• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

dirty word on here I'd presume , but "snacks"

Diabeticger

Diabeticger

Well-Known Member
Messages
116
Location
Ireland
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Bread, Potatoes, anything Carby
but what amount of units do you take for a mid morning / afternoon snack , if any ?, or do we even have snacks ?
 
Diabeticger said:
but what amount of units do you take for a mid morning / afternoon snack , if any ?, or do we even have snacks ?
Click to expand...
I eat more frequently than three main meals a day so maybe they’d be considered snacks? I treat them the way I would a main meal, count the carbs and consider what else is going on to affect my blood sugar level then dose accordingly. I’ve never been good at only eating three or fewer times a day.
 
Snacks is not a dirty word. However, guilt associated with eating should be.

Some people prefer less big meals which sate them throughout the day but other bodies may need more regular feeding.
When I snack (which I do a lot because I am a very active and slim grazer), my insulin to carb ratio is the same as any other time of day.

Remember, a “good” diet for someone with Type 1 diabetes, is the same as a good diet for someone without diabetes. It is just about managing your insulin.
 
Having had diabetes long enough to remember the old so much at such and such a time, snacking is definitely now on the cards , to be honest I’m not consistent with meals ! Either in size or in time, I just eat when and what I feel like, taken quite a bit of experimenting but have now managed it that my sugars are consistently within range not always but I don’t worry about that I realise my sugars will never be totally stable , but totally acceptable .
 
Diabeticger said:
but what amount of units do you take for a mid morning / afternoon snack , if any ?, or do we even have snacks ?
Click to expand...
Snacks are no different than foods eaten at meal times. I look how many carbs the snack has and dose according to that.
A bag of crisps needs a completely different amount of insulin than a handful of nuts, a mars bar, some cheese, or an apple.
 
I snack if I want to, which for me is usually fruit, chocolate or nuts. I count carbs and dose per how many carbs I plan on eating. I love a couple of cocoa covered almonds because I can dose for those when I actually eat them. And I consistently I use a small wedge of fresh pineapple if I am trending lower. I usually avoid eating and taking insulin after around 7-8 pm, it just helps with going to bed and not worrying about what my BG is, or might end up being. And more importantly not getting woken up by my CGM alerting me. It just is an easier route for me.
 
In Response said:
Snacks is not a dirty word. However, guilt associated with eating should be.

Some people prefer less big meals which sate them throughout the day but other bodies may need more regular feeding.
When I snack (which I do a lot because I am a very active and slim grazer), my insulin to carb ratio is the same as any other time of day.

Remember, a “good” diet for someone with Type 1 diabetes, is the same as a good diet for someone without diabetes. It is just about managing your insulin.
Click to expand...
Might be useful to specify the type of diabetes you mean, as there are lots of folks without the option to manage or adjust their insulin.
 
AndBreathe said:
Might be useful to specify the type of diabetes you mean, as there are lots of folks without the option to manage or adjust their insulin.
Click to expand...
As this was posted in the Type 1 sub-forum , in response to someone with Type 1, and all.other people responding.have Type 1, I did not feel it was necessary.
 
Whatever happened to being able to put Type 1/LADA as an option under our name if we want to?
 
I snack, lots, I blame it on having had snacks for the majority of my life while on old-school insulins. That or I'm just hungry.

I know I will want a snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon, so I tend to take a bit more insulin for my breakfast/lunch and then have a biscuit or 4 with a cup of coffee or two. If I've not done extra bolus I'll quite happily stack as I can see how much insulin I have on board with Xdrip+ (there are other apps available.)

In the evening I also tend to snack sometimes, but usually on nuts as I'd prefer to not eat additional carbs too close to bed, so I can better judge overnight levels.

Snacks are even better when exercising as then there is no bolus required (but you do need to exercise for ~30min after eating to ensure it's been digested and taken effect). I happily snack for hours almost continuously (once I'm past ~2h) while riding my bike :)
 
Sadly with the loss of a fully functioning pancreas in insulin production, we also have depleted levels of amylin which is the hormone that promotes satiety, so it's typically common for type 1's to feel hungry, I snack also but on nuts and berries as I don't want to insulin stack or even take insulin when it's not a meal time.

Same as Simon though, I prefer to have carb snacks around exercise so only a little/no insulin is needed.
 
That's interesting re amylin, I must admit that while I do snack it's only if I've been active (which is normally most of the time) - I don't tend to get particularly hungry if I've not been doing much (including not being hungry for main meals, let alone snacks). For example, in the last week with the cold weather and lots of work on I've not been out much and therefore haven't been eating all that much. This may be partially down to blood glucose level and the fact that if I don't exercise it tends to run a bit higher/I have to actively do reasonably large corrections. OTOH I may have a cold brewing, which also means I'm not hungry.
 
SimonP78 said:
Snacks are even better when exercising as then there is no bolus required
Click to expand...
I would say "this depends".
It depends
- how many carbs are included in your snack. I would not eat a doughnut and then exercise assuming the exercise would burne the carbs
- how intensive your exercise is. This is a very person thing. For some it maybe a gentle stroll. For me, it would need to be a 30+ minute spin class or equivalent.
- what type of exercise you are doing. Resistance training will raise BG so not ideal to snack without insulin beforehand. I often have to take extra insulin before climbing without food.
- what your BG is when you snack. If our BG is too high when we start to exercise, it could be a strain on our bodies which will push levels higher. What is "too high"? For me it is anything over 9 mmol/l but I know some people start their Parkrun at 13 mmol/l. I try to avoid eating (and exercise) when my BG is in double figures as I know I am insulin resistant.
 
