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snacks

T

TROUBR

Well-Known Member
Hi I am newly diagnosed type 1 (after having a DKA mid April and several days in hospital).My levels have now come down but so far I have only had one appointment with the dietician and have been going very carefully since trying to eat healthily etc. I am just stuck for ideas for snacks which won't muck up my numbers too much and I don't have much knowledge about how things effect me or how it all works yet. I believe I will go on a course in a year (ALFFI which similar to DAFNE) but I am keen to try and start getting it all right as soon as possile

I have tried brazil nuts but will be in danger of eating too many. Have also tried ham but it doesn't seem to fill the gap. I would previously had grapes but too many now can be a problem I gather. My main concern is on work days I lunch at 1 ish but don't eat in the evening until about 8 (after my son is in bed) so I need something to keep me going without helping me gain too much weight.

I would be interested in what you all do? I just feel a bit clueless at the minute!

Thanks heaps

troubr
 
I know how you feel, i was diagnosed during the easter holidays. I find snacks like flapjacks good or search the web for recipes for muffins and lowfat/sugar cakes! Keep your pecka up we are all in this together!!
 
salted popcorn. You can have quite a large bowl of it, to nibble on, without it containing too many carbohydrates, and no sugary ones which would make your sugars shoot up quickly. It's fun to make, too!
 
I'm not sure flapjacks are a good idea, unless you know a recipe without syrup or sugar,Tazybird. I used to love flapjacks but their yummy chewy texture is created by the sugar content. If you know a sugar-free recipe, please can you share it with us, as I like baking and would be interested in the recipe.Thanks.
 
Found this one Chocie,no idea what it would be like !

Guesswork Flapjacks
-------------------

oats (about 250g will probably be about right, if you're interested)
margarine (about a third, maybe half, as much weight as oats)
two tablespoons or thereabouts of golden syrup or honey

Melt margarine (or butter, if you *insist*) in a pan, add golden syrup or
honey, mix it all together. Add oats, and mix until all the oats are well
covered with the runny stuff. The mixture shouldn't have any excess
liquid, it should be stickyish. Put it in a baking-tray-type-thing, and
bake for about 20 minutes or so -- till it looks and feels like flapjacks,
basically. Oh yes, oven temperature... Erm, about 180 C (350 F?), same as
everything else, I guess.

Sugar-free (and vegan) Guesswork Flapjacks
------------------------------

as above, but instead of tooth-rotting golden syrup or nasty non-vegan
honey, use Pear and Apple spread (available from all good health food
shops and probably supermarkets too -- it's made from fruit, fruit, and
more fruit, concentrated down to a brown gooey sticky treacly stuff). Also
add one pear (grated) to the mixture. Or an apple, but I haven't tried it
with an apple. The recipe I was sort of glancing at and ignoring most of
the time said you could use a banana (mashed) instead, but I wasn't keen
on that idea. When I tried this recipe, it seemed to need baking a lot
longer than flapjacks normally do, but that could just have been our oven.
The flapjacks come out not over-sweet but nice all the same, and quite
wodgy. Enjoy.

[I will re-post this recipe some time with amounts and times and
temperatures etc., in case anyone is panicking about the vagueness of this
one]
 
I bought a tub of that pear and apple spread last year, Sue but ended up dumping it. I found it SO sweet, even if using a tiny amount. I originally bought it for a carrot cake recipe I had in a diabetes cook book but as I say, I just found it so sickly and the high concentrate of fruit made me wonder about the high natural sugars it must contain.
I bought a bottle of date syrup at the same time,that still languishes in my cupboard somewhere, as I love dates and wondered if that could be used to make flapjacks but even that (as it's probably concentrated) probably has a really high natural sugar content. I've yet to find something to use it for but it seemed like a good idea to buy it at the time. :roll: Has anyone any ideas for using bottled date syrup?
 
Good to have you with us, TROUBR. We're a select few, we t1's, and it's great to share what little we know about our condition!

As for the snack issue, you are on the right track with the nuts and the ham in my view. That said, most t1's wont snack at all unless blood sugar needs a helpful shove up from a level that's too low. I don't think things like flapjacks and rice cakes will help you in the long run. They will push the blood sugars up for sure, but too high and too fast in my experience.

I find it's best to eat well at meal times so there's no need for snacks and blood sugars stay stable and normal throughout the day. Snacks that contain levels of carbohydrate sufficient to need extra insulin aren't what you're looking for,I think. Cheese is helpful sometimes since it can quell the appetite without knackerring the blood sugar.

All the best,

fergus
 
It sounds like you need something at about 4-5pm to keep you going.

