Traci Braxton, the sister of singer Toni Braxton and “Braxton Family Values” TV show star, passed away after battling cancer in the esophagus.

During the past decade, Traci Braxton was an outspoken diabetes advocate. Most of her comments and confessions about living with diabetes centered around her weight. Like many of us, she had a rollercoaster journey with her weight. But her journey was seen by millions.

If you struggle with managing your weight and/or maintaining a weight loss, you know all too well how challenging that can be. And to have diabetes on top of that can make it doubly difficult. Traci Braxton was no different.

Back in 2018, she said, “I was diagnosed diabetic and didn’t want to take any more pills, so I had to go on this healthy kick.” As a result, she successfully lost 4o pounds. “Now I control it through my diet. Because of that, I am no longer on the pills.”

Years earlier, in 2013, Traci Braxton faced harsh criticism from her sisters about her size. The Braxton sisters confronted her about her weight during a weight-loss intervention. The driving force behind their actions, it seems, was to tell Traci what the extra weight was doing to her health.

In the heat of the moment, Traci was not happy. “I really wanted to punch them in the face,” she said. However, Traci later changed her mind about the confrontation. Later, she made several lifestyle changes to get her health back on track. “I had to really change my eating habits, and it’s [still] a struggle. But my sisters were exactly right,” she admitted showing off her newly slimmed-down figure. She lost thirty-five pounds. “They saw me gaining weight … I developed (type 2) diabetes, high blood pressure, and I was in denial.”

Managing diabetes day in and day out can be a grind. Sometimes family members, friends, and healthcare providers telling you to ‘just lose weight’ doesn’t help or motivate you.

After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, getting your diabetes under tighter management is a reasonable first goal without the added extra burden of a weight loss goal. Doing so may mean starting on medicine (including, possibly, insulin), adding a different type of medicine to your regimen, and/or increasing the dose of diabetes medicine that you’re already taking. And, of course, meal planning and physical activity work with your diabetes medicine to help you manage your diabetes, as well.

Our big takeaway from Traci Braxton’s candor regarding diabetes advocacy is that conversations about diabetes shouldn’t start and end with weight loss. There’s much more in play regarding diabetes management than just the number you see on the scale. Maybe it’s time for society to realize there are many ways to manage your diabetes and avoid complications that don’t involve the word ‘diet.’

Gone far too soon, we celebrate Traci Braxton’s life and memory and send our heartfelt condolences to the entire Braxton family during this difficult time.

We’re talking about the power of words to elevate or tear down someone’s perception of themselves and their diabetes health on Divabetic’s podcast scheduled for Tuesday, March 15, 2022.

Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, and Susan Weiner MS, RDN, CDCES, FADCES. Throughout the podcast, we will be featuring music from Prince & The New Power Generation’s Love Symbol album courtesy of SONY Music.