In today's society, fast food restaurants can be found on every street corner. This raises concern about obesity, which carries enormous risk factors. There are countless concerns related to an unhealthy lifestyle that leads to life-threatening illnesses, such as diabetes. Diabetes is a disease of your body that is unable to properly use and store glucose. Every day when you eat, your body converts food into sugars or (glucose). Once your body turns your food into glucose, your pancreas is supposed to release insulin. Insulin opens your cells and allows glucose to enter, which you can use for energy. But with diabetes, this system does not work. There are two main types of diabetes, type I and type II. The two types of diabetes are very different in many ways. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the beta cells in the pancreas do not produce insulin because the body's immune system has attacked and destroyed them. In other words, when your body doesn't produce enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes is most often associated with advanced age. Most often, type 2 is associated with being overweight or obese, physical inactivity, and a history of diabetes in your family. This is when your body can't use the insulin it creates. Many people in my family have diabetes. This person I interviewed currently suffers from type 2 diabetes. Marlin is a sixty-two year old man who suffers from many other illnesses due to many wars. He has suffered from diabetes for about eleven years now. When he arrived at the hospital, he had symptoms of dry mouth, hunger and extreme fatigue. People with type 2 diabetes have no symptoms at first. Some symptoms are excessive thirst, blurred vision... middle of paper ... these changes include lifestyle changes and medications. Some of the main things you can do to prevent diabetes are to keep your weight under control, exercise more, eat a healthier diet, and not smoke. Type 2 diabetes is a well-known condition that is a chronic condition when the body's insulin does not work. RIGHT. This is a very common illness that affects many Americans in the United States. The good news is that type 2 diabetes is largely preventable. Works Cited Marieb, EN and Hoehn, K. (2013). Human Anatomy and Physiology (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Type 2 diabetes. (nd). American Diabetes Association. Accessed March 12, 2014, from http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/type-2/WebMD Diabetes Center: types, causes, symptoms, tests and treatments. (nd). WebMD. Accessed March 23, 2014 from http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/default.htm?names-dropdown=