Yes, most Type II diabetics can control their bloodsugar levels without the use of meds. Diet and exercise are the key. To get very good control (normal fasting glucose levels of 70 - 90 mg/dl), you will likely have to virtually eliminate sugar and starchy foods from your diet, essentially a low carbohydrate diet. Virtually all dietary carbohydrates other than fiber end up in your bloodstream as glucose.
Type II diabetes is caused in virtually all cases by insulin resistance. In the early stages your body still produces adequate insulin. In fact, most Type II diabetics have high circulating insulin levels. The problem is that your cells become resistant to the action of insulin so that more and more insulin is required to get the glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells. The first cells that usually become insulin resistant are the muscle cells, typically the result of inactivity and a diet that results in excess glucose. This is part of the reason why most Type II diabetics are overweight - the fat cells remain sensitive to insulin far longer so that excess glucose gets converted to fat in the liver and stored as fat (insulin is required for fat storage as well) rather than being used for energy in the muscles. Once the fat cells become insulin resistant, then excess dietary carbohydrate results in blood glucose levels rising significantly and remaining there long after you have eaten.
Exercise helps to re-sensitize the muscle cells to insulin and also provides a means to dispose of excess glucose.
A low carb diet means cutting out or really limiting your intake of all things containing sugars and things made from grains or root vegetables (breads, cereals, pasta, rice, corn, potatoes, etc.). Dietary protein like that found in meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy has a small effect on glucose levels (you need to watch the carb content in dairy products - milk has moderate carb levels, cheese is low in carbs for the most part). Dietary fat has virtually no effect on bloodsugar levels; however, there has been some speculation that trans fatty acids found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (and virtually all processed foods) contributes to insulin resistance.
An excellent book on the subject of diabetes is "Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution". Any good low carbohdyrate diet book such as "Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution" or "Protein Power" by Dr. Michael Eades will provide good dietary recommendations for those desiring to follow a low carbohydrate diet. And you can do a search on the net for more info also. I recommend the [url="http://www.google.com"]www.google.com[/url] search engine.
Alan
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The tragedy of science is the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact. T H Huxley
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