I am a role model for somebody with type 2 diabetes.

I am a 40 year old Hispanic male whose loves are sweets and treats. Just the very thought of a fizzy soda burp tickling my nose fills me with a certain cheap but valuable thrill.

But there in lies the problem.

Sweet treats and fizzy burps come at a cost past the wrinkled dollars and loose change we diabetics gorge into these vending machines.

After the wrapper or plastic bottle is responsibly disposed of, pow! There it hits me.

I feel as if the gravitational pull on my body has dramatically increased and to move at all is suddenly very burdensome.

And then my eyes, what’s really happening there?

It’s difficult to read for a while. Everything seems to be fuzzy and jumping around out of full focus.

This is the bitter truth of the affects of sweet sugar to the common type 2 diabetic.

The vending machines are here on campus for our convenience.

But this should not limit our vendors to provide snacks that are in fact toxic to a large number of students that knowingly or unknowingly are diabetic.

Sugar-free hard candy, chocolates and mints do in fact exist and should be made available for those of us who need to opt out of consuming sugar, for whatever reason.

The problem is we usually succumb to purchasing our poison.

Because afterall, we need a snack, which worsens the health issues we have as a growing population.

Our campus must take the lead on this overlooked but crucial matter.

We need to incorporate sugar-free-only vending machines alongside the regular ones or to add an increased selection of various sugar-free choices, just like our glucose-compatible counterparts have.

The soda and Gatorade machines are an easy fix.

A diet version of almost all flavors are available.

Half of the selection should be sugar-free.

This is not a solely a matter of taste, but of the availability of non-poisonous snacking choice.