SUPER-FIT... BUT EX-ATHLETE DION STILL GOT IT AT 39

DION HOWELL is all too aware of the role genetics plays in developing diabetes.

A former athlete, the 41-year-old, pictured right, has always been a slim size eight, and prides herself on her healthy vegetarian diet.

Yet in March 2020, blood tests revealed a shock diagnosis: prediabetes.

‘I’d had Covid and I wasn’t feeling myself for nine weeks afterwards – I was exhausted – so the GP decided to do a load of blood tests,’ says Dion, from South London. ‘My blood sugars were strangely high. The doctors said I had prediabetes, but because I was otherwise healthy it must be genetic.’

Sure enough, Dion’s mother, Evelyn, 78, had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes the month before. ‘She hasn’t ever had a problem with her weight,’ says Dion.

The GP recommended Dion look at an online forum where fellow sufferers posted tips about how to bring down blood sugar levels.

Dion says: ‘The one thing that kept coming up was eating less porridge, because it gets converted to a lot of glucose in the blood. I’d eaten a big bowl every morning for as long as I can remember, so I halved the amount of oats. I also swapped sweets, which I ate most days, for strawberries and grapes.’

A three-month check-up found her blood sugar levels were in the normal range. ‘I upped my porridge a little bit after that,’ she adds, ‘but at the next check-up my sugars were up again – so it proves how sensitive I am to oats. I swapped porridge for toast and avocado.’

Dion’s latest blood test showed she was no longer prediabetic. She says: ‘I thought, if there’s something I can do to change this, no matter how tough, I have to do it.’