By the time your doctor calls it diabetes, most of the damage is done.

This Saturday Connie takes on the condition that gets diagnosed on a single number, years after the story actually started: blood sugar.

Here's the part that surprises people. Insulin is the key that lets sugar out of the blood and into your cells. When cells stop answering the door, the body doesn't give up — it just makes more insulin, and more, and more. And it works. Your blood sugar reading stays respectable, your yearly labs come back fine, and nobody says a word. That can go on for a decade or more. By the time the glucose number finally climbs high enough to earn a diagnosis, the quiet part has been running a long time.

Worth hearing clearly: Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are two different conditions that share a name. They are not the same thing, they don't have the same cause, and what's sensible for one is not automatically sensible for the other. And nothing Saturday is a reason to change or stop a medication — that decision belongs to you and your doctor, and Connie will say so plainly.

She'll also get into what the numbers actually measure — fasting glucose, A1C and the after-meal spike each see something different, and each miss something — why the trouble eventually shows up in the eyes, kidneys, nerves and feet, the blood sugar drivers that have nothing to do with food at all, and where the traditional plant and food knowledge around blood sugar balance comes from.

And if you've been told "it's borderline, we'll watch it" — that's the most useful morning to be here. Borderline is the part of the story where there's the most room to work.

This week we're covering

• What insulin actually does — and what "insulin resistance" means in plain language
• Type 1 vs. Type 2: genuinely different conditions that share a name
• The numbers — fasting glucose, A1C and post-meal spikes: what each one sees and what each one misses
• Prediabetes, and why most of the people who have it don't know
• Why the damage turns up in eyes, kidneys, nerves and feet — and what's happening in the small blood vessels
• Sleep, stress and cortisol — the blood sugar drivers that have nothing to do with what you ate
• What actually happens after a meal: fiber, protein, the order you eat things in, and the ten-minute walk
• Belly fat, the liver, and why losing weight gets harder while insulin stays high
• Foods and nutrients long associated with blood sugar balance — fiber, magnesium, chromium, cinnamon and bitter greens
• The red flags — the symptoms that mean call your doctor, and why medication changes are never a do-it-yourself project

New to our workshops? You're very welcome. Connie starts each one from the ground up, so nothing this Saturday assumes you've been before. Bring your questions.

Join us Saturday, September 19

⏰ 11:30 am – 12:30 pm CST

In person: Wise Women Botanicals, 1011B Hwy 24 West, Moberly, MO 65270. $10 per person, limited seating — call (660) 263-1033 to reserve your spot.

Online (free): Can't make it to Moberly? Join the live webinar at no charge. Register on our Wellness Workshops page and we'll email you the meeting link.

Our Wellness Workshops happen every Saturday. Sign up once and you'll get each week's topic and meeting link in your inbox.