Snacking In Between Meals

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

Hi,

My son diagnose type 1 - almost 7 weeks in doing generally okay.
However we go on holiday soon and it’s all inclusive. At the moment he’s sticking to 3 meals a day as advised by his DN & having a “pudding” with the meal. Carb counting and covering with insulin.

Would it be possible if he wanted to snack in between meals and just cover himself with the correct bolus? We’ve not done this before so any advice or tips will help

thanks
Janelle

Deleted Account · Jul 23, 2018

I am not sure why you were advised to stick to 3 meals a day ... unless that was what was normal.
I assume he is injecting insulin on a basal-bolus regime (fast acting insulin with meals and long acting insulin once a day).
If this is the case, the advice I had was, I could
- eat up to 15g carbs between meals without injecting. This could be a small packet of crisps, a biscuit (or two) or something low carb such as pepparami or cheese.
- eat more than 15g carbs between meals, carb count and inject. This is what I do. Some diabetes teams may be a little nervous about this if you are including correction doses with meals. If you do not do this, there is nothing to worry about. If you correct, remember the insulin will stay in your son's body for about 4 hours so do not correct during this period.

Enjoy your holiday and make the most of the all inclusive.

Knikki · Jul 23, 2018

When I was a wee lad, yes yes just after the Arc sank, I used to always have a mid morning or mid afternoon snack, this was back in the 70's when things were different to today.

The only thing I would add to what @helensaramay says is that if you have checked his BS and it is running high then maybe a snack might not be advisable, couple of lengths of the swimming pool will help to bring it back down.

Have a fun time on holiday and send us a postcard and don't forget the stick of rock

justadad · Jul 23, 2018

Hi @Jayden2407

I have been experimenting a lot with my son's snacks. He is not much of an eater, in terms of quantity, and he likes to have snacks between meals.
What normally works for him:
- nuts, cashews, almonds - a handful is a good snack and does not cause big spikes.
- a handful of berries, a plum, half a green apple, a carrot, few cubes of stevia chocolate bar
- protein bars where sugar is substituted with stevia

When we are on holiday, we just can't get him out of the water, be it pool or sea. Swimming and other activities in water have a massive impact on his sugars, like no other sporting activity, so we allow him doughnuts and ice cream, without covering with insulin. Covering with insulin combined with a long physical activity in water may cause hypos.
This is how we do it. I am not suggesting this is what you should be doing, but maybe you can use my input to compare with others' suggestions, and see what you think might work for you.

Cheers

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

helensaramay said:
I am not sure why you were advised to stick to 3 meals a day ... unless that was what was normal.
I assume he is injecting insulin on a basal-bolus regime (fast acting insulin with meals and long acting insulin once a day).
If this is the case, the advice I had was, I could
- eat up to 15g carbs between meals without injecting. This could be a small packet of crisps, a biscuit (or two) or something low carb such as pepparami or cheese.
- eat more than 15g carbs between meals, carb count and inject. This is what I do. Some diabetes teams may be a little nervous about this if you are including correction doses with meals. If you do not do this, there is nothing to worry about. If you correct, remember the insulin will stay in your son's body for about 4 hours so do not correct during this period.

Enjoy your holiday and make the most of the all inclusive.

Yes he is on multiple injections, Novorapid and Tresiba at night. Jayden is 11 tomorrow and I assume with it being so new to us the DN thought the best advice was to stick to three meals a day. He’s been really good and just snacking on peperami or chicken if he wants a snack but up to all carb free in between.

I suppose it’s us wanting to experiment a little more when it comes to snacking, and as you say as long as he has bolus to cover the carbs I suppose this will be okay? He’s only testing BG levels after each meal and before bedtime at the moment (sometimes I check them in the night) so far unless he feels a bit unwell then he will test in between too.
If he has any snacks with even 15g of carbs in won’t that push his levels up before his next meal?

