And what to do about it Diabetes is more than an inconvenience that requires a special diabetic diet or a condition that diminishes the quality of life for those who are unfortunate enough to develop the disease.
The bigger problems associated with diabetes are the serious complications that can develop when the diabetic condition gets out of control, when higher than normal blood sugar levels circulate throughout the body over long periods of time - that is when the really serious complications begin to surface.
Problems that can affect the heart, the kidneys, eyes, nerves, the lower limbs, the bones and joints, every tissue in the human body can be affected by higher than normal blood sugars.
And to those we can add teeth and gum problems and especially for men, a really inconvenient truth and that is sexual dysfunction better known as impotence.
The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC for short), lists the following 13 complications and references to diabetes.
In their series of publications, available for download in PDF format, called Prevent Diabetes Problems, the NDIC advises how to treat or prevent the onset of the conditions of some of the following:

• Bladder Control Problems for Women
• Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke
• Diabetic Neuropathies: The Nerve Damage of Diabetes
• Diabetic Retinopathy (Eye Disease)
• Erectile Dysfunction
• Erection Problems
• Feet and Skin
• Hypoglycemia (Low Blood Glucose)
• Kidney Disease of Diabetes
• Kidney Failure
• Make the Kidney Connection
• Sexual and Urologic Problems of Diabetes
• Stomach Nerve Damage (Gastroparesis)

Methods of prevention are simple -- but difficult to adopt The ways to prevent most cases of diabetes can be stated very simply, the problem is that for the person who is likely to become diabetic they require a change in lifestyle involving 4 components:

1. Dietary Modification - abandon a diet that includes sweet sugary foods and beverages and is high in saturated fats.
   
2. Adopt a nutritious, varied, and balanced diet that provides the right ratios of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, and that also supplies sufficient vitamins, minerals, and water to maintain good health.
   
3. Weight control, whatever it takes to achieve a healthy weight based on height and body type.
   That requires almost every potential diabetic to lose weight and then to maintain that weight.
   
4. Add a minimum of regular exercise each week.
   Unless a person's age, physical infirmities, or state of health make it impossible to do so, it is recommended that about 30 minutes of brisk exercise on 3 or 4 days each week be the minimum target towards better health and to lower and keep blood sugars at normal levels.
   

Agreed, it's easy to say but hard to do However, when considering whether or not to follow the methods of prevention - just re-read the first two paragraphs of this article.
If you are currently overweight, about 40 years of age or older, and know your diet includes many of the wrong foods, then you are a prime candidate to develop type-2 diabetes or pre-diabetes -- something that should surely scare you if you know anything at all about type-2 diabetes, there is no cure and if left untreated it's a killer.
In conclusion, time to see a doctor What is discussed above are obviously very serious conditions that, if they should develop, would require the intervention of a doctor who can prescribe appropriate medical and dietary treatments for prevention or control of elevated blood sugars.