02.2006.