For most, blood sugar levels and whether or not they’re low, high or normal isn’t a major concern. Nor should it be, necessarily. Nonetheless, blood sugar levels are important and can be the difference between life and death, and as such should be both understood and taken seriously. This is because with abnormal blood sugar levels come life-threatening diseases: too low and you might enter a hypoglycemic state, too high and you risk damaging your kidneys, eyes, blood vessels and nerves, and ultimately contracting diabetes. The good news? To a major extent, you have control of your blood sugar levels and can keep it regular with the help of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle choices. While there are some genetic predispositions to poor blood sugar, it is largely an issue not of genes but rather of how you treat your body — treat it well and you should be fine, abuse it and reap the consequences.

But before we go into that, let’s look into the basics of blood sugar, what regulates it and how to keep it healthy.

To start, what is blood sugar and how does it all work? Well, for a simple, self-explanatory answer: blood sugar is a measurement that tracks the percentage of sugar (glucose, in this case) in the blood stream at any given moment. And glucose, which is a carbohydrate-based sugar, comes from the food we eat — carbs especially — and is what our body uses for energy, to keep things moving. Which is all good. Unless there’s too much glucose in the blood stream, resulting in diabetes. Fortunately, our body has a natural protection from high blood sugar levels in the form of insulin.

Created in the pancreas by beta cells, insulin is a hormone that serves as a glucose regulator, helping move glucose from the blood stream into the liver, muscles or fat cells (in the form of glycogen). For most, it works like so: after every meal a large shot of insulin is injected into the blood stream to balance out the new glucose coming into the body. This is known as the first phase insulin release. Then, if your glucose levels are still high — perhaps you ate a meal especially high in carbohydrates — your body will send out a second phase insulin release, which works to remove any excess blood sugar. These two insulin phases normally do the trick, but in order to maintain a healthy blood sugar level inbetween meals, the pancreas will also continue to send out much smaller pulses of insulin every few minutes to keep everything balanced and stabilized. In this manner the body is able to release insulin as needed and store it when it isn’t, all the while maintaining its blood sugar level and keeping it (and you) healthy. Even if your body creates too much insulin, your liver then goes into effect converting the protein glycogen back into glucose and thus re-normalizing your blood sugar levels — even if it runs out of available glycogen it can continue producing sugars by converting proteins from other parts of your body as well, muscles mostly.

As a whole, the glucose-insulin based system works incredibly well and serves as just one example (of many) of how remarkable our body really is.

However, this entire system can fall apart to devastating affect if you’re not taking care of your body resulting in diabetes or death. While some are more predisposed to diabetes than others, for most diabetes is an acquired disease resulting from either poor diet or lifestyle choices, or both. Too much unhealthy and processed foods can put strain on your body’s glucose levels, and if it’s abused for too long diabetes may result. This is because the beta cells that produce insulin can be damaged or destroyed by the excessive amounts of glucose found in unhealthy diets. This problem is then only compounded as there are less insulin-producing beta cells, resulting in less insulin, more glucose and then even more damaged or destroyed beta cells. This process then repeats, folding in on itself until a majority of beta cells have failed. Furthermore, once your blood sugar level reaches 200 mg/dl (at which point you’ve contracted diabetes) cells also then become insulin resistant, making it all the more difficult to lower glucose levels. As you can see, the whole process can get rather ugly fast once you’ve reached that tipping point.

So how do you avoid that nasty feedback loop? Well, for one it’s important to be aware of your family history. While genetics isn’t everything when it comes to blood sugar problems, it can be a central factor. So talk to you parents and find out if anyone in your family has or has had diabetes, be it type one or type two. Second, do your best to maintain a healthy weight. In a lot of ways, it comes down to eating healthy and all that that encompasses: balanced diet, small portion sizes, regular meal times, cutting back on unhealthy foods, and so on. Lifestyle choices matter too, of course. It’s important not only to be pro-active and exercise regularly, but it’s also important to avoid unhealthy behavoirs such as exessive drinking and/or smoking. Furthermore, it’s recommended to avoid overly sugary foods as well as refined carbohydrates. And finally, it’s a good idea to maintain regular checkups with your family doctor.

Now, while diabetes is certainly the most serious consequence of abnormal blood sugar levels, it’s not the only one. At the opposite end of the spectrum, when blood sugar levels are too low, is the threat of hypoglycemia. This unhealthy state can be brought on by too much insulin in the system and often results in sweating, clammy skin, anxiety, heart palpitations, hunger and trembling, and eventually if untreated, headache, confusion, seizures, comas and death. While hypoglycemia typically only affects the very young and the very old, it can affect anyone at any age and can be the result of overmedication, missing too many meals or too much alchohol. It may also be the result of a failed kidney or liver. If you’re wondering whether or not you might have hypoglycemia, look for these three traits (also known as Whipple’s Triad): 1.) the symptoms of hypoglycemia, 2.) low glucose concentration in the blood and 3.) relief from the symptoms once the glucose levels have been balanced. If you’re still unsure, I’d recommend seeing a doctor as soon as you can.

Finally, while this article may serve as a blood sugar primer, don’t take it as the final word on the matter either. If you’re concerned about your blood sugar levels, again, please talk to a doctor.