Until a few years ago, the blame for diabetes was blamed on overconsuption of sugar, but now it is known that diabetes is a bit more complex. (BTW, "sugar diabetes" means the same thing as diabetes mellitus, an excess of glucose in the blood. It's an old term (I heard my grandma use it too) that differentiates it from diabetes insipidus, which is caused by impaired renal function.)

It's not sugar itself that is the problem so much as the overconsumption of ANY carbohydrate -- your body doesn't much care if you're getting carbos from candy, pasta, or fruit, it will still turn all excess into fat. Although being overweight DOES put you at risk, there is also a strong genetic component to it.

It's a vicious cycle really -- you overeat carbos, your insulin converts it into fat, you get fatter and more insulin resistant, so your cells tell your brain, "Hey, we're starvin' down here!" and so you eat more carbos. Best way to break that cycle is low-carb. Easy to say, not so easy to do when your inner child wants to eat the same things your visiting 8-year old nephew is! (In case anyone was wondering, that's what I've been busy with all week, entertaining my nephew Brandon.)