General weakness. On a daily basis.

Hi doctor, I have a question about my mother who is type 2 diabetic. She's on metadose tablet medication to keep sugar level in control. The diabetes is in an initial stage, and not too out of control. Her blood sugar level does come down, but the tablets are being taken pretty much regularly. She complains about general weakness: like loss of strength. She's also prone to headaches, perhaps due to acidity. I wanted to know about the best practices she can follow to build her strength back and control her diabetes, perhaps improve food intake and change lifestyle enough to not depend on metadose or other medications in the future. Also, please let me know if there are side effects to using sugar control tablets on a daily basis.