Diabetes?

Diabetes is much more than, "Oh, I can't eat that many sweets". No.

Yes, sweets are to be avoided if you have diabetes, but that's only scratching the surface. Diabetes is when the insulin in your body is either not being produced or it's not functioning properly. Insulin is a polypeptide hormone, produced by the beta cells of the langerhans and the pancreas, that regulates the metabolism of glucose and other nutrients. Basically, insulin is what helps your body absorb the vitamins and nutrients that you need to grow, function, and live. Also, it controls your metabolism, so it either speeds up or slows it down radically. From these facts, it's easy to see how malfunctioning metabolism can be a real problem. Insulin is carried through your bloodstream. Your blood sugar levels (glucose levels) are controlled by your metabolism, so you have to keep an eye on your levels because if it goes down, then you don't have enough insulin. Most people with diabetes can control their glucose levels by keeping a careful eye on their diet, exercising, and keeping their body weight in the prescribed range according to height.

In diabetes, age is very important. The older you are, the harder it is to control your glucose levels. When you are younger, it is easier because your metabolism is high, you're very active, and you don't eat as much. Diabetes is serious and real. Diabetes kills approximately 234,000 people a year, and that is only in the US. In the countries that aren't as clean and don't have good medical care, such as Africa, the death toll is much higher.