Maintaining a normal sugar level for diabetics is a very important part of their lives. They must make sure that the level of their blood sugar remains steady and within their intended range by consistently testing their blood. But, if a diabetic chooses not to monitor the foods he eats through his diabetic diet, he can end up with a very high blood sugar level.

This higher sugar level is called hyperglycemia and over a long period of time can be very unhealthy. In order to understand how diabetics can steer clear of hyperglycemia, you first have to learn just what causes a high sugar level.

Hyperglycemia is a medical term that simply means a person who has too much sugar in their system. A high sugar level happens when our body can not make the insulin as you see in type 1 diabetics or from our body's inability to respond to the insulin properly as you see in type 2 diabetics.

First our body gathers the sugar from the foods we eat. The body then needs insulin, which is provided by the pancreas, to help carry the glucose into our blood cells where our body uses it for energy.

This sugar-to-energy process happens in everyone's body, except in diabetics it has a slight twist. Their bodies either do not create enough insulin or create none at all, and thus the sugar starts building up in their blood stream. If too much sugar starts building up in their blood stream, they can get hyperglycemia.

Letting this excess sugar build up over a long stretch of time is very dangerous because it will damage your major organs that you need to live. It will start off by harming your blood vessels and then will work its way to damaging your heart vessel, eyes, nerves, and kidneys.

Many diabetics don't worry about hyperglycemia because they can not see the effects at the moment. This is because it is a condition that affects people later in life. Diabetics will only see the damaging consequences when they are older as it does not appear in teens and children .

Every diabetic should be aware of hyperglycemia and try to aim at staying on a diabetic diet to avoid any long term hazardous health effects that can arise. If they do not monitor their sugar intake, over time their blood vessels will start to break down. This will lead to a break down on their heart vessel, kidneys, eyes, and nerves. Even though this does not occur in their childhood, diabetics should strive to keep a normal level of blood sugar so they can prevent it taking place later in their life.