I’m so close to being a diabetic... I’ve had to overhaul my diet
Coleen takes shock blood test result as ‘wake-up call’
COLEEN Nolan has revealed she is making urgent diet and lifestyle changes to avoid developing type 2 diabetes following a shock prediabetes diagnosis.
The Loose Women star had blood tests after suffering a serious chest infection and being unwell for a while.
And although she was relieved to find out her lungs were healthy, the 58-year-old was told she was at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The condition increases the likelihood of heart disease, stroke and other serious complications – including kidney failure, nerve damage and blindness.
Coleen says: “I was one-anda-half marks off being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
“It was a shock but, looking back, I hadn’t been feeling myself for some time.
SYMPTOMS
“I’d been experiencing terrible, abnormal fatigue, which would strike out of the blue, like in the middle of Tesco, and I’d have to stop what I was doing and go and sleep somewhere.
“And I kept getting skin infections that would take forever to heal. When I googled the symptoms, I think I had every one of them apart from weight loss.”
Medics say the star can reverse the condition, which is associated with higher-thannormal blood sugar levels, and prevent type 2 diabetes by changing her lifestyle.
Coleen says: “While the nurse emphasised it’s not a diet, I need to change what I eat.
“At home, I have a healthy plant-based diet as my daughter Ciara is an amazing vegan cook. But when I’m in London working I’m a terrible snacker.
“I have a sweet tooth and I also love a bag of crisps – and I won’t just have one bag, I’ll have two.”
The diagnosis made the ex-nolans singer determined to be fit for her UK tour, which kicked off last month.
Coleen says: “It’s been a wake-up call to say, ‘OK, fatty, enough snacks, step away from the fridge!’ My new diet is a work in progress. But I’ve cut out all unhealthy snacks like chocolate and crisps.”
Coleen also has plans to do more exercise. She says: “I get out for walks with the dogs at home and I’m active around the houses, but I need to up the exercise. My hotel in
London has a gym I’ve never seen the inside of and I’ve been there five years. Being overweight doesn’t help, especially weight around your middle.”
Yesterday, Coleen told how she also quit smoking after 40 years after her chest infection left her struggling to breathe.
She is not the first Nolan sister to face health woes.
Bernie lost her breast cancer battle in 2013, aged 52. Linda, 64, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, which she thought she had beaten but recurred in her liver in 2020.
She revealed in March last year it had spread to her brain. But in December, she said her brain tumours had shrunk.
And Anne, 72, battled breast cancer but has now been free of it for three years.
Mirror agony aunt Coleen will get a check-up in three months to see if the changes she has made are working. She says: “I was shocked to learn seven million in the UK are thought to have prediabetes.
“In a way, I’m lucky I got a chest infection and had bloods taken or I wouldn’t know.
“When you’re busy and stressed, as I am at the moment – working, rehearsing for my tour and moving house – it’s easy to put your diet to the bottom of your list of priorities but you have to make time for your health.”
The star is also coming to terms with Ciara, 22, leaving home to go travelling. Coleen – also mum to Shane, 34, and Jake, 31, says: “Empty nest is real! I miss her every day.”
But she is planning to make healthy meals from recipes Ciara left. Coleen adds: “Life has given me a chance to turn things around and reverse the prediabetes, and maybe I’ll even get a few extra years. I’m going to do my best.”
Tickets for Coleen’s tour are on sale now at coleentour.com