I was diagnosed with type II diabetes too this year.

Lots of good advice on this thread. I am not on medications at the moment and am attempting to lower and control my blood sugar through diet and exercise. The key is a moderate and balanced diet, portion control, avoiding added sugar in things (here in the UK pretty well everything is labelled and the damn stuff is added to pretty well every type of processed food), plenty of fruit (fruit sugar, fructose, is non-insulin dependent) and green vegetables, plenty of protein, oily fish for a couple of main meals is very good and, most of all, plenty of exercise.

Type II diabetes is serious but it is also controllable. The people who do have major problems are mostly the ones that can't get on top of the new regime. Dietetic advice is good but eat sensibly, moderately and in a balanced way and you're most of the way there.

Prolonged stress also raises cortisol and blood sugar levels so avoid that... music is good! (I have a very high stress job which doesn't help in that regards)

Zen