At 4:30, in the blue dark of early morning, you can hear the steady beat of a man's running footsteps skirting the 9-acre grounds of the Governor's mansion in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is Mike Huckabee's sweatiest hour of the day.
Two years ago the Governor of Arkansas wouldn't have dreamed of taking a run. In fact, he might not have survived it. At age 47, Huckabee had aching knee joints, lost his breath walking up porch stairs and, according to his physician, was on his way to an early grave.
The 280-pound Huckabee had a history of dieting, losing weight and gaining it back. But he took note when his doctor sat him down during an annual checkup, gave him a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, and told him, "At the rate you're going, you've got another 10 years left."
Skeletons in the Closet
"I had parents and grandparents with type 2 diabetes," Huckabee says. "I knew that I was predisposed and that I was moving in that direction, but I kept thinking, 'Well, that will happen to me when I'm in my sixties. By then there'll be some sort of magic medicine that will take care of this and I won't even feel the consequences.'
"I was shocked that it happened to me instead at age 47. Like so many people, I lived with denial."
So between gubernatorial events and legislative meetings, Huckabee attempted to take back his health. Modest changes like eating fewer pastries and walking when he had time didn't take him far. "I was still struggling with weight and the reality that I had to exercise regularly." Then Huckabee had another wake-up call. A good friend, former Governor Frank White, died of a heart attack a week after he stood in Huckabee's office telling the younger man how much he was looking forward to retirement.
Ultimately, says Huckabee, "I just finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired."
Facing the impossibility of making real progress on his own, Huckabee sought help at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Weight Control Program. There doctors prescribed meal-replacement shakes that totaled 800 daily calories. Three months later and 40 pounds lighter, he graduated to 1,600-calorie meals loaded with vegetables and lean proteins like chicken and fish, and he earned the green light to walk for exercise. As the weight came off and his health improved, Huckabee found walking too slow and began to run. This spring, only two years later, he completed the Little Rock Marathon in just over 4 1/2 hours.
Unlearning Bad Habits
The same man who ate deep-fried Twinkies and gravy-drenched fries at the State Fair now totes a cooler filled with apples, string cheese and lean turkey as he travels from one event to the next. "Instead of doughnuts, I now crave apples." His daily diet and exercise regimens have become routine. "This morning, I had some hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes and some melon," Huckabee recalls, explaining that he typically eats a high-protein breakfast. For a midmorning snack, he'll chomp on an apple, a handful of nuts or a bowl of strawberries. "I've made the practice of not going long periods of time without eating something," Huckabee says, citing his doctor's explanation that metabolism improves when you eat small portions regularly throughout the day rather than eating large meals three times a day.
