© Tony Gough Herald Sun Melita Blackney lost 18kg after taking part in the Life! Taking Action on Diabetes program.
And alarming projections show type 2 - or "lifestyle" - diabetes will overtake coronary heart disease, anxiety and depression as having the most severe impact on public health within just eight years.
Diabetes Australia Victoria chief Greg Johnson said with 243,000 Victorians now registered with some type of the disease, the highest growth had been among young adults.
There has been a 15 per cent rise in 21 to 29-year-olds diagnosed and an 11 per cent increase for those aged in their 30s over the past 24 years.
"It's a myth that diabetes only affects the older population, as we're now even seeing adolescents being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes," Prof Johnson said.
"It's the epidemic of the 21st century and the forecasts show it's only going to become a bigger burden of disease."
Type 2 diabetes is often triggered by a person gaining significant weight and not getting enough exercise.
Since the National Diabetes Services Scheme was set up in 1987, one million Australians with gestational, type 1 and type 2 diabetes have registered their condition.
The register provides support and subsided medical products.
Lifestyle-related diabetes accounts for about 85 per cent of these cases.
But Prof Johnson said about 60 per cent of type 2 diabetes cases could be prevented, or at least delayed, if people knew their risk factors and made lifestyle changes.
Broadmeadows mother Melita Blackney took charge of her health after a family history of type 2 diabetes put her in the high-risk category.
The 50-year-old lost 18kg after taking part in the Life! Taking Action on Diabetes program, learning how to incorporate more exercise and healthy eating into her daily routine.
Ms Blackney started by walking for 30 minutes a day and reducing portion sizes. She now does weights and has a personal trainer.
"I think we all know what to do - eat less and exercise more - but I lost the motivation after having the kids," she said.
"It's about changing your mindset, and now I feel better than I did when I was 30."
The lifestyle factor behind type 2 diabetes is trans-fat consumption. If you do not and never have eaten trans-fats you cannot develop diabetes. This is confirmed by the epidemiology as the first cases arose in the USA during the 1930s two decades after the introduction of the artificial trans-fats which do not exist in biological nature. A "paleo-diet" will only work if the fats are of the natural form, either saturated or cis-isomer form unsaturates.
Obesity does not cause diabetes. This lie is less than ten years old in the UK. Diabetes and obesity do correlate however and this is because modern obesity is mainly a trans-fat condition, its symptom is given the label "metabolic syndrome" which describes the reduced metabloism of people suffering from trans-fatty acid poisoning. Obesity is curable where caused by trans fatty acids. Diabetes is curable in some genetic sub-types.
I have detailed this elsewhere.
Virtually all information in the MSM is misinformation. Proceed by reason and not by belief.