There are approximately 26 million people in the U.S. with diabetes, and another 79 million who are at risk of developing the disease. Chances are, there is someone in your life who has or knows someone who has the disease.

Managing the disease can be challenging, but there are a few "free" resources that can help.

• Medicare patients. Did you know that Medicare patients are entitled to 10 free hours each year of education for diabetes? Do you know what the average Medicare patient uses of these 10 free hours? Three. Medicare patients can also receive reduced or eliminated 20 percent co-payments for glaucoma screenings, which can be a complication of diabetes.

• Free recipes. The American Diabetes Association offers hundreds of free recipes on their site.
• Free diabetes holiday eating webinar. DiabetesCare.net is offering a free holiday eating webinar on their site. The webinar lasts just under 30 minutes.
• Free diabetes app. Diabetes Buddy Lite is a beneficial app, which helps diabetics better manage their diet and monitor their blood sugar levels. There are even reminder settings you can establish to help you with the scheduling of your diabetes medications. The app can be downloaded from iTunes, and is compatible with both the iPhone, IPod Touch, and iPad. It's also Twitter compatible.
• Free diabetes necklace. Request a free diabetes awareness necklace from The Diabetes Research Foundation by sending them a self-addressed stamped envelope. The diabetes alert necklace can alert medical personnel to your disease in case of emergency medical care. Health care professionals can also inquire about receiving a supply of the necklaces to provide to their patients.