photo by Brie Cohen

Glen Parsons picks out apples while grocery shopping at Hy-Vee on Wednesday. Parsons, a Vitality Project participant, has been eating more fruits and vegetables in place of crackers and chips.

Vitality Living series: Insignificant to significant

Small changes in diet and exercise bolster health of diabetes patient

By Sarah Stultz | Albert Lea Tribune

Published Friday, October 23, 2009

Editor’s note: This is the final in a four-part series featuring individual success stories of the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project. The pilot project, which began in January and concluded last week, set out to help residents live longer, healthier lives.

Small insignificant changes that led to a significant impact.

That’s how Albert Lean Glen Parsons describes his experience with the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project.

Parsons, who moved to Albert Lea in 1970 to teach, said he’s always been involved in many aspects of the community.

Whether it was teaching elementary school students for 35 years, getting involved in the community theater group, directing high school plays or singing at his church, he said he’s always tried to do things to promote Albert Lea.

“So when the Vitality Project came aboard, I thought, here’s another opportunity,” he said.

He quickly became one of the project’s ambassadors to see what he could do to promote the project and Albert Lea.

But in turn, he made a lot of changes to his own life that he said he’s grateful for.

Living with diabetes

Sixty-one-year-old Parsons developed diabetes in 1971, his first year of teaching. The doctor told him that it was probably the stress of the job that triggered it, he said.

At first he started out on an oral medication, moved to insulin shots, and now he has an insulin pump that automatically gives his body insulin.

“I’ve been diabetic for a long time, and I’ve lived with it,” he said. “I’ve watched my diet pretty carefully through the years.”

He’d eat a prescribed amount of food per meal, including a certain number of breads, proteins, fruits and so on.

But when the Vitality Project came along, he decided to switch it up a little.

He said he feels like he’s eating many more fruits and vegetables than he used to, and he starts off both lunch and dinner with a glass of water and a salad.

He has learned that 2 ounces of nuts a day can make a huge difference in a person’s longevity, so he’s picked that up as well.

He has also switched from being a pretty big meat eater to where meat “is not really on the radar anymore.”

“It’s really changed our diet a lot,” Parsons said. “I feel more energetic.”

He has eliminated soda and eats snacks of celery and carrots instead of crackers or chips. The celery and carrots provide the same crackle and crunch he’s always enjoyed eating but without the fat and salt.

He remembers the Okiwanan adage “hari hachi bu,” which reminds him to stop eating when he’s 80 percent full. He and his family also have eliminated fast food from their lifestyles.

In addition to a change in diet, Parsons has added more exercise through walks with his dog and with his moai.

During the summer, the moai — made up of mostly other teachers — would walk six days a week for an hour. Now that school has started, the moai has been meeting less frequently, but he and his dog still go for walks every morning.

“The walking has been a huge thing, too,” Parsons said. “It’s been a great benefit.”

He said he’s noticed his blood glucose numbers are much more level since he started eating differently and walking more.

He hasn’t had a sick day now since the project started in January.

How he’s changed

Parsons, a retired teacher who substitute teaches in the Albert Lea School District, said the results he’s seen from just a few small changes have been encouraging.

“These few simple changes in my life, they’ve made a good impact and a good growth,” he said.

At the beginning of the project, his biological age was 55, while he was 60. The Vitality Compass — the interactive tool for determining life expectancy — said he would live to be 94.

When he retook the compass at the end of the project, it said his biological age was 49 and he was going to live to be 98.

He’s also lost 12 pounds.

“It’s been encouraging,” he said. “I’m not dieting. It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose. These few simple changes have made it happen.”

He is at his church, United Methodist Church of Albert Lea, almost every night of the week — practicing in choirs or helping out where needed. He teaches Sunday School and sings at services.

He even helped introduce the Vitality Project to the members of his church and took them on a walk one day after they had a luncheon.

“I just felt like promoting the idea of this healthier lifestyle was encouraging and non-lifethreatening,” he said.

It’s also been important for him to stay connected with people.

“It’s just become a natural part of things right now,” he said referring to all of the changes.

---

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THIS STORY?

---