Westie Lee: Living a full life with type 2 diabetes

I'd never heard HbA1c in my life.

All I knew about it is that it was something to do with the amount of sugar that you have.

So in my mind, when I heard this, that I had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I was like, I don't even have a sweet tooth.

Like, I couldn't give a shit about a custard slice or a caramel square.

But, you know, give me a box of pizza shapes, happy days.

You know, but so all I knew is that it was a fat person thing and because you'd had too much sugar.

Yeah, unhealthy

in your diet.

But, Salita, I wanted to ask you this question.

What does cause type 2 diabetes?

So many things.

So one of the things I keep hearing in your story is that you're talking about being in a bigger body or being fat as if it's a negative thing and as if that's what's brought diabetes upon yourself.

But we know that diabetes is so much more complex than that, particularly type 2 diabetes.

It's not clear cut.

There are so many genes involved.

And one of the things that we know is that when people have a parent with diabetes, they've got a 50-50 chance of developing type 2 diabetes.

And loads of people aren't told that.

I had

no idea.

Yeah.

And so when I hear about a young man in their 30s being diagnosed, I think that man was genetically primed to be in that position.

There are so many men out there living the exact same lifestyle that you were that did not develop diabetes at the same age.

And so one of the first things is that it's not your fault.

The other thing is that there are so many parts of the body that are causing our glucose levels to rise.

It's not just the kai that we eat and the potential lack of movement that we have.