Treatment of diabetes can be divided into lifestyle interventions and medications. Often a combination of these two measures are necessary to adequately treat diabetes. The goals in treating diabetes is to reduce the long term complications of the disease. 

Lifestyle measures
You can't control your genes but you can control your lifestyle, and lifestyle is one of the most important determinants in developing Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly common because of massive changes in society that has occurred in the last century.

With the advent of the industrial revolution and the technological revolution that has followed, people have generally become more sedentary. Energy-rich food is easier to access and modern transportation has made it easier to get from A to B. Furthermore, we have shift in people participating in physical labour to more sedentary jobs. Advances of the last century have made things such as malnutrition and infectious disease less common in the Western world, but this has led to the perfect breeding ground for lifestyle diseases such as diabetes.  

Physical activity, an optimal body weight, and an appropriate diet are all important components in managing your diabetes.