A paragon of good health, Rick Mystrom, one of America’s longest-living, healthy, Type 1 diabetics, has had Type 1 diabetes for more thany 62 years. He’s 82 years old and has no health issues. His last stress test categorized him as equivalent to an active person 26 years younger than his actual age.

Not only has he lived a healthy life, but he’s also lived a full life: Mayor of Anchorage, Alaska, One of America’s Top Three Small Business Leaders, Chairman of America’s Bid for the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Winter Games, and along the way, he’s coached more than 20 youth sports teams. 

Since 1980, when self-testing first became available, he has tested his glucose 10-15 times a day and recorded, charted, and graphed which foods and liquids raise glucose quickly and add weight and which foods add less glucose more slowly and result in weight-loss. 

He credits his good health to good eating guided by learning which foods increase blood glucose and weight and which don’t.