Snacking

Hi there, really good question and I can only speak from personal experience. Bananas and apples both spike me so I don't touch them anymore. I do graze on almonds between meals but when I feel woozy I find that some blueberries with Greek yogurt takes that away and is really tasty. Bit difficult on the move I know, I drink loads of bottled water and ensure that I have a good low carb breakfast (always egg based) - it works for me and we are all different in the way we react to certain foods. Constant testing will help you determine which ones are right for you. Type 2's like me want to be under 7.8 two hours after eating. There is a lot of information and suggestions on this site so have a look round. Hope you find something that helps

Hi, have a look on the 'what have you eaten today' thread, members post their meals & snacks, there is hundreds of options

Hi. You shouldn't be feeling woozy? If you keep the carbs down and have enough protein and fats you should feel full and need hardly any snacks. If you do want a snack have nuts, berries or cheese. Bananas are best avoided but apples are OK. BTW 85% Dark Chocolate is fine.

1rabbit1 said:

I am recently diagnosed (just one month or so) and have been eating sensibly to bring my count down from 16. I am having some success as, when I test myself, I vary from 4.9 to 9. I have to go for my first HBA1c test next week so we will see what that brings. It was 105 so I am hoping for a good result! My question is this....I can cope with meals but I struggle with what to eat in between when I start going woozy. I usually reach for a banana, an apple or some nuts but I am getting fed up with them and the banana and apple have way too much sugar in for my liking! What do you all eat? I drive during the day so cant be making things, I just want to throw something in a lunch box and be satisfied and like it! I have not eaten chocolate, sweets or pastries since being diagnosed and considering the sugar in the apple and banana feel that I have been restricting myself too much!

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Hi there.
It's largely down to personal choices and what works best for you. You are going to have to experiment but obviously, you will have to look beyond crisps, chocolate bars and cakes for snacks and fruit may cause problems.

Snacks: try cheese and nuts. Some will tell you about a high protein bread from Liddl - but I haven't used it myself. I like most hot meals just as much when served cold - even omelettes!! I also like hard boiled eggs - but don't eat the yolks. Cottage cheese? nut bars? You may find yourself doing a lot of experimenting and blood testing.

I'm also rather partial to a crisp green or red pepper - they also help with my asthma and they are close enough to eating an apple in terms of texture, and feel etc - just stay away from carrot sticks.

There are also some fruits that have a minimal impact on blood sugar levels but it might be the case that they have different effects on different people - again - you are going to have to see what works for you.

You can chomp on celery sticks and in the past, I have eaten whole onions - again - same texture as an apple but this is very much an aquired taste.

Cold meats for snacks will work too. Think sandwich without the bread

It's a journey. You will get great advice, help and support here - and check out the recipe section too.

Good luck - and don't be shy about trying full fat food. (That thing about low fat foods - not such a bright idea afterall!!)

Sean01 said:

You can chomp on celery sticks and in the past, I have eaten whole onions - again - same texture as an apple but this is very much an aquired taste.

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You can say that again though I used to boil onions in milk then have the onion cold so I can't talk. I do have the odd small satsuma about 5g carb and they seem to be OK for me .

Harley's sugar free jelly, I make it with twice as much water but with extra gelatine. I have that with raspberries or blueberries, having the jelly allows me to reduce the quantity of fruit. I have it with full fat yogurt or double cream.

I also divide a bullion/stock cube into quarters and make them up as a hot savoury drink... That has turned out to be a great one to tide me over.

I was also in this conundrum when I was browsing down the snack isle and getting frustrated with everything. I did find two items. The first was pork rinds. The ones I found where zero carbs. Now they are not exactly low fat but just a few really help the grumbles. The second was Siljans. They are an Hors d'oeuvre cup and 8 of them are 9 carbs. I usually only had 6 filled with guacamole which was enough to tide me over to the next meal. You can also put all kinds of other stuff in them if you want. I'm not sure what country your in but both are available in Canada (where I am) and the USA for sure. BTW the Siljans are not cheap (I pay $4.99 CAD for a box of 24).

paula.nolan42 said:

Harley's sugar free jelly, I make it with twice as much water but with extra gelatine. I have that with raspberries or blueberries, having the jelly allows me to reduce the quantity of fruit. I have it with full fat yogurt or double cream.

I also divide a bullion/stock cube into quarters and make them up as a hot savoury drink... That has turned out to be a great one to tide me over.

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Sorry but just out of interest why do you make your jelly with more water and gelatine doesn't that reduce the flavour a lot

I find putting cream in my coffee can satisfy me. If I'm out and about I'd go for nuts or occasionally pork scratchings.

Cheese! I do love me some cheese. I stay away from most fruit, especially bananas.

Here is what I eat on the go:
Cheese, nuts, any protein bar under 15g of carbs, quest protein crisps, baby carrots and cherry tomatoes.

Pinkorchid said:

Sorry but just out of interest why do you make your jelly with more water and gelatine doesn't that reduce the flavour a lot

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No, not for me, in my experience, since giving up the smokes and changing my food, I experience flavours differently.

I agree with @Daibell: certainly if eating a low carb diet there shouldn't be any real need to snack between meals, and the fats and protein should keep you feeling full.

I'll sometimes have a snack instead of a meal, and try to choose something with a higher fat content, such as nuts, cheese, a piece or two of dark chocolate, low carb muffin, a drink (coffee or stock cube) with a dollop of cream or sour cream.

