Quiz time! Take a look at the two bodies below, and tell me which one of these people has Type 2 diabetes:
Did you guess the fat person on the left? Well, you’re half right… both of these people have Type 2 diabetes. On the left we’ve got Paula Deen, who signed a lucrative endorsement deal with a diabetes medication after announcing her diagnosis, while on the left we have (arguably) America’s favorite actor, Mr. Tom Hanks.
But wait, that can’t be right, can it? Isn’t Type 2 diabetes something you get when you stuff your face with junk food and fast food, and never get up off the couch – that is, when you’re fat? How can someone as trim and healthy looking at Tom Hanks have a fat person’s disease?
The answer is simple: Diabetes doesn’t discriminate, even if society does. While many people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are fat, there are many other factors that play into the disease that can affect people of all sizes, including family history, low activity level, and a poor diet. (And despite common thinking, there are plenty of thin people who eat a poor diet and don’t move around very much.)
There has been some speculation that Tom Hanks developed Type 2 diabetes after years of large weight fluctuations for movie roles. However, he’s mentioned that he believes his diabetes was caused by the lifestyle he’s been living since he was a young man. We probably can’t know definitively what caused it in Hanks’ case, but there is evidence to suggest that a steady, stable weight, even when deemed “too high” by medical standards, may be a healthier way to live than repeatedly losing and regaining the pounds, as so many of us tend to do.
But let’s step away from the medical talk for a minute. Now, when Paula Deen was diagnosed, the media was quick to shame her for her weight. Yes, I know Deen was well known for cooking very rich, heavy meals with a seeming disregard for nutrition, and likely her poor diet contributed to her diagnosis. But shortly after making her endorsement deal with Novo Nordisk, she appeared on the cover of People magazine, showing off her newly svelte figure. Perfect! Another fatty who finally learned her lesson and slimmed down. For the media, the shaming wasn’t intended to get Deen healthier (which you can’t see), it was about her getting smaller (which you can see, and which society tells us makes us a better human being). Instead of using her diagnosis to inform and educate the public, it became another cautionary tale about how being fat is the worst thing you can be, and we’d all better throw some more money at the diet industry post haste.
Tom Hanks is beloved the world over. And now he has a disease that affects approximately 26 million Americans (not to mention another almost 80 million people who have prediabetes). Now, wouldn’t it make sense to slap Hanks on the cover of a few magazines and websites to spread the message that diabetes can and does affect people of all shapes, sizes, and ages? As a spokesperson for diabetes education and prevention, he could educate all of us on preventative measures we can take to lower these numbers – no matter our body size.
I think about how young people – who definitely need to be educated both on diabetes prevention and fat shaming – might pay attention to what Hanks has to say, might be able to relate to him. As opposed to, you know, the guy we all associate with diabetes education:
“Diabeetus.”
Maybe it’s just too early, and this will eventually happen. I hope it does. Instead of making diabetes about fat, about using it as a “valid” medical reason to shame fat people into getting thin (spoiler alert: that doesn’t work), Hanks could use his fame and good will to share accurate and necessary information about this disease. We all need it.
