I took care of my mother for two years until she died while sleeping in the dialysis chair. Up until then I really never questioned what type 2 diabetes was, what its symptoms were or what I could have done to prevent it. I simply cooked and cleaned for my mother and gave her the meds that her doctor prescribed. Little did I know I could have prevented it in myself. If I knew then what I know now...it would have spared her life.

Type 2 diabetes, also called diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance, is a malfunction in the way the body processes the foods you eat. In a normal body, food is broken down into sugars that the body either uses or stores for energy. When sugar enters the system, Beta Cells in the pancreas produce insulin, a hormone that is used to help carry sugars into muscle and liver cells. Insulin opens the cells to accept sugars and feed muscles.

In a diabetic's body, food enters the system but either the Beta Cells do not produce enough insulin to carry the sugar into the cells or the cells are resistant to the insulin, leaving high amounts of sugar in the bloodstream. Consistent high levels of sugar in the blood can cause a wide array of additional health problems from blindness and nerve damage to kidney and heart failure.

Being overweight seems to be a primary factor in today's type 2 diabetes epidemic. Go to any fast-food establishment and look around. Compare how many overweight people you see to healthy, slimmer people. Obesity is also an epidemic with almost 65% of Americans reporting being more than 20 lbs overweight. It's a vicious circle of bad dietary and lifestyle habits that has fed into this life-threatening disease.

Life isn't as simple as it used to be, or maybe it's getting too simple for some of us. This is the age of the two-income family. Both parents have to work. There are stressors of raising children, paying bills and keeping heads above water. A quick supper from the drive-thru wouldn't hurt a few times a week, right?

Wrong. In a survey done in Kevin Trudeau's latest 'Natural Cures' best seller, 100% of people surveyed with diabetes-related heart failure stated they ate fast food 2-3 times a week. Very scary fact.

How about exercise? We live in the age of convenience. I have family members that live across the street from a grocery store and yet they will drive over for a gallon of milk. Kids are raised to watch more than 5-6 hours of television a day. Video games have taken the place of riding bikes and playing at the park. Just these lifestyle habits alone have made a huge impact in the progression of this silent killer. The body was just never meant to be sedentary.

It's important to read all you can about type 2 diabetes. It's not something that will just go away on it's own. Take care of it before it takes care of you. Make small changes every week. Join a fitness club, grab some bottled water instead of a Pepsi, or walk your dog more...he'll love you for it and you might just add a few years to your life.