Miss America's 5 Tips For Eating Healthy, Beating Diabetes

By Glenn Mueller
eDiets Senior Writer

Since bursting on the scene as Miss America 1999, Nicole has lobbied members of Congress many times and helped pass diabetes insurance legislation throughout the country.

She has spoken about diabetes from the steps of the U.S. Capitol and at the Republican National Convention. Nicole has also traveled to 12 countries as an international advocate for diabetes care and awareness.

"Diabetes is a huge challenge regardless of your circumstances," Nicole tells eDiets. “I always have to be on top of my health, regardless of where I am or what I am doing. It is safe to say that not an hour goes by that I don’t reflect on my health condition and make adjustments based on my glucose levels, activity or food intake."

Yet Nicole is living proof that you don’t have to let diabetes stop you from achieving your goals. When she was first diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 19, Nicole thought her life was over. She admits she tried to keep her diabetes secret from the rest of the world. This decision almost cost her dearly. While competing in the 1997 Miss Virginia Pageant, Nicole had a traumatic experience.

“In the wee hours of the morning, my blood sugar dropped so low that the glucose meter wouldn’t produce a reading,” Nicole says. “I was in a coma-like state: non-responsive, unable to move, not able to speak or communicate.”

When Nicole’s parents and roommate were unable to revive her from this condition, they were forced to call the paramedics. When she finally recovered, Nicole pleaded with pageant officials to let her remain in the competition. In spite of everything that happened, she still placed among the top 10 finalists.

“Through that experience, I was forced to come to terms with who I am and the life I have been given,” Nicole says. “I had to make a choice: would I accept myself, faults and challenges included, or would I try to live a life of fake smiles, pretending everything was ok?”

Nicole decided to go forward with a full disclosure about her medical condition. The next time she entered the Miss Virginia pageant, she wore an insulin pump. Though many naysayers told her she would never win a pageant wearing the pager-sized device, Nicole proved them all wrong. Not only did she become Miss Virginia, but she was also crowned Miss America!

“The biggest honor was to see my dreams of being a national advocate for diabetes come true,” Nicole says. “It felt incredible to walk down that runway and know that the millions of individuals with diabetes would have a voice through me.”

By embracing her condition, Nicole turned the challenge of living with diabetes into an opportunity. She might have taught the judges a lesson about the true nature of beauty. When her year as Miss America was almost over, Nicole received a moving show of support from some of the many people that look to her for inspiration.

“When I was riding in the parade as Miss America -- the day before my term ended -- there were people all along the boardwalk waving their insulin pumps at me,” Nicole says. “This was one of the most moving experiences of my life.”

Nicole shares the inspirational story of her life so far in her best-selling autobiography, Living With Diabetes. Nicole, now married and living in Pittsburgh, writes a monthly column for Diabetes Health magazine and is working on two new books about diabetes. One book will address the needs of secondary caregivers, while the other will cater to young women with diabetes.

"We are a selfish society," says Nicole, suddenly turning stern. "We are busy with our careers and often can’t find time to take care of our bodies. We think there will always be a tomorrow, but the reality is we are in trouble. If we don’t start to exercise and eat sensibly, our life span is going to shrink, our children are going to suffer and our medical system is going to collapse."

Nicole says the keys to living well are moderation and movement. She is trying to get this message out in understandable and realistic ways. Nicole warns that if we don’t change the habits of our young ones, they will be the first generation to not outlive their parents.

Nicole recently formed a relationship with GNC to help create diabetes sections in the company’s 5,000 stores. In addition to carrying numerous products for people with diabetes, your local GNC store is offering free diabetes risk tests. Among the products Nicole uses and recommends are chromium supplements, multivitamins and Choice DM products from Bristol Myers Squibb. The Choice DM products are offered to eDiets members signed up for the Living With Type 2 Diabetes Plan.

One of the greatest challenges Nicole has faced in living with diabetes is healthy meal planning. Because of this, she co-authored a pair of cookbooks to help prevent other people from struggling with food choices or constantly eating the same foods.

“The cookbooks came out of my negative feelings about food and my desire to live again with diabetes,” Nicole says. “They are basically an outgrowth of my complaint, ‘I just can’t keep eating baked chicken, rice and green beans.’”

Nicole sat down with "ooh, it's so good" TV chef Mr. Food, a.k.a. Art Ginsburg, to write the books Mr. Food’s Quick and Easy Diabetic Cooking and Mr. Food Every Day’s a Holiday Diabetic Cookbook. The books address the rigors of treating diabetes and creating healthy meal plans.

Now, in this eDiets exclusive, Nicole offers five healthy eating tips for people with diabetes or those who want to lower their diabetes risk:

• Never Leave Home Without Some Kind Of Carbohydrate Product: In case of emergency, Nicole always carries a carbohydrate product like a bar or other snack in her purse.

• Use Sugar in Moderation: There is nothing wrong with using regular sugar and sweeteners, if you are being smart about it. If you are going to use an artificial sweetener, Nicole recommends using Splenda. Her home pantry is well stocked. Remember, it is not the sugar that is the problem, but the overall number of carbohydrates in the foods we eat.

• Try Fiber One: Nicole’s snacking favorite is Fiber One cereal. She eats a small bowl about twice a day and often sprinkles it on low-carb yogurt and cottage cheese.

• Try Just Fruit: Another favorite snack is Just Fruit, which is basically air-puffed dry fruit. It doesn’t contain as much sugar as traditional dried fruit and tastes just as good.

  To order your copy of Nicole’s autobiography, Living With Diabetes, click here. Also, check out her web site at nicolejohnson.com.