Robbity

1rabbit1 said:

I am recently diagnosed (just one month or so) and have been eating sensibly to bring my count down from 16. I am having some success as, when I test myself, I vary from 4.9 to 9. I have to go for my first HBA1c test next week so we will see what that brings. It was 105 so I am hoping for a good result! My question is this....I can cope with meals but I struggle with what to eat in between when I start going woozy. I usually reach for a banana, an apple or some nuts but I am getting fed up with them and the banana and apple have way too much sugar in for my liking! What do you all eat? I drive during the day so cant be making things, I just want to throw something in a lunch box and be satisfied and like it! I have not eaten chocolate, sweets or pastries since being diagnosed and considering the sugar in the apple and banana feel that I have been restricting myself too much!

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Hi there, this is what I snack on if I have to pork scratchings, cashew nuts, or suck a sugar free mint or toffee, eg: Aldi sell sugar free sweets in different flavours. The capaccinno ones are lovely. Good luck.

Aldi sugar free sweets contain Acesulfame-K

Acesulfame-K: Acesulfame-K (aka "Ace-K") is a potassium salt containing methylene chloride, a known carcinogen. Acesulfame-K is not the same thing as Aspartame, but quite often, BOTH are found in the same products. Reported side effects of "sweet devil" Acesulfame-K are frightening: "Long term exposure to methylene chloride can cause nausea, headaches, mood problems, impairment of the liver and kidneys, problems with eyesight and possibly cancer. Acesulfame-K may contribute to hypoglycemia."

It's use is highly controversial as it is approved by food the administration in USA and Europe but critics maintain only minimal research has been done..

For on the go gobbling , I tend to eat macadamia nuts (more good fat than any other nuts), mixed toasted seeds, baby bel cheese, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, blackberries.

JohnEGreen said:

It's use is highly controversial as it is approved by food the administration in USA and Europe but critics maintain only minimal research has been done..

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It's not really a controversy, it's mainly scientists saying it's safe and there's no evidence that it's dangerous despite some poor quality tests in the past, and other, mostly non-scientist scaremongerers going 'Oooh, it's made of chemicals, chemicals are bad, n'kay?'

Aspartame is officially the safest substance you can put in your body. It's been tested over and over and over and no evidence has been found it has a detrimental effect on you. Whereas Sugar..........

As definitely scientific types are arguing over it I suggest that constitutes a controversy.

There where a lot of scientific types that said there was no evidence that thalidomide was harmful.

Acesulfame-K, a sweetening agent, was evaluated in vivo for its genotoxic and clastogenic potentials. Swiss albino male mice were exposed to the compound by gavage. Bone marrow cells isolated from femora were analysed for chromosome aberrations. Doses of 15, 30, 60, 450, 1500 and 2250 mg of acesulfame-K/kg body weight induced a positive dose-dependent significant clastogenicity (trend test α < 0.05). These doses were within the no-toxic-effect levels (1.5-3 g/kg body weight in rats) reported by the Joint Expert Committee for Food Additives of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In view of the present significant in vivo mammalian genotoxicity data, acesulfame-K should be used with caution.

Aspartame and acesulfame-K, non-nutritive sweeteners, are permitted individually in diets and beverages. These sweeteners of different classes, used in combination, have been found to possess a synergistic sweetening effect. Whether they also have a synergistic genotoxic effect is unknown. Swiss Albino male mice were exposed to blends of aspartame (3.5, 35, 350 mg/kg body weight) and acesulfame-K (1.5, 15 and 150 mg/kg body weight) by gavage. Bone marrow cells isolated from femora were analysed for chromosome aberrations. Statistical analysis of the results show that aspartame in combination with acesulfame-K is not significantly genotoxic.

Int J Occup Environ Health. 2010 Jan-Mar;16(1):89-96.
Inadequate toxicity tests of food additive acesulfame.
Karstadt M1.
Author information
1Drexel University, School of Public Health, Philadelphia, USA. myrakarstadt@verizon.net
Erratum in
Int J Occup Environ Health. 2010 Apr-Jun;16(2):112.
Abstract
Despite poor-quality toxicity tests, acesulfame potassium was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as an artificial sweetener. At present, acesulfame is very widely used, most frequently in blends with the most popular artificial sweetener in the US, sucralose (Splenda). Acesulfame was nominated twice (in 1996 and again in 2006) for testing in the National Toxicology Program (NTP) bioassay program. Both nominations were rejected by NTP. Rather than carry out bioassays, NTP subjected acesulfame to tests in genetically modified mice (GMM). Those GMM tests yielded results that provided no insight into potential carcinogenicity of acesulfame. It is possible that FDA discouraged NTP from conducting bioassays of acesulfame. Acesulfame should be tested in the bioassay program as soon as possible, and steps should be taken to ensure the objectivity of the bioassay nomination process.

Nuts , olives , celery with guac

ChrisSamsDad said:

It's not really a controversy, it's mainly scientists saying it's safe and there's no evidence that it's dangerous despite some poor quality tests in the past, and other, mostly non-scientist scaremongerers going 'Oooh, it's made of chemicals, chemicals are bad, n'kay?'

Aspartame is officially the safest substance you can put in your body. It's been tested over and over and over and no evidence has been found it has a detrimental effect on you. Whereas Sugar..........

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It literally kills my stomach. Study done....

Kristin251 said:

Nuts , olives , celery with guac



It literally kills my stomach. Study done....

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That's an anecdote, not evidence. That's like going into a courtroom and saying "he is a murderer, I feel it in my bones" and calling that evidence. Or "It was really cold today, so global warming is a hoax".