‘Parks and Rec’ Retta Opens up About Her Type 2 Diabetes and Keeping Blood Sugar in Check (EXCLUSIVE)
The 'Ugliest House in America' host shares her health journey and the smart swaps that keep her on track
Actress and comedian Marietta Sangai Sirleaf, known as Retta, wouldn’t have known she had diabetes if her doctor hadn’t monitored her blood glucose levels. Even looking back nearly two years after her diagnosis, the Parks and Recreation alum says she didn’t experience any type 2 diabetes symptoms.
And she’s not alone—the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that more than one in five people with diabetes are unaware that they’re living with the condition. Retta sat down with Woman’s World to discuss her diagnosis and how she’s managing her health.
Retta’s type 2 diabetes diagnosis
The Ugliest House in America host is first to admit that while she’s traveling the country to film the HGTV series, it becomes more challenging to maintain healthy lifestyle habits.
Woman's World Answers
When Retta was home in Los Angeles and filming on set, she had access to a pool that she swam in for aerobic exercise, a fitness trainer and a meal delivery service. However, once she began travelling for four months at a time, those assets weren’t available.
“You eat what’s available,” she said of being on the road. “And that really kind of started getting my glucose levels up. I know that I have difficulty managing if I don’t have all my comforts, all my things, i.e. my home, my pool, my trainer, my food service.”
During routine appointments, her doctor alerted her that her blood sugar levels were climbing. She was pre-diabetic before getting diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in July 2023. According to the Cleveland Clinic, blood glucose levels in people with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes are typically 126 mg/dL or higher.
How Retta manages her diabetes
Despite knowing what she had to do to control her high blood sugar, focusing on nutrition and exercise was not always possible when she was living on-the-go, the former Good Girls star told Woman’s World.
“There are places where we go to where I can’t get nuts at whatever grocery store is available,” she says. “So I do tend to get a lot of cheese.”
Her doctor also laid out her options as far as medications that could help balance her blood sugar and reduce the risk of glucose spikes. In an interview with TODAY.com in 2024, Retta noted that her doctor specifically recommended type 2 diabetes drug Metformin, which can also be used off-label for weight loss.
Here’s what else works for Retta:
She watches her blood sugar
Retta still doesn’t notice a change in the way she feels when her blood sugar climbs, she says, which makes management a bit more difficult. That’s why learning about her glucose health has been so important.
Following her diagnosis, she partnered with Dexcom for their Stelo glucose biosensor, which allows you to constantly be aware of your blood sugar without having to do a pinprick.
“It’s just helpful to know what will spike your glucose and to know that you can follow it all day long, that the app will alert you when you have a spike so you can be like, ‘Oh yeah, I need to chill on the fries,’” Retta says.
“It kind of reminds you because if you don’t know you’ve spiked, you don’t know this is something that you shouldn’t be having regularly,” she told Woman’s World. “I think it’s really helpful to just keep you mindful. It stays mindful for you. You certainly don’t have to do a finger prick after every meal.”
She makes time for exercise
When she is home, Retta said one of her favorite physical activities is swimming. After undergoing a double knee replacement, pool therapy has always been her best option to get a full workout without putting strain on her knees.
“I bought my house because I wanted a house with a pool,” says Retta. “I had a condo and the pool was only available during certain times of the year. And so now, I can use the pool whenever I need to. The pool is key to keeping myself together.”
When it’s too cold outside, she turns to the treadmill to stay active and help keep her glucose levels steady. Retta said keeps her workouts low-impact and avoids a high incline or super fast speed to protect her joints, but walks in 30-minute increments throughout the day to keep her body moving.
And, while Retta says she’s always been good about staying hydrated, being on the treadmill helps her ramp up her water intake even more.
She makes healthy swaps
Even now, Retta says she only recognizes blood sugar spikes when she checks her numbers on her Stelo app. Keeping tabs on her numbers allows her to make healthy adjustments as needed.
“I learned, having started wearing the Stelo, that I can’t do non-dairy creamer in my coffee in the morning,” the actress shares. “Coffee is life for me, and it was very important to have my hazelnut creamer in my coffee. I learned that that creamer spikes my glucose levels.”
“So I switched to half and half, I bought a fancier coffee machine so I can have legit coffee and now I don’t have to deal with the spikes in the morning,” she told Woman’s World.
She also carries nuts and protein bars to snack on whenever possible, she says. Other smart habits that help Retta control her diabetes: She strives to incorporate more vegetables into her diet, eat fewer carbs and pair protein with carbs when she does eat them.
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