If you are African American and 20 years old or older, you are twice as likely as your white counterpart to have diabetes. And if you live in Western Tidewater or Portsmouth, your chance of dying from the disease is double the state average! Add obesity to the mix and no matter the ethnicity or race, your chances of developing diabetes are soaring - according to the Centers for Disease Control, by 2050 a full one third of our population will have the disease. Scary statistics - but you can live with diabetes if you have it, and take steps to avoid it if you don't.