Understanding Type 1 Diabetes Simply. With every meal, glucose enters the bloodstream. A healthy pancreas releases the right amount of insulin, but a pancreas with type 1 diabetes no longer produces it. The result: without insulin, blood sugar spikes (hyperglycemia); too much insulin causes it to drop below 0.60 g/L (hypoglycemia). The goal is to stay between 0.70 and 1.80 g/L. It’s a real balancing act between long-acting and short-acting insulin, meals, emotions, and emergency carbohydrate intake.