How I Changed My Diabetes Lifestyle: Don Mazzella's Story

Although in denial about his diabetes at first, Don Mazzella eventually adopted a healthy diet, an exercise plan, and a mindset to change the course of his life.

When Don Mazzella, 66, was first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes nearly two decades ago, he had a difficult time accepting that he had the condition.
“My mother and aunts had type 2 diabetes, so I always suspected I’d get it, too," he says. "Nonetheless, when I heard about my diagnosis, it came as a shock.”
For about a year after learning he had type 2 diabetes — a condition in which the body becomes resistant to insulin, the hormone that allows glucose to be used by the body’s cells — Mazzella sat in denial. Managing diabetes simply wasn’t in his life plan.
“But then I found a great doctor who encouraged me to face my disease,” says Mazzella, the COO and editorial director of a group of online newsletters in Palisades Park, N.J. Recalling his mother’s death, Mazzella decided to fight back with significant lifestyle changes. He went back to the exercise habits of his youth, accepting that ongoing physical fitness would be necessary. Another important lifestyle change for his new diabetes management plan was to adopt a diabetes-friendly diet.
“As of today, I work a 50-plus-hour week with no energy dips in the afternoons, I walk several miles, and my A1C has stayed below seven for the past four years,” he says. (The A1C test measures a person’s average blood sugar control for the past two to three months, and the goal for people with diabetes is an A1C level below 7 percent.)
Mazzella knows his success in managing diabetes is due in large part to his lifestyle changes. “For people with type 2 diabetes, diet and lifestyle changes are very important in managing the condition and achieving good blood sugar control,” says Jill Crandall, MD, a professor of clinical medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and principal investigator in the National Institutes of Health-funded Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study. The sooner someone with type 2 diabetes starts employing a diabetes-friendly diet and other lifestyle changes, the better.
“Managing diabetes tends to be more difficult the longer someone has it,” Dr. Crandall says. “In the beginning, managing diabetes may be relatively easy — just make a few lifestyle changes or take one little pill and your blood sugar is under control.” But as time goes on and your metabolism changes, managing diabetes can become more challenging. “The best thing you can do is to adopt a healthy diabetes diet and other diabetes lifestyle changes now,” she says.
Tips for Managing Diabetes
With Mazzella’s success in mind, here are some specific diabetes lifestyle changes that can make a difference for you, too:
Lose weight. “Many people with diabetes are significantly overweight, and body weight is a huge factor in managing diabetes,” Crandall says. “You don’t need to become skinny or even achieve an ideal body weight to make a tremendous difference in managing diabetes — in many cases, losing 5 to 10 percent of excess body weight, or 15 to 20 pounds, can improve diabetes control.
Get moving. Mazzella’s plan when it comes to exercise and managing his diabetes is to get in at least one walk a day. “I walk for at least a mile and it builds stamina,” he says. Perhaps more importantly, exercise also improves insulin sensitivity. “Whether insulin is made by the person’s own body or provided by an injection, that insulin will work better in people who exercise,” Crandall says. She recommends 30 to 45 minutes of moderate activity, equivalent to a brisk walk, on most days of the week.
Avoid sugary beverages. When Mazzella decided to put his diabetes diet into gear, he swapped regular soda for diet soda and stopped putting sugar in his coffee. “Sugary drinks are a real problem for people with diabetes because they’re a source of quickly absorbed sugar,” Crandall says. “Water or seltzer is the best choice, but for people having trouble satisfying a sweet tooth or making changes to get rid of sweet beverages, diet beverages are a reasonable option.”
Eat your vegetables. To avoid the afternoon slump that can come after a high-carbohydrate lunch, Mazzella eats a salad for lunch each day, a practice both Crandall and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) support. The ADA specifically recommends eating non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, carrots, broccoli, or green beans with meals.
Treat yourself now and then. The ADA also recommends cutting back on high-calorie desserts like cookies and full-fat ice cream as part of a healthy diabetes diet. But Mazzella says a splurge once in awhile keeps him mentally in tune with his program, and he enjoys it all the more now that he only indulges occasionally. Crandall agrees that the occasional high-carbohydrate treat is okay. “It’s the big picture in terms of diabetes lifestyle changes and eating habits that’s most important,” she says.
Be careful about portion sizes. One of the most important diabetes lifestyle changes that Mazzella has made, he says, is slowing the speed at which he eats. “I eat slowly, so it takes me a long time to finish my food,” he says. This helps his brain to recognize when he starts feeling full sooner — before he’s had too much. Crandall thinks this is a good strategy. She also recommends the “create your plate” method: Fill half of your plate with non-starchy, low-calorie vegetables, a quarter of your plate with a lean protein like chicken or fish, and the remaining quarter with a high-quality starchy foods, such as brown rice, lentils, or whole grains, to follow a healthful diabetes diet.
Create a support system. Mazzella credits the beginning of his lifestyle turnaround to the encouragement of his doctor and suggests that people with type 2 diabetes find a motivational partner to help them get and stay on track. “A companion who will keep you accountable can be key to maintaining your program,” he says.
Overall, Mazzella encourages others with type 2 diabetes to be positive. “Understand that you can have a normal life with diabetes," he says. "Follow a healthy diabetes lifestyle and you can live a long time.”