Even though Wayne Panoke recalled watching his diabetic grandparents inject each other with insulin, the Kane'ohe man said he didn't appreciate the impact the disease would have on his health when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at age 25.

"At the time, it didn't faze me. I grew up with diabetes around me, but I didn't take it seriously," he said.

Panoke, now 60, said that for many years he relied on medication to control the disease while doing little to improve his health. It didn't help that as kumu hula of Halau Ha'a o Kaho'onei, he would sit for hours at a time teaching hula.

"It got more difficult as I got bigger and my health condition slowed me down," Panoke said.

His weight had climbed to 485 pounds when he was told he would have to immediately start dialysis or die. Panoke found inspiration from his family and decided to revamp his diet.

"I used to live on fast food, so I gave that up immediately. And I disciplined myself. Instead of eating a full course, I would eat a half course," he said.

He also set a goal of walking 10,000 steps a day.

"Once I started to lose weight, I was able to move around more, and I started to walk more and do more things and became active again. I was able to dance hula again," Panoke said. "One good thing led to another good thing."

Seven years after making the decision to change his lifestyle, Panoke is more than 200 pounds lighter and is no longer on diabetes medication, although he still requires dialysis three times a week because of the irreversible damage done to his kidneys by diabetes.

"After losing the weight, I was a different person. You have to realize how wonderful it is to walk into a store and walk out with new clothes. You find out all the things that you were missing out on."

Panoke said he takes every chance he gets to talk in public about diabetes and its impact on the Native Hawaiian community.

"You can live a long life if you just take control of your diabetes and the amount of food and what you put into your body," he said. "I'm not saying you have to be perfect. It's portion control; satisfy your craving and move on. And most important, get out of bed."