Diabetes is a nasty disease. There are two kinds of diabetes. Type one, also called juvenile diabetes, occurs in children who are born without the ability to produce insulin. Insulin is important because it converts simple carbohydrates (carbohydrates with little fiber) into its storage form, glycogen, which gets stored in the muscles and liver where it provides a steady fuel supply to the brain and muscles for intellectual and physical work. In diabetes, the sugar remains in the blood causing the hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels) that sets the stage for blindness and the heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, kidney failure and amputations that is seen when the disease isn't well regulated. These children must take insulin injections for life and carefully effect a lifestyle of exercise and eating that keeps their blood sugar levels stable.

Type two diabetes, also called "adult onset," occurs later in life when there is a decrease in insulin output or an inability to use it correctly. It is ten times more common than juvenile diabetes. The dramatic news this past week was that the 6 percent increase in diabetes in 1999 was directly attributable to an increase in obesity in all patients. The scary statistic in the story was that the disease is up 70 percent in people in their 30's. Even more significant is the knowledge that these are diagnosed cases. Diabetes for most people is a silent disease that is in place about twelve years before it is diagnosed. It's this silent period that sets the stage for ugly medical consequences.

Unless you live in a cave you know that there has been a dramatic surge in diet books that attribute our overfatness to our inability to process fiber free carbohydrates (sugar is the best example) correctly due to this insulin insensitivity. We are told that if we eliminate these carbohydrates from our diet we'll lose weight. What really happens is that calorie intake drops significantly when sugar intake is decreased because desserts and other foods that contain sugar also contain a lot of fat. According to these diet doctors a lower weight becomes proof that the "sugar" was the culprit when, in fact, the information is somewhat manipulated.

If you are diagnosed with adult onset diabetes you may be given the diet that has been shown to decrease blood sugar levels. It contains lots of fruits, vegetables and high-fiber grains at every meal. Combine that with lean protein and you have a balanced and varied diet-an old message packaged in a new way. Diet is suggested first because it immediately changes blood sugar levels. But if you want to resolve the underlying poor biochemistry and metabolism issues, exercise is the best treatment for adult onset diabetes. In many cases, patients whose disease was so bad they required a prescription hypoglycemic (sugar lowering pill) were able to stop the drug when they exercised regularly.

The rapid increase in the incidence of diabetes is certain to precipitate research that will bring medicinal treatments and cures. But, somehow it makes more sense to do the hard work of making your body better by moving it more. Brings new meaning to the term, "Get a life!"