PEOPLE living with diabetes are being encouraged to share their experiences to help others diagnosed with the condition.

The charity behind Diabetes Week, which runs until June 20,wants them to tell their personal stories through art, music, poetry or even film

Nutritional therapist Caroline Peyton, who runs clinics in Swindon, the Cotswolds and online, helps people change their lifestyles to put Type 2 Diabetes into remission, keep blood glucose levels a healthy level and avoid the need for medication.

She said: “Make no mistake, this is a serious condition where the pancreas is unable to produce sufficient insulin to enable glucose to be carried into cells where it is used to create energy.

“This leaves blood glucose levels dangerously high and if left untreated can seriously damage parts of your body.”

Increasingly people are now being told they have ‘pre-diabetes’ - when higher levels of glucose are detected in the bloodstream which are not high enough yet for a diabetes diagnosis.

Caroline said: “One myth is that pre-diabetes is directly related to weight – that’s not the case. Thinner people can still have the condition however it’s more common for overweight people to be affected so it’s a risk factor.”

There are around 4.7 million people living with diabetes in the UK and those with Type 2 make up the majority. It’s often known as a lifestyle disease and it cannot be cured.

She recommends following ten lifestyle steps to help people avoid developing diabetes or help diabetics manage it.

It includes reducing consumption of stimulants like tea and coffee to three a day, staying well hydrated with water and exercising.

She also suggests limiting refined white grains, eating just two pieces of fruit a day, avoiding snacking and eating starchy carbohydrates without protein foods and a little fat, increasing portions of non-starchy vegetables, reducing the size of starchy carbohydrate portions to only 20 per cent of the plate and eating protein and fate with a fruit.

The week is being organised by charity Diabetes UK. It said in a statement on its website: “We’ll be looking back on an extraordinary year and looking forward to what’s to come – and above all, celebrating the incredible diabetes community.”

The week started with a DiabetesStories film and includes social media events and live question and answer sessions. For information visit diabetes.org.uk