Hi... My cheeks are sunken. Short of doing any of the reconstructive surgery, is there any thing I can do (food-wise, exercise-wise) that would slow down the progression of facial wasting? Thanks.

At this point in time there are no clear answers to your question. There is some investigation into the oral antidiabetic drugs in the "glitazone" category.

While diet and exercise recommendations are pretty much based on anecdotal results and limited investigation, one cannot make sweeping recommendations here. A regular exercise regimen along with an adequate diet is a good baseline. Exercise has been used in diabetes to improve insulin sensitivity and, while it remains unproven, may be worth a try. You can also talk with a dietitian to design a diet to reduce insulin responses in an effort to minimize potential effects of insulin resistance. While these recommendations have not been well-tested, they have the advantage of not introducing potentially confounding medications and pharmaceutical nutrients.

It is likely that a multi-treatment approach (diet, exercise, smoking cessation, treatment for insulin resistance and mitochondrial toxicity, and/or surgical treatments) will work best. Just what that is remains to be seen.