Published in ESSENCE.com, Hot Topics Lifestyle
Written by: Lynya Floyd

Mother Love, co-host of CNBC's "dLife" and Glucerna spokeswoman, had no intention of becoming a poster child for diabetes. "I didn't want people looking in my shopping cart and I didn't want to eat any differently -- but I also didn't want to be sick," reveals the motivational speaker and author of "Half the Mother, Twice the Love" (Atria Books), which details how she went from a size 22 to a size 10 to beat diabetes. After watching half her family die from complications of the disease, she decided to take charge of her health -- and help others do it, too. Here, her best advice for overcoming a disease that affects 3.7 million African-Americans.

We are coming to you as Novo Nordisk Inc. presents, The Mother Love Diabetes Awareness Bus & Truck Tour 2008. The buses and trucks will come later. It will be a fun time had by all. I know you are saying, "What's fun about having diabetes?" Well if you have or know someone who has it, you may as well make it work in your favor and have as much fun as you can! With all the new treatments, technologies and information available to us, we CAN get better together.