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Can snacking be bad

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ni
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Ni

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the title might seem obvious but here is the question, I am on slow release gliclazide and slow release metformin when I measure my bloods in the morning they have tended to be around 7 or just over- which I am happy enough with. However I have always been a bad sleeper and midnight late night snacker, which to a large extent I have stopped. But I have noticed that when I do have something to snack on in the middle or late night bag of crisps midget size mars bar , I know very bad, but my blood sugars in the morning are usually under six when I do this implying it is a good practice, which surely it cannot be. Simple question how ?
 
It depends what you snack on and what you consider to be "bad".
If you snack on something high in carbs like mars bar or crisps, your BG is likely to rise.
If you snack on something low carb like cheese or pepperoni, it will have less impact on your BG.
 

Hi Ni,

I think you are saying that when you snack late in the night on something 'bad', your levels in the morning are lower than when you don't? I am no expert but I wonder if that is because when you are eating the high carb 'snacks', your body starts to (try) and produce insulin to cope or depending on your situation produces a normal amount. Maybe this insulin production has an effect right up until you get up, hence the lower levels first thing. Having said that, there is always a price to be paid, ie the rest of your day, weeks and months might mean your overall levels are higher than they would have been without the high carb snacks. I don't think it would be 'good practice' to do this overall though. What are your current levels like on average?
 
You know that these carb rich snacks will be doing you no favours, they will be feeding the carb addiction and causing a bg spike and an insulin response. Try asking yourself if you are hungry at these times or just prolonging a habit.
 
Hi

A clever doctor told me "if you have had your calories for the day, suck it up, a bit of hunger won't kill you", so I have a water and my body has leaned over time that it's not going to win, my will is stronger than my tummy grumbles.

I would suggest the question is more around why this habit exists and if you could change it how you would do it?

Worth noting crisps are quite high in "bad" fat so will release slower than other carbs, that could explain the lower reading, it's not great for you.
 

A calorie is a unit of heat not a unit of nutrition. One does not need to have will power enough to withstand "tummy grumbles" because on a diet suitable to one's metabolism one (eventually, after 'unlearning' decades old habits) feels no real need to go snack hunting. One thing to learn is the difference between real hunger and the 'munchies', carbs promote the munchies.
 
Thank you, it’s given me lots to think about. Part of my problem is being a shift worker not an excuse, my day can start from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon. So suddenly being diagnosed with type two and trying to retrain my self is hard. Your body can be needing energy when most people might be thinking of bed and no two days are the same. Going to have to really focus on this again thank you
 
These days I eat when I get up and then again a few hours before I go to bed.
If I need energy, my body finds it from somewhere - we can go for days without eating when we have to, and as I have been low carbing for a very long time I have never felt a need to snack.
Are you eating enough when you do eat?
Are you sleeping enough? Tired people tend to eat to wake themselves up - perhaps going to bed before you feel hungry could be more in tune with what your body needs.
 
You may normally be getting a higher rise from dawn phenomenon on nights you don't snack and then when you eat something in the early hours it stops it from being so high when you wake up in the morning. Maybe try keeping a cheese triangle or couple of cherry tomatoes on hand instead.
In an ideal world we wouldn't snack but its not an easy to break for most. If others in the household are eating crisps etc. then definitely don't take those foods to bed at night and leave in the shops if its just you. Good luck.
 

I suggest you had a huge spike of insulin to cope with that carb heavy snack (which is not doing you any favours as it will make your insulin resistance worse and can cause weight gain). This spike of insulin will take a long time to come down (again because of insulin resistance) and hence you see a "crash" in normal glucose levels by morning. It can happen after an oral glucose tolerance test - or at least, it happened to me.

Snacking on anything carby is never a good idea at any time as your pancreas never gets a rest, and you have constant circulating insulin levels, which is not a good idea.
 

Ni, I sympathise with you massively, I work shifts too including nights and it adds a whole new level of management concerning diet. I'm not sure there is a definitive answer to it but I do know that shifts themselves massively impact upon my glucose levels. My meals remain the same carb wise and choice wise no matter what shift I am working but my glucose levels do not. For example, up at 5.15am for the early shift, levels can be high...or not. Slipping in a test in the middle of the night (whilst at work) they can suddenly be low or hypo....or not. Adrenaline & cortisol must surely be up and down all over the place, the diabetes body cannot seem to cope with anything other than a 'routine' get up, breakfast, lunch, tea then bed approach during the day and on these days all is fairly steady. My meals are lowish carb throughout whilst on shifts and also when I am off work, ie I don't change my diet and then my glucose readings all goes back to 'normal' when my rest days come around. All I would say though is do not choose carb laden snacks just because you are working shifts as this will add to the issues in my opinion. I 'snack' on cheese, nuts, boiled egg etc. Add insulin to the mix and..well….you can guess the rest.
 
I have my snack with my meal (low carb in my case), just to illicit the single insulin requirement. You could class my snack as dessert or afters, but from your bodies perspective this might be more efficient whilst at the same time satisfying you mentally.
 
In one of the Jason Jung movies about fasting, he says that due to a primitive cave man instinct, when the body is deprived of food it actually releases more energy short term (to allow the cave man to go hunting) rather than less ... it's a survival instinct in man. So your "starvation" diet obviously brings out your inner cave man
 
I have been a midnight snacker for years, thinking it ok to snack if the snack was low carb ... I now believe it is more important not to snack in order to give the blood sugar, insulin, stomach and pancreas etc etc a rest ... it's hard because hunger is the most difficult thing to master, but I'm persevering. Best wishes for your success ...
 
T2#Me said:
I have been a midnight snacker for years, thinking it ok to snack if the snack was low carb ... I now believe it is more important not to snack in order to give the blood sugar, insulin, stomach and pancreas etc etc a rest ...
Click to expand...
Hi T2#Me,
Just to add to this I read recently, cant' remember were sorry, that the body breaks down fat stores over night to repair micro damage and ease muscle fatigue. (even if you haven't been exercising just the day to day life stuff).

This mean if you snack through the night the body uses this food for scheduled maintenance and has no need to break down fat stores. IF your goal is to loose weight snacking through the night actively hampers that process.
 
Here's a thing to consider, daily reads can't be trusted. Mine are all over the palace and often. But Hba1c can be trusted. Over a 3 month period it typically stays even or reduces. I can 100% guarantee you that if you do that kind of snacking often the chances of your hba1c going up the next time it's tested will be extremely likely. I've tested that theory myself so I know. Not good!

Here's the thing about those sugar / carb pangs your getting though. It's not necessarily about getting the sugar or carb fix, even though your brain might be telling you that. It's about satiating a hunger pang. To prove it do this, the next time you get that need, get a few decent chunks of cheese and snack on that instead. That will have the effect of satiating the appetite and you'll likely not want to sweet stuff afterward. Eat is slow, let it go in, let the brain and body register it. The brain's a bit of a trickster sometimes. So is the body, especially if it's used certain kinds of habits. Give it the good stuff then back off to bed. It'll satisfy you enough to head back off to sleep and your body will thank you for it next time the results come in.
 
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