We do correction doses but he uses the Expert meter (Aviva) and it works out his correction doses for him which is great!
Thanks for the advice and we sure will )

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

Knikki said:
When I was a wee lad, yes yes just after the Arc sank, I used to always have a mid morning or mid afternoon snack, this was back in the 70's when things were different to today.

The only thing I would add to what @helensaramay says is that if you have checked his BS and it is running high then maybe a snack might not be advisable, couple of lengths of the swimming pool will help to bring it back down.

Have a fun time on holiday and send us a postcard and don't forget the stick of rock

Fab
Thank you

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

justadad said:
Hi @Jayden2407

I have been experimenting a lot with my son's snacks. He is not much of an eater, in terms of quantity, and he likes to have snacks between meals.
What normally works for him:
- nuts, cashews, almonds - a handful is a good snack and does not cause big spikes.
- a handful of berries, a plum, half a green apple, a carrot, few cubes of stevia chocolate bar
- protein bars where sugar is substituted with stevia

When we are on holiday, we just can't get him out of the water, be it pool or sea. Swimming and other activities in water have a massive impact on his sugars, like no other sporting activity, so we allow him doughnuts and ice cream, without covering with insulin. Covering with insulin combined with a long physical activity in water may cause hypos.
This is how we do it. I am not suggesting this is what you should be doing, but maybe you can use my input to compare with others' suggestions, and see what you think might work for you.

Cheers

That’s great! I didn’t know that about the physical activities with water etc.. he’s not a massive sporting fan really and just plays the odd game of footie with his mates or does PE at school. I understand everyone is different but I suppose I could try that. It’s our first holiday since diagnosis so I’m a bit nervous

I know all will be fine and I am aware that the sun can have effects on BG levels so will test regularly.
My son (unfortunately) doesn’t like nuts and just likes the usual fruit bananas, oranges, apple but I will suggest them to him he’s quite happy having the pepperami or chicken chunks in between but I have a feeling with it being all inclusive he might want a hotdog/burger/ice cream in between meals. I try to fill him up with good filling foods at each meal at home so he doesn’t need to snack and he’s doing really well knowing he can’t just have that packet of crisp or chocolate bar unless it’s with his meal.

When you have given your son ice cream and donuts with no bolus and all though he is in the pool a lot do you check his BG levels just to make sure that they haven’t spiked him?
And I haven’t heard of stevia chocolate so I will be sure to look that one up!

thanks for your advice

justadad · Jul 23, 2018

Jayden2407 said:
When you have given your son ice cream and donuts with no bolus and all though he is in the pool a lot do you check his BG levels just to make sure that they haven’t spiked him?

My son is on the libre, and that is a great relief. Plus we use blucon nightrider, and that makes blood glucose monitoring even easier. We normally go to Greece for our holidays, and they sell these doughnuts rolled in sugar, probably one weighs around 150 grams (wild guess is that it would contain about 80 grams of carbs). He would normally split one in two halves and consume it in two rounds, between breakfast and lunch. I need to stress again, with lots of physical activities in water - otherwise bolus would be a must.

Edit - My son's been T1D since January last year. That is 17 months. He is still in his honeymoon though, which means he is on small doses on insulin as his body still produces some insulin. I guess this is the major factor as to his good BG control.

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

justadad said:
My son is on the libre, and that is a great relief. Plus we use blucon nightrider, and that makes blood glucose monitoring even easier. We normally go to Greece for our holidays, and they sell these doughnuts rolled in sugar, probably one weighs around 150 grams (wild guess is that it would contain about 80 grams of carbs). He would normally split one in two halves and consume it in two rounds, between breakfast and lunch. I need to stress again, with lots of physical activities in water - otherwise bolus would be a must.

I have read up on the Libre, it doesn’t notify you of excessively low of high BGL does it?

