Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 11, 1 November 1995 — November is Diabetes Awareness Month [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

November is Diabetes Awareness Month

Living with diabetes — it's a family affair

by Deborah L. Ward Living with diabetes is a family affair for Jackie Pung, Hawaii's former star golfer, a native Hawaiian and celebrity spokesperson for the Hawai'i State Diabetes Control Program. Her parents were both diabetics, and she recently lost a daughter to diabetes. That's why her message to diabetics and their family members is: "It needs to be a family commitment. The family has to be very cooperative when someone is diabetic, really understanding, especially when it comes to diet." Pung received OHA assistance to attend the nationwide American Diabetes Association conference last year in La Jolla as a Hawai'i delegate. She discovered that diabetics and their families must deal with many issues — such as employment discrimination - — as well as maintaining good nutrition, exercising and and keeping a healthy lifestyle.

Pung says that people may have diabetes for years without knowing it. Pung was

a physically active and successful professional golfer touring on the national circuit for 14 years. She was Hawaii's first national golf ehampion, in 1952. She remained active with golf and escaped the symptoms for

many years. Then she had children and gained weight. She says, "It's a silent disease... you still feel good, but if you indulge in another beer or fudge, that's murder. You go to sleep and wake up and don't feel good." "That's what diabetes is about.

You have to watch it all the time, take your medication, or you get out of halanee."

Pung keeps working toward her goal of getting off medication, with her doctor's guidanee, through improved nutrition and dietary records, blood sugar level monitoring, and regular exercise. Pung says, "A diabetes menu is nothing but brown

nee, poi, vegetables, good stuff." It's hard for islanders to keep to a bland diet, she says because "We love our salt. We love our sugar. We Iike flavors." However, in the interest of her heahh, Pung has adopted a positive and creative approach to cooking. Her diet today is sim-

ple, but tasty and keeps her blood sugar levels low. She makes up batches of kidney or white beans with pasta, then freezes serving portions. She makes brown rice sushi with seaweed, rice, steamed watercress and carrots, no mirin. She Ioves salads and makes her own dressing of non-fat yogurt with dry herbs, apple cider vinegar, liquid amino acids, granulated garlic, no salt. Breakfast eonsists of oatmeal and bananas. Between meals she snacks on an apple or soda crackers to keep up her blood sugar level. As for Hawaiian food, she makes her own laulau, and still eats aku or ahi belly fishbones, sprinkled with whole wheat flour and steamed in a pan at low heat on a Iayer of sliced white onions, chopped tomatoes and green onions, served with poi and chopped limu soaked in vinegar with sliced red onions. When eating out, Pung says, look for small portions of cooked

vegetables and salad with no dressing. Living at Waikoloa Village on the island of Hawai'i, where she has been resident golf pro since 1972, Pung, 74, keeps up her physical activity by playing golf reguiarly, and going for daily walks as she swings her club. Pung always keeps in mind how important it is to live a healthy lifestyle. Just three months ago she lost her daughter, Leilani continued page 8

Diabetes health tips from Jackie Pung: • If you have diabetes in your family, get tested early. • Watch your sugar intake. "There's nothing wrong with a little taste, but if you can't stop at one taste, don't take it." • Exercise at all ages, whether walking, water aerobics, golf, dance or your favorite sport. • Make good nutrition a priority for the whole family.

Golfer Jackie Pung is now a diabetes educator and advocate.

Living with diabetes

from page 5 Pung Case, to diabetes. She says she only realized a few years ago that her daughter, a resident of Kuhiō Village in Waimea Hawaiian Homelands, was diabetic. She went for dialysis treatment in Kona three times a week. Eaeh treatment took a full day including travel time. Pung says, "Diabetes takes a toll on the patient. I've watched my daughter's dialysis treatment. It's a very tiring, drawn-out process." That's why Pung has has made it her goal to raise $15,000 for a three-chair dialysis unit and support equipment for the new hospital in Waimea. She says, "You have to have a very deep inner strength — faith — because we eame with a perfect, healthy body. ... I put myself into a spiritual level, then I feel good." Jackie Pung's goal is to inform

as many people as possible about the symptoms and treatment of diabetes, and the importance of getting tested, especially where family members have the condition. She's taken on a new job as chair of the heahh and human services committee of the State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA), and is planning health screenings on homesteads for its 30,000 members. She's looking for people to build a "Dream Team" of Hawaiians to meet with Hawaiian communities about how to build healthier lives. "We need to help our people, of all generations, to be in better health for their entire lives." Fellow diabetes advocate Aileen Barros adds, "Hawaiians should not feel embarrassed about having diabetes. ... Don't suffer at home alone. Get out and take charge of your life."