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."

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