Thanks for your patience. I like to think of the ill effects of diabetes on the body similar to a drinking water system. If you take care to:
- Filter out impurities in the water
- Keep the system free of debris
- Manage the system to keep it free of corrosion
The end result is a drinking water system that is safe enough to allow children to drink from it; Otherwise, you run the risk of impurities entering your body. In the short term, similar to the community in Hinkley, California, no ill effects manifest. In the long term, however, cancer could plague not just you but the lives of your children.
Diabetes, to a degree, occurs as a result of a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle. Impurities, in this case, is the sugar continually building up in your blood. With no outlet (i.e., medicine, exercise, healthy lifestyle) the sugar has no where to go and takes longer to remove from your body. The sugar ends up going to places you didn't even consider (i.e., nerve damage, cataracts, etc.).
I guess the TLDR version of it is that the majority of people suffering from Type 2 adapt a lifestyle that is their choice, but will harm them over time. People in great shape won't normally have to deal with Type 2.