No Way To Go Through Life, Son
By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
posted 11/26/02
Stephen Furst, who portrayed the rotund Flounder in the comedy classic Animal House, has a new starring role. He's an advocate for losing weight and excercising to control type 2 diabetes, the most common form of a disease that can have catastrophic health consequences.
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In his new lighthearted book, Confessions of a Couch Potato (American Diabetes Association), Furst, 48, recounts the trauma of growing up as an obese child, describes himself as a food addict and talks about the high price that years of overeating has taken on his health.
A type 2 diabetic, the resident of Los Angeles now weighs between 175 to 180 pounds, but for years he was severely overweight, carrying as much as 320 pounds on his 5-foot-10 frame.
"I sat, I ate, I grew," he writes in the book. "I felt different from everyone else — like an alien. The looks I received when I was 320 pounds were ones usually reserved for three-eyed monsters, half-man half-woman reptiles, creatures with hideous rolls of skin that sweated profusely and giggled when they walked. That last one really was me."
He has seen firsthand the high price of diabetes. His father, who was also a diabetic, died at age 47 of a heart attack, one of the major complications of the disease. One of his two overweight sisters also has diabetes and is blind and on dialysis.
The actor was diagnosed with the disease when he was 17, but he didn't take it seriously for years. A doctor told him once that he was committing "slow suicide." Furst just scoffed at the remark and kept on eating.
He describes himself as a food addict. "My bourbon is bonbons, my martini is manicotti (with extra cheese). Forget cocaine; bring on the Cocoa Puffs. Actually, when I was a child I used to eat sugar Frosted Flakes with chocolate milk, but I digest, I mean digress."
But not paying attention to his diabetes and his weight eventually caught up with him. Furst had a cataract removed from one eye, and he has a diabetic condition called neuropathy in his feet, which has left him with very little feeling and poor circulation.
It wasn't until he was 40 and landed in the hospital with an infection on his left foot — and doctors talked about amputating part of it — that Furst decided he had to lose weight.
The actor met with a dietitian, and much of what he learned was "common sense," he says. "You can eat a lot more vegetables than you can cotton candy. Bring on the veggies. Stay away from the fluffy carbs."
He figured out ways to cut fat and control carbohydrates. He revamped his cooking style. He made lots of soups, and when he was on the road and hungry, he drank coffee.
Furst lost about two pounds a week for a year. "One of the key things I did to stay on my diet is I never allowed myself to get hungry. As soon as I got hungry, I'd eat healthy foods."
At first he couldn't exercise at all, but he took the batteries out of his remote control and started walking over to change the channels on the TV. And he'd go upstairs to get things he needed instead of sending his children.
Later, he began doing yard work and started with 10 minutes on the StairMaster. Now, he goes to the gym three times a week and does the StairMaster for 20 to 30 minutes and lifts weights on machines for 20 minutes or so. On the other days, he takes extra long walks with his dog.
He no longer has to take insulin shots and is down to one pill a day for his diabetes. He had to have surgery to remove eight pounds of extra skin around his midsection, arms and thighs.
Furst is worried about the increase in type 2 diabetes in this country and hopes others are motivated by his success and will try his recipes. "I hope this book helps them find humor in a serious situation: They can laugh their way to being thin."
Source: USA Today.
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