Hi
I eat or don't eat during the day to keep myself in range.
If i'm going low i snack on whatever i need to stay in range without having to take insulin.

I have an active job good BMI HBA1C 40 and it works for me.

Evening meal on the other hand i consume a mass of carbs and insulinate myself accordingly.

Good luck

Tony
 
In Response said:
I would say "this depends".
Click to expand...
Indeed I should have caveated it "everyone is different"!
In Response said:
- what your BG is when you snack. If our BG is too high when we start to exercise, it could be a strain on our bodies which will push levels higher. What is "too high"? For me it is anything over 9 mmol/l but I know some people start their Parkrun at 13 mmol/l. I try to avoid eating (and exercise) when my BG is in double figures as I know I am insulin resistant.
Click to expand...
Two things here, I don't usually snack if I'm high - I'm not normally hungry if I'm high, but if I've been running high for a while (which means the corrections aren't working very well) I'll not throw more fuel on the fire and will therefore eat nuts/cheese/cold meats/etc. rather than biscuits. Yes they still have an effect, but much less so.

The other thing, which I think it more important (though is actually OT for this thread), is that I don't think the comment about "could be a strain on our bodies which will push levels higher" tells the whole story and I therefore don't think it should be repeated as a mantra (as I've seen elsewhere, see my link below) - the only reason to avoid exercise when high is to avoid ketoacidosis and the criteria for that to happen are very limited (for T1 diabetics who take insulin and who happen to be running high) in my non-medical option.

Here's a post of mine on a different forum, and a link to a consensus statement from The Lancet regarding exercise: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/board...a-consensus-statement-from-the-lancet.108996/

I'm more than happy to be pointed at some research and proven wrong, and will happily amend the threads appropriately, but I just think that for some reason people have it in their heads that they should not exercise when above a certain level (which goes hand in hand with the intense fear of any ketones I've seen on the forums), and this is only a very small part of the story which is almost never applicable (for T1s). I imagine it comes down to what people are being told these days when they are diagnosed, but I don't know, that was all a very long time ago!

If we do want to discuss, it might be worth breaking all of this out into its own thread to avoid interfering with the general snack chat!
 
SimonP78 said:
the only reason to avoid exercise when high is to avoid ketoacidosis and the criteria for that to happen are very limited (for T1 diabetics who take insulin and who happen to be running high) in my non-medical option.
Click to expand...
Hmm, another caveat required it's just dawned on me, those with pumps are at risk if their pump/site fails without them realising - I failed to even consider this as I'm on MDI. So, hmm, perhaps there is some method in the mantra, though I still think for those on MDI (and those with working pumps), it's still unlikely.

I also appear to have stopped any snack-related chat, sorry! :(
 
SimonP78 said:
Hmm, another caveat required it's just dawned on me, those with pumps are at risk if their pump/site fails without them realising - I failed to even consider this as I'm on MDI. So, hmm, perhaps there is some method in the mantra, though I still think for those on MDI (and those with working pumps), it's still unlikely.

I also appear to have stopped any snack-related chat, sorry! :(
Click to expand...
If my pump or pump site failed, I would see rising blood sugars and get all the alarms on my pump and Dexcom app for either the rising levels or for a pump occlusion.

For occlusions, it's usually as simple as wiggling the tubing to get insulin slowing smoothly and then resuming delivery.

If there was a bigger issue (which I've never had), I'd change the site and/or do a manual injection. I always have a backup infusion set, reservoir, (fast-acting) insulin pen and pen needles with me (I fill my pump from a pen rather than vial, so the pen doubles as my backup if I need to switch to MDI).

Those on MDI are just as likely to forget insulin pens and/or needles at home, which could lead to a similar outcome, although they would presumably have basal on board, so blood sugar would probably be slower to rise.
 
Hi,

Back in the olden days of fixed porcine doses. I was advised/directed by my team at the time to snack between meals & before bed.
Tiresome, to be frank as a kid & teen ritually feeding to get through a “normal” day without going low… Nobody thought to adjust the dose??

MDI. More flexible than the early regime.
No need to snack sometimes the basal goes wrong? Then I either treat a low or correct the high.

Snacking for me outside my meals is just another “variable” thrown in the mix that could go wrong on any given day… (which would mean to me, just another active injection.)
 
Jaylee said:
Back in the olden days of fixed porcine doses. I was advised/directed by my team at the time to snack between meals & before bed.
Tiresome, to be frank as a kid & teen ritually feeding to get through a “normal” day without going low… Nobody thought to adjust the dose??
Click to expand...
I also had to snack (including a bedtime snack) though on DIY mix twice a day man-made insulins (S&I) - I used to change my dosage based on what I was doing and eating, but reducing it drastically wasn't ever really in scope and the snacks were required because of the absorption curve shape (relatively very long). I guess an alternative would be to reduce dose (such that the snack carbs were not needed) and accept going very high immediately after meal times and then gradually coming down to normal range ready for the next meal. I think it was likely better to avoid those highs and to have had to fill in the gaps with many digestive biscuits and chocolate bars (in my case anyway!) :)
 
Back
Top