1.1 Sugar, insulin and the different types of diabetes

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
Explain blood glucose and insulin in everyday words, and understand why different types of diabetes need different care.

THE SIMPLE EXPLANATION
Your body needs energy for ordinary work: walking to the market, thinking, breathing and even sleeping. Much of the carbohydrate in food is broken into glucose. Blood carries this glucose around the body. Insulin, made by the pancreas, helps regulate how glucose is used and stored. Think of insulin as a message that tells different parts of the body that fuel is available. This is a teaching picture, not a complete description of biology.

In type 2 diabetes the body responds less well to insulin, and the pancreas may gradually become unable to provide enough. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system damages insulin-producing cells; insulin treatment is essential. Diabetes during pregnancy has a separate care pathway. Other forms can follow pancreatic disease, medicines or inherited conditions. A person’s age or body size alone does not prove the type. Ask your doctor which type you have.

High glucose can develop quietly. Feeling comfortable does not mean glucose, blood pressure or kidney health is normal. Equally, a high reading is information for action, not proof that you have failed. Family history, ageing, pregnancy history, medicines, food access, work patterns and body biology all matter.

CELLUREVA CONNECTION
Reset begins with understanding your situation without blame. The framework helps organise self-care; it is not a separately proven treatment that restores insulin-producing cells.

AN INDIAN HOME EXAMPLE
Two neighbours both say they have ‘sugar’. One uses insulin for type 1 diabetes; the other has type 2 diabetes treated with tablets. They must not exchange medicines or copy each other’s meal-skipping experiments.

YOUR PRACTICE
Write: ‘My diagnosis is ___. My treating doctor is ___. My medicines are ___.’ If you do not know the type, put a question mark and ask at your next appointment.

REMEMBER
This course is mainly for adults with type 2 diabetes and their families. It does not provide a remission programme for type 1 diabetes, pregnancy, children or an acutely unwell person.

Sources and further reading

• https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes