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Colin Findlay outside the Highgate Oxfam shop where he works |
‘I fought back from the brink with diabetes’
Man’s breakdown led to serious obesity problem and warning from doctors to change lifestyle
STRUGGLING with mental health problems, Colin Findlay developed a dependency on the worst kinds of food: burgers, chips, fry-ups and family-sized pizzas.
To make matters worse, a side-effect of his psychiatric treatment meant he was hungry most of the time and the urge to eat was just too much to bear.
In 1998, after 15 years of obesity, he was diagnosed at the Royal Free with type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes, like type 1, is associated with high blood-sugar levels, but, rather than being dependent on insulin to convert glucose in the blood into energy, sufferers with type 2 become resistant to their own naturally produced insulin.
Colin, who lives in Abbey Road, West Hampstead, was raised by his mother in a council block in Flask Walk, Hampstead. His father was a rag ’n’ bone man.
Not long after embarking on a catering course at Westminster College, Colin suffered a mental breakdown.
In just a year he went from being an underweight, seven-stone cross country-running 17-year-old, to an obese 18 stones.
“I was eating fast-food, junk food and I was overeating,” said Colin. “There was a stage where I was constantly hungry and I couldn’t stop eating. Before I’d go to bed I’d order a takeaway, a giant size pizza at 12 o’clock at night.”
His condition became so bad he had to start injecting insulin. The dosage increased and a more potent insulin was used.
Colin’s high blood pressure levels, combined with the deteriorating state of his health, meant he had to have an angioplasty, an operation to widen his coronary arteries as a preventative measure to avoid a heart attack.
After the operation, medics warned him that it was essential he changed his lifestyle.
Although there is evidence that people suffered symptoms of diabetes – frequent urination and tiredness – as far back as ancient Egyptian times, the levels of diabetes in modern day society present a serious challenge.
It is the biggest cause of blindness among working-age people in the UK and considered a by-product of people living affluent lifestyles, as outlined in a report released by The School of Pharmacy last week.
Professor David Taylor, chairman of the Camden and Islington NHS Mental Health and Social Care Trust, is pressing for better-coordinated public health programmes.
There are nearly two million people in England living with diabetes, and that figure is expected to rise to five million by 2030 if improved prevention and treatment is not explored.
Colin said: “I noticed the more vegetables I had in my meals the lower my blood sugars were and I realised that if I made some real differences I could really improve things.”
In 2004, he invested in an exercise bike and for one year dedicated two hours a day to pedalling his way out of obesity, losing more than seven stone in weight in three years.
For the past two years Colin has also walked to work at the Oxfam store in Highgate High Street and back to his home in Abbey Road four days a week.
“I built it up slowly over a long period of time,” he added.
“Now I’m strict, I’m happy in life in my diet and my exercise. When I’m an old man I’ll still be exercising.” |
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