Halle Berry health latest: Star discusses her type 2 diabetes

Halle Maria Berry was born in 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio and spent her early years cheerleading and entering beauty contests. Berry went on to with the title of Miss Teen All American in 1985 and became Miss USA first runner-up. These successes led to a career in modelling and later she pursued her acting ambitions. Berry moved to New York and landed a role in Living Dolls in 1989. It was during her time filming for the series, that Berry collapsed into a coma and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. 

Berry was dangerously ill and in a diabetic coma for a week before waking to a life that would never be the same again.

Berry was told she would need daily insulin injections for the rest of her life as well as a complete overhaul of her diet.

She revealed in 2007 that she had improved her diabetes with a healthy diet. She claimed that she is now a type 2 diabetic and did not neeed to take insulin at all – although more recently the actress has revealed she is using the medication again.

Berry wrote on her Instagram in 2018 that a certain diet had helped, stating: “The keto lifestyle offers so many benefits such as weight loss, appetite control, more energy and better mental performance.

“If you’re like me, you can possibly reverse diabetes and you’ll experience better physical endurance, better skin and also less acne if that’s an issue.”

However, doctors have warned that type 1 diabetes in incurable and suffers should not stop taking their medication. It is not advised to make any changes to your diet or medication without seeing a doctor first if you are suffering with any form of diabetes.

Although people that are overweight and inactive are at higher risk for getting diabetes, anyone can develop the condition.

“Diabetes caught me completely off guard,” she told the Daily Mail 2005. “None of my family had suffered from the illness and although I was slightly overweight in school, I was pretty healthy.”

“They told me I might lose my eyesight, or I could lose my legs. I was scared to death, I thought I was going to die.”

Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar levels to be become too high. It’s estimated that there are over 4 million people living in the UK who have diabetes.

Determined not to let her condition hold her back, Berry’s acting success grew from strength to strength until finally she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Monster’s Ball.

Still living with the condition, Berry added “I have to test my blood sugar levels at least a couple of times a day.

I do a tiny pinprick, usually on my fingertips, and test it with a special kit which tell me how high or low my blood sugar levels are.

Then using this as a guide I inject myself with the correct dose of insulin to level up my blood sugar. “

Today, Berry is a spokesperson for the Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical company which specialises in making products for diabetics and she regularly does public speaking on living with diabetes.

Berry praises the  diet to helping her control her condition and her weight. She states the diet has also helped with physical endurance, better skin and better mental performance and is hoping to reverse her diabetes condition entirely.

“Diabetes turned out to be a gift,”she says. ”It gave me strength and toughness because I had to face reality, no matter how uncomfortable or painful it was.”

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