National Diabetes
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hat is diabetes and how can it affect you and your loved ones? Diabetes is a long-lasting health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. Most of the food you eat is broken down into sugar and released into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body’s cells for use as energy. If you have diabetes, your body does not make enough insulin or cannot use the insulin it makes as well as it should.
44 November 2020
• Type 1: A chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin • Type 2: A chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar (glucose) • Prediabetes: Your blood sugar level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be T2 • Gestational: a form of high blood sugar affecting pregnant women. Kitchen Creations is a program offered through the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service. It is a free program, which consists of a series of four classes on nutrition
