Taking Strides Against Diabetes, The Sherri Shepherd DMN Briefing Interview

LUXHAIR SHERRI SHEPHERD

Being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease usually isn’t welcomed as an opportunity for growth and change, but when the condition is diabetes and it disproportionately affects a large segment of your family and community, suffering in silence just isn’t an option. Actress, author and Emmy-Award-winning talk show host, Sherri Shepherd, is joining forces with Dallas’ Diabetes Health & Wellness Institute and supporting tomorrow’s Healthy Harvest Fun Walk & 5K Run at Fair Park.

“A lot of people in our neighborhood of Frazier in South Dallas know who Sherri Shepherd is, so the fact that she identifies with having diabetes takes the stigma away and citizens are more apt to come in and get checked out,” says Venita Owens, VP of Admin Services and Business Development at DHWI. “Our goal is to get them into the clinic [at the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center] during the pre-diabetic stage to start working on wellness, nutrition and exercise programs.”

According to Shepherd, who first met with DHWI after appearing at last May’s Dallas/Ft. Worth’s Ultimate Women’s Expo, her personal participation was a no-brainer. “I was like, ‘Gosh, I would love to come in and help,'” she said by phone. “‘I had a comedy gig I was supposed to do in North Carolina, and I canceled it. Everybody in my family has diabetes and it breaks my heart the way the disease is running so rampant in our communities. I can’t run, but if I get out there and walk with some folks, it will make a difference.”

The statistics are disturbing: According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services statistics, the risk of diagnosed diabetes was 18 percent higher among Asian Americans, 66 percent higher among Hispanics/Latinos, and 77 percent higher among non-Hispanic blacks. Shepherd says there’s a cultural component also involved.

“We eat pork. Instead of using smoked turkey, we eat ham hocks,” she says. “It’s a whole lifestyle change, and change is scary for a whole lot of people.
But we can find that thing that motivates us and do it, and what motivates me is my son Jeffrey: I don’t want to do to my son what my mother did to me. When she died at the age of 41, there was a lot of stuff I had to learn on my own. I want to watch my son walk down the aisle and not have a rose in the chair where his mother should be….He’s 8 years old, so I have a long time that I need to be here.”

Making adjustments with diet and exercise to manage diabetes is also detailed in Shepherd’s latest book, Plan D: How To Lose Weight And Beat Diabetes (Even If You Don’t Have It). “Get that blood moving, get that oxygen moving in your body, it lowers the blood sugar. Exercise is so vital to a healthy lifestyle and you feel better because you get more oxygen to your brain.

I tell people that I’m not perfect and not to beat themselves up, we have look at successes rather than our failures. Be your own best friend, because your best friend will tell you ‘You’re not a failure, get back up. It’s a new day so try it again.'”


(Click here to find out when and where Sherri will host a live Christian comedy show with Bone Hampton after the walk on Saturday, Oct.26.)

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