NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins: Has A Slam Dunk Formula for Diabetes
NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, affectionately known as “The Human Highlight Film” has a few coaching tips for people with diabetes.
Several years after retiring from the Atlanta Hawks, Dominique was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Once he stopped playing professional basketball, he stopped exercising and eating well. Consequently, he started experiencing some common diabetes symptoms, blurry vision and frequent urination.
Diabetes was not new to Dominique. Unfortunately, both his father and grandfather passed away from diabetes complications.
“ I wanted to get my diabetes under control very quickly. Do whatever was necessary to get it under control.” He said. Dominique decided to start with an aggressive therapy by changing his diet, exercising more and taking medication. “You have to treat diabetes as an opponent. It’s not a curse or death sentence. My body let me know very quickly, that I needed to get back to working out.”
Dominique tests his blood sugar daily. He gets on his treadmill for a 20 minute interval workout and walks 1-2 miles every day. If he is home and not traveling, he shoots 150 hoops with his sons.’
Dominique’s partnership with Novo Nordisk, the makers of Victoza, comes after he finds the perfect balance between medication exercise and diet.
“ I went through trial and error before I found the right medication for me. I also put together a workout regime that was comfortable; I got tired of feeling bad. It was not difficult for me to change my foods.”
He emphasizes that if you are not motivated or focused to make a change, you need a team to help you. Go to the DiabetesDreamTeam.com website to learn how you can build your dream team and start feeling better. “ You can not sit back and say what woes me, you have to fight back,” says Dominique.
