David Wells Boots Out the Culprit Carbs & Gets Diabetes Savvy

Apparently, earlier this month, San Diego Padres pitcher David Wells "Boomer") found out that he has type 2 diabetes.

Wells, dubbed by the official site of Major League Baseball News, as "one of baseball’s most successful active pitchers and one of the game’s most colorful characters," is now determined to get his disease under control by making some lifestyle changes.

Indeed, evidently the athlete is taking his diabetes to heart: He’s begun to shun those potentially dangerous fast-acting carbs and even beer so that he can gain better health and avoid drastic complications of the disease.

“From the time I found out, I made changes. No more starches and sugar. No more rice, pasta, potatoes and white bread. No more fast food. I’ve cut out alcohol,” the told the San Diego Union-Tribune’s staff writer Bill Center.

Oh this is good news. We desperately need public figures in the world of sports and entertainment to speak out and set a good example rather than appear in commercials for soda or other culprit carbs.

You see, when athletes and celebrities (their idols) pay attention to their diet and to the dangers of diabetes — and tell the world about it, others may follow suit.

Actually, as the San Diego Union Tribune’s reporter Bill Center remarks, Boomer hasn’t exactly given up drinking.  Apparently, he was given the OK to "have a glass of wine now and then,” but he acknowledges that he has to "watch what I’m doing. I’m not drinking."

Actually, it’s sad that it took a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes to serve as a wake-up call to get the athlete to change his junk-food-eating ways. Even so, it sounds like his doctor or other health experts quickly gave the athlete a much-needed education about type 2 diabetes.

But it sounds like Wells got confused, because he told San Diego Union-Tribune’s Bill Center, "I don’t want this going to Type 1 diabetes."

Huh? That’s not correct, is it? Just to be accurate, I turned to Fred Pescatore, M.D., a New York physician who treats a lot of diabetics, for clarification as to whether or not type 2 diabetes, largely a lifestyle disease, could lead to type 1 diabetes, which is an auto-immune illness.

Dr. Pescatore confirmed my suspicions. "Actually, the athlete is incorrect in his assumption," he told me. "Type 2 does not go to type 1, but a type 2 diabetic can require insulin if the diabetes is not in control," explains Dr. Pescatore, author of the Hamptons Diet.

"Maybe the error arose, because the baseball player may have confused needing insulin with being a type 1 diabetic. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetics can require insulin, depending on the severity of the disease."

Diabetes educator Steve Freed, R.PH. publisher of DiabetesInControl.com, further explains that "type 2 diabetics who do not maintain normal blood sugars will continue to lose their beta cells — the cells that produce insulin — and when they lose all of their beta cell function, over time, they become a type 1 diabetic. That’s why it’s so important to reduce your carbs, increase physical activity and monitor your blood sugars, Freed explains.

In any event, I hope baseball fans are paying attention.

Perhaps a quick primer on diabetes is in order. (I haven’t done this here in a while)

Type 2 diabetes, which Wells has, is the kind that’s been running rampant of late, because it can be brought on lifestyle factors such as eating too many culprit carbs, not exercising enough or gaining too much weight. Of course, other factors can play a role, too, such as genes (if the disease runs in your family).

In fact, type 2 is so prevalent that it now affects 90 % to 95 % of the 18.2 milion people with the disease in the U.S., according to WebMD.

"Unlike people with type 1 diabetes, people with type 2 diabetes produce insulin; however, the insulin their pancreas secretes is either not enough or the body is unable to recognize the insulin and use it properly."

For those of you in the dark, insulin, as Web MD further explains, "is a hormone that allows the body’s cells to use sugar (glucose) for energy. Insulin also helps the body store extra sugar in muscle, fat, and liver cells."

Meanwhile, type 1 diabetes — an auto-immune disease also called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes — is usually discovered in children and teenagers, but it can occur at any age. Type 1 is less common — it affects about 1 in 250 Americans — and you need to take insulin to survive.

It’s quite encouraging to hear that Boomer’s doctor or other health professionals evidently drove home the proper message to the athlete. His M.D. evidently delivered some valuable instructions to the baseball player — and there’s nothing like a doctor’s orders to force you to get on track.

Wells admits to the San Diego paper, "I want to be around for a while. If you don’t take care of this, it can lead to some scary stuff . . . like losing limbs. If anyone has this, it’s a red flag, period.

“But if I follow the rules I’ve been given, there’s no problem.”

Sounds like the San Diego Padres pitcher is on the right track.

Let’s just hope that the athlete’s conviction and determination wear off on Americans also newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Thanks to the NASCAR AOL Sports Blog for tipping me off to this story.