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Stephan Belding watches Paula Deen, the Food Network's goddess of Southern-fried, sugared-up everything, but really, she should watch him.

After all, he's the guy who in March 2010 drove himself to Providence Newberg Medical Center (Portland, OR), where tests revealed blood sugar levels so high doctors told him he was on the brink of a diabetic coma. Until that day, Belding didn't know he and Deen shared more than a love for hard-on-the-arteries food. They both had developed type 2 diabetes.

Belding, who is 53 and lives in Tigard, told his family and friends, lost more than 60 pounds in six months and kept it off. Deen, 65, stayed publicly quiet until last week, when she disclosed on NBC's "Today" show that she was diagnosed three years ago and takes diabetes medication.

Some diabetics and foodies railed against her for pushing gut-bomb dishes on TV, her website and in her cookbooks -- bacon-and-egg-topped burger on a donut bun, anyone? -- while failing to fess up about her diagnosis until after she'd signed a lucrative deal to promote a diabetes drug.

Belding is kinder and gentler: "If it brings more focus and more daylight to type 2 diabetes," he says, "so much the better."

The Portland native was a fit young fellow. Belding played soccer, raced bicycles and scaled peaks with the Mazamas mountaineering group.

Red meat and fast food were staples. He rarely ate at home and seldom fixed his own lunch. As an athletic, calorie-burning machine, he figured he didn't need to pay much attention to what or how much he ate.

Middle age, however, settled in ... around his belly.

In the 1990s, Belding worked in the transportation business and raised two sons with his wife, Jenny. He returned to school, earning a bachelors degree in 2000 and a masters of business administration in 2002. He started a business, Rose Courier Express, and teaches courses at Marylhurst University and University of Phoenix.

With days that felt beyond full, exercise got pushed aside. Trouble was, Belding's bad eating habits didn't.

"That's when the weight started coming on," he says.

Belding is 5-foot-10 or so and by early 2010, he weighed 215 pounds.

He knew about diabetes, a disease in which the body fails to produce insulin or use the hormone properly. Insulin is necessary for absorbing blood sugar, or glucose. Too much glucose in the blood can lead to serious health problems.

Belding was aware of the symptoms because his parents and one sister had type 2 diabetes, the most common variety. Another sister was diagnosed at age 7 with type 1 diabetes, requiring daily insulin injections because her body didn't produce it.

So in February 2010, as he grew tired and often thirsty, as he urinated more frequently than usual, and as he noticed that cuts failed to heal as they should, Belding knew he should see a doctor. He put it off until awakening one March morning with blurry vision; diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in U.S. adults, according to the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet.

Belding's wife was away on business, so he drove himself to the hospital. When tests revealed his blood-glucose count was off-the-charts, Providence Newberg doctors admitted him.

His primary care physician ordered more tests. In addition to type 2 diabetes, Belding's cholesterol and triglycerides were sky high.

He remembers his doctor's words: "Either change your lifestyle or you're going to die."

Belding filled prescriptions for injectable insulin, the drug metaformin, which helps control blood sugar, and a statin to lower his cholesterol.

And he buckled down.

He saw a dietitian, who not only set him on a healthy course, but also gave him a copy of the "Good Food, Great Medicine" cookbook by Mea and Dr. Miles Hassell, a Portland writer and her brother, director of the Department of Integrative Medicine at Providence Cancer Center. (Order the book online.) The Hassells are missionaries of sorts for the benefits of treating diabetes with diet and exercise, instead of turning straight to drugs.

Belding nixed processed foods, refined sugar, soda -- even diet pop -- and his beloved ice cream. He became a label reader, skipping foods with ingredients he couldn't define or pronounce.

He replaced them with fruit, vegetables and such whole grains as quinoa, farro and wheat berries. He splurges once a week on red meat, though often it's buffalo or elk, both leaner than beef. A couple other days each week he'll eat fish, chicken or pork, but gets most protein from grains and legumes.

Breakfast might be an apple and coffee with almond milk. Lunch is pita bread and a salad more creative than a bowl of greens; he'll chop celery, pineapple, onions, vegetables, toss them with salt, pepper, almond oil and lime juice. Dinner might be trout or a pork chop with root-vegetable stew. For an evening snack he'll have apple slices, a little dark chocolate and parmesan cheese.

"What's been really good," Belding says, " is how much my palate has changed since my diet changed. I've developed a taste for foods I never thought I'd enjoy."

Returning to exercise was a challenge, but Belding knew he had to commit to if he wanted to beat diabetes.

"I started walking 30 minutes a day, huffing and puffing," he says.

By June, three months later, Belding was walking eight or 10 miles daily; he'd lost 20 pounds.

His bike, which had been collecting dust in a closet, came out. The more he rode, the more weight came off.

Belding's routine sounds demanding. He gets up around 4 a.m. and takes a 40-minute walk. Before bed, he walks 30 more minutes. During winter, he spends a couple mid-day hours on the bicycle trainer in his garage; in summer, he rides outside three to four hours a day.

His goal was to lose enough weight to get off all the diabetes and cholesterol meds.

Six months into his routine, with his blood counts improving, Belding's doctor reduced his medications.

Eleven months after his diabetes diagnosis, when Belding was down to 155 pounds, the doctor told him he no longer needed the drugs.

"I'm in better shape than when I was bicycle racing 20 years ago," he says. "It's as if I never had the diabetes in the first place."

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(c)2012 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.)  

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