Just before celebrating his 50th birthday, Art Smith, Oprah's former personal chef, discovered he needed reading glasses. "I thought I was just turning older," he says.
Soon after, Art noticed other ailments that landed him in the emergency room. "I thought I was having a heart attack," he says.
Finally, doctors delivered a shocking diagnosis—Art had diabetes. It horrified me because my father has diabetes. My mother has diabetes on her side of the family," he says. "I just had to take action. If not, I wasn't going to be around."
Art lost 85 pounds through good, old-fashioned diet and exercise. Even better, his new healthy lifestyle reversed his diagnosis. "Once the belly fat disappears, then it's no longer sending chemicals out to the muscles saying, 'Ignore the insulin,'" Dr. Oz explains.
While he admits to occasionally indulging in a piece of real fried chicken, Art has found a way to make his signature dish healthier. "When I want to enjoy it more, [I] can make it lighter," he says. "The fact is you've got to get rid of the skin and you've got to use a multigrain type of coating because it's all in the crust was where the fat is." Art also uses Greek yogurt instead of buttermilk to coat the chicken for less fat and more protein.
Though he's done the hard work himself, Art says he couldn't have done it without his loved ones. "[Friends said,] 'We want you to stay with us,'" he says. "They embraced me."