I don’t know what the bluecon nightrider is so will look in to that.
Yes I understand, thanks

porl69 · Jul 23, 2018

Everyone is different! 15g of carbs can put 1 persons BGs up higher than the next person. The only thing you can do is test a lot, a pain in the butt I know BUT that is the only way to be sure.
Have a great holiday

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

justadad said:
My son is on the libre, and that is a great relief. Plus we use blucon nightrider, and that makes blood glucose monitoring even easier. We normally go to Greece for our holidays, and they sell these doughnuts rolled in sugar, probably one weighs around 150 grams (wild guess is that it would contain about 80 grams of carbs). He would normally split one in two halves and consume it in two rounds, between breakfast and lunch. I need to stress again, with lots of physical activities in water - otherwise bolus would be a must.

Edit - My son's been T1D since January last year. That is 17 months. He is still in his honeymoon though, which means he is on small doses on insulin as his body still produces some insulin. I guess this is the major factor as to his good BG control.

How long can the honeymoon last? How old is your son if you don’t mind me asking?

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

porl69 said:
Everyone is different! 15g of carbs can put 1 persons BGs up higher than the next person. The only thing you can do is test a lot, a pain in the butt I know BUT that is the only way to be sure.
Have a great holiday

Trial and error?!

Thank you very much

Antje77 · Jul 23, 2018

Jayden2407 said:
Would it be possible if he wanted to snack in between meals and just cover himself with the correct bolus?

Yes.

And test more than usual, as everything is different, food, activity, sleep.

Have a wonderful holiday!

porl69 · Jul 23, 2018

Jayden2407 said:
Trial and error?!

Thank you very much

Pretty much yes. I can eat a bag of crisps inbetween meals and my BG wont move 1 day. The next day BG will rise 3-4mmol!!! It's the joys of type 1 I am sorry to say. I do tend to snack on low carby things...

porl69 · Jul 23, 2018

Jayden2407 said:
I have read up on the Libre, it doesn’t notify you of excessively low of high BGL does it?

I don’t know what the bluecon nightrider is so will look in to that.
Yes I understand, thanks

No you will not get any notifications just from the Libre BUT with either the bluecon or miaomiao which attach tto the Libre can be set up with alarms on your phone to alert you when bloods are going high/low

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

Antje77 said:
Yes.

And test more than usual, as everything is different, food, activity, sleep.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Thank you!

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

porl69 said:
Pretty much yes. I can eat a bag of crisps inbetween meals and my BG wont move 1 day. The next day BG will rise 3-4mmol!!! It's the joys of type 1 I am sorry to say. I do tend to snack on low carby things...

Yes I believe it can be different from day to day even having to same things.

He snacks on carb free at the moment but I just know he’s going to ask me for ice cream

I suppose carb free snacking is the safest way, this is just an option while on holiday, I don’t want to be telling him no

Jayden2407 · Jul 23, 2018

porl69 said:
No you will not get any notifications just from the Libre BUT with either the bluecon or miaomiao which attach tto the Libre can be set up with alarms on your phone to alert you when bloods are going high/low

Ah excellent! I will speak with Jayden’s DN when we see her next, thanks again

justadad · Jul 23, 2018

Jayden2407 said:
How long can the honeymoon last? How old is your son if you don’t mind me asking?

I am not quite sure how long it can last. I think it is not unusual to go over a year, but it is not so common.
My son is gradually on the way out of his honeymoon, at least his endocrinologist thinks so, based on the progression in the HBA1C: 5.8; 5.9. 6.0, 6.5 against the insulin requirements - currently he is on 5 units of lantus and between 3 and 8 units of novorapid a day (depending on the carbs and physical activity). Latest blood test - c-peptide - suggested his pancreas was still producing insulin.

My son is 12 now. Diagnosed at 10y and 10 months.

porl69 · Jul 23, 2018

Jayden2407 said:
Yes I believe it can be different from day to day even having to same things.

He snacks on carb free at the moment but I just know he’s going to ask me for ice cream
I suppose carb free snacking is the safest way, this is just an option while on holiday, I don’t want to be telling him no

You will find ice cream pretty low in carbs!....ie a Mr Whippy is around 12g. Just remember test regular

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