If a person with textbook metabolism (no insulin imbalance) gains weight, doesn't exercise, and doesn't eat appropriately, he won't necessarily develop diabetes because he doesn't have to genes to support diabetes. this is why you with find that some people are heavier, less active, and less food-conscious then you but do not have diabetes. The truth of the matter is that your genetic blueprint set you up with the potential to develop diabetes, and a progressive hormonal imbalance pushed along by environmental triggers silently battered at your metabolism for years before your blood sugar rose to the level that brought on the diagnosis. Many people diagnosed with diabetes are in denial, thinking, "No one in my family has or has had diabetes.