“Can you manage diabetes 2 without medication?”

Yes. If your hemoglobin a1c, is on the low side like 6 or 7, then you should. Be able to have a diet controlled. Trial for three months. I personally believe that Type II diabetes can be totally diet controlled if you are disciplined.

Diet and exercise and by losing weight if you are overweight.

If you are a newly diagnosed Diabetic with A1c level between 6.5 to 8.0, you could be given 3-6 month to see if you can lose enough weight to bring down the A1c level with manly dieting and exercise. However, after 6 month if your A1c remains above 6.5, it's best to start Oral Diabetes Medications

Exercise and eat healthy

Absolutely. Type 2 DM is usually associated with obesity. The first thing to do, if you are overweight, is to start a healthy weight loss program and exercise regimen. Just losing a percentage of your total weight makes your body more sensitive to its own insulin. However, Metformin is an excellent first start as a medication. Part of the problem with Type 2 DM is that your liver is producing too much glucose. Metformin helps prevent this and it has a myriad of other benefits without any substantial risk at all. there are many ongoing studies regarding the use of metformin in people who are not diabetic and the preliminary results are promising. So, I think healthy eating, weight loss, exercise and metformin can be the best combination.

Maybe. Type 2 diabetes is a disease of insulin resistance associated usually with overweight. By limiting calorie intake and exercising with wt. loss, it will improve and you may not need meds. You still have diabetes since you have the inheritance but you may be able to control it with diet, exercise, and wt. loss. Or it may be controlled with a single drug. Metformin is a very cheap drug with very few side effects and may have several benefits such as control of blood sugar, decreased appetite thus controlling appetite and has recently been shown to prevent or slow some cancers. A recent study shows that it may also slow mental decline so maybe we should put it in the water supply and we could all benefit.
Good luck!!