CAN RUNNING KEEP DIABETES AT BAY?

AT THE END of 2022, I sat down with myself to reflect on the changes I wanted to implement and set the priority to embark on a fitness journey in the new year.

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After an eye-opening moment a few days prior, I calculated that my BMI put me in the obese category (although I now know the stat alone isn’t an accurate indicator of health). That, combined with seeing a pattern of genetic health disorders throughout my family and fearing this reality could be my very own, I knew it was time to get healthy. I hit the gym three times the week before the holidays, with the intention to get the wheels turning on this new habit right away so that I would be spared the curse of failed New Year’s resolutions.

I had never been fit or the athletic type. The Pakistani cuisine my family was used to overseas—high in fats and oil, large in portion sizes, and lacking vegetables—remained a staple after my family immigrated to the United States when I was 2. I didn’t play sports in school. Outside of the fact that modesty is an important part of my culture and faith and is at odds with sports clothes, my family also had other priorities. Dad always said, “Your studies are the most important, and that’s it.” Negotiating simple friend hangouts with my parents always involved sprinkling in some white lies such as, “Yes, we're totally working on that school project” (sorry, Mom and Dad), so the idea of signing up for, say, a softball league to play with my friends was never really on the table. Sports was an overlooked hobby in my household—unless we screamed at the TV when our cricket team was losing a match.