A healthy body is like a well oiled machine with many parts and, unfortunately, lots of things that can go wrong along the way. If just one thing in the body is not functioning properly, this can set off a chain reaction that can make a person very ill. One of the conditions where we see this quite often is with diabetes. There are millions of people living with some form of this disease, from those who have had it since they were a child to those in retirement homes who developed it later in life. The American Diabetes Association estimates that there are more than twenty-five million people with this condition in this one country alone. So, there is a good chance that you will know someone with diabetes in your lifetime.

Diabetes is when your body is unable to produce insulin or cannot use the insulin that it does produce properly. This causes blood glucose levels that are higher than normal and need to be regulated in another way. Our bodies need a certain amount of glucose to survive and this is why people with this issue cannot just choose to eat no sugar. You will find that most of the people who are living with Type 1 diabetes, control their glucose levels by taking insulin. This condition was formally known as juvenile diabetes but you will find that everyone could suffer from this form.

Type 2 diabetes, formally adult diabetes, sufferers do not necessary need to control their glucose levels with insulin on a daily basis. This is a condition that usually develops later in life but you will find that some children have it. There is also a less common condition called gestational diabetes, which is developed in the later stages of pregnancy. There is research that shows that obesity is one of the leading causes today of type 2 diabetes. This is one of the main reasons that your doctor or your general practitioner will recommend that if you should avoid allowing yourself to gain enough to be considered obese. As the nation gets larger, the number of cases of diabetes is definitely also increasing.

Some signs of diabetes include being thirty, tired, hungry, unexplained weight loss, slow healing cuts and sores, and dry itchy skin. Some people also experience a loss of feeling in their feet or a tingling. If you're suffering from a number of these conditions then you might want to get checked out. There are also people who have been diagnosed who noticed none of these things beforehand.

If you are diagnosed with diabetes, then you should know that this is a manageable condition. You don't need to get a personal chef to cook all of your meals. You will just need to watch more closely what you're eating and make sure that you always have your insulin should you need it. Some people choose to drastically change their diet while others will just take the time to find out what their favorite restaurant is putting in their food and plan accordingly.