The Chase star Mark Labbett was on Loose Women today to discuss his hidden health condition and how he has been using exercise and diet to manage his condition
Mark Labbett has opened up about his serious health condition.
Appearing on Loose Women, the quizzer – best known as The Beast from The Chase – shared that he was diagnosed with diabetes following a visit to the doctor. Labbett attributes part of his weight loss transformation to his Type 2 diabetes diagnosis.
He emphasised that the condition is not the “life sentence people think it is” and can be managed effectively if detected early.
During his appearance on Loose Women, he stated: “It’s very reversible. If you do exercise, it depresses the glucose level. So if you do enough exercise and watch what you eat, you can become un-diabetic.
“I had a leg injury that wasn’t healing up and the nurse said, ‘Are you sure you’re not diabetic? ‘ And I went, ‘I don’t think so.’ And they did a simple blood test and told me I was diabetic. It just showed. I had no other symptoms.”
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Labbett further explained that he wouldn’t have known about if it wasn’t for that nurse, reports Surrey Live.
“I still never had a hyper or hypoglycaemic episode, which is when you get too much sugar or too little sugar. But if not for that, I would have never known. In one way, it was unlucky because I could have been walking around now with dangerously high levels of glucose and not realised it,” he explained of how much at risk he was.
Mark has been focusing on his wellbeing and shared that he’s feeling great these days.
He admitted: “I am guilty of letting it go sometimes and giving myself a cheeky chocolate bar from time to time. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs – god knows there’s no loose women in my life. I’ve got to have something.
“I’m wearing this little continuous glucose monitor and it’s been a game-changer because you can’t kid yourself. So I see what happens to my glucose level if I have a portion of chips, enough to make me say no.”
Despite indulging in a hearty breakfast this morning, Mark revealed that it didn’t significantly affect his glucose levels. He attributes this stability to taking his medication consistently and has managed to keep his glucose at the higher end of the normal range.
*Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX at 12.30pm.
