So what exactly is diabetes? Simply put, diabetes is a disease that affects the way your body uses food for energy. A healthy person can break down digested sugar into glucose, which then circulates in your blood and waits to enter cells as fuel for your body. But, if you have diabetes, this process breaks down, and blood sugar levels become too high. There are two main types of full-blown diabetes, Types 1 and 2. People with Type 1 diabetes cannot produce insulin at all and those with Type 2 diabetes can produce insulin, but their cells don’t respond to it. Of these two, Type 2 is far more common, particularly because it’s a lifestyle disease that is affected by your weight and how much exercise you get.