Suggestions: celery and cream cheese, boiled eggs with mayonnaise and paprika, smoked salmon rolled up with cream cheese, a small tin of tuna, or sardines, apple and cheese. Another thing to try is a whey protein shake.

These are all lowish/very low in carbs so you may find you can get away without an insulin shot for some of them. You will probably have to bring this sort of thing as a mini packed lunch.

If I get home and want to work out but am starving I find the whey protein shake takes the hunger away without making me feel too bagged up to exercise.
 
Thanks for all your suggestions.

Fergus - my fellow t1, I am trying to avoid the snacking but partly through previous habit and partly because of the long gap between my lunch and evening meal I am feeling the need to have something around 5 but am trying to find solutions that keep me going without a) needing another needle (4 is hard enough to deal with having been preiously known as a needle phobe!) and b) gaining weight - hoping to keep off the 1.5 stone that my DKA provided me with! (I am trying to find the positives in this where evr I can, the other being that at 38 I have juevinile diabetes!!)

Thanks again!

Louise
 
Hi, Louise

Maybe you could try celery sticks which are extremely low in carbs on their own, but are also cunningly shaped to make them iseal scoops for humous or cream cheese. I also love macadamia nuts, which again are about as low in carbs as nuts get, much lower than peanuts or cashews, for example. Sainsbury's do them in 60g bags which adds up to a grand total of 2.8g carbs per bag.

All the best,

fergus
 
I try to resist snacking and as I'm retired, I have control od my scedules, except for the husband who still comes home from work and is type 1 who needs his carbs controlled.
However. have you tried avocado with Worcester sauce or tuna mayo as a sybstantial snack or light lunch. Have you a Lidl stoe near you . their continental meats make wondeful light meals and don't cost too much.Holland and Barrett sell a low carb crispbread, which you can use with cream cheese. Some other crispbreads would almost class as low carb
One of my favourites for light meals is: Sliced tomato with mozzarella cheese, pesto, basil and balsamic vinegar.
Bernstein says"nothing that comes in a cellophane packet". There are recipes in theBernstein book too, but I've yet to find an affordable source of Sa Vinci sugar-free syrups.
And watch out for hoey, which is packed with sugars and golden syrup which is actually just a sugar solution
Remember the less carbohydrate you eat, the less medicine you need and don't expect much help from NHS dieticians, unless you hit upon one who is diabetic. or a Rebel.
 
There I was this morning, enjoying my tennis in a very hard fought match. To maintain my energy I had a few apricots, then between 2nd & 3rd sets a cereal bar. (18.7 g carb.)

Towards the end of the third set, muscle pain began to set in. That now seems to be the first sign of high sugar. I checked BS after the match at 12.8.

Any recommendations for safe snacks for sporting energy? Without anything, my BS would have gone to about 5.
 
hello IanD,
You mention it being a very hard fought tennis match, are you aware of the effects competative stress has on blood sugar levels?
This article is aimed at type 1s, although I imagine there would be an effect on a type 2
considering the hormones involved.
http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/sports/UpWithExercise.htm

I know the article was for children with diabetes, but you are a big kid at heart, right? :wink:

regards,
timo.
 
Thanks, Timo.

I don't normally measure BS while playing, I just felt I needed something. The muscle in question is on my right thigh, & a tingle in that thigh caused me to go to the doc 10 years ago when I was diagnosed. That muscle reacted badly to simvastatin 2 years ago, so I stopped taking it. My fasting BS drifted up above 7 during March, and again the muscle pain recurred, so it seems to be the warning site.

I'm 69, T2, & still play hard & cover the court.
 
If you like nuts then almonds have the big advantage that despite containing quite a lot of fat they actually lower blood cholesterol levels. They aren't quite as low carbohydrate as macademia nuts, so you might have to be a bit careful if you are on a low carb diet - but in moderation they are pretty good for you. I find that a small handful of almonds is quite filling, and they taste really good too!
 
I found out yesterday that at the age of 23 i am a diabetic. I love to bake and was looking for recipes earlier that would be ok for me to eat and still be able to have fun baking. I found a few great recipes on the diabetes uk web page. There was one recipe in particular that caught my eye for bacon, rosemary and corn mini muffins. I tried baking them this afternoon and they came out lovely. they are morish so you have to be careful not to eat too many. lol.
This is the link for the muffins....http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Food_and_recipes/Recipes/Bacon-rosemary-and-corn-mini-muffins/?nt=1
They have some great dessert recipes too if you have a sweet tooth.
Hope this is helpfull and thank you all for the great snack ideas as i start my new lifestyle. :D
 
Hi Keeley and welcome to the forum. :D

Explore all the threads and you will find lots of helpful information. Ask whatever questions you need as there is usually someone on here who can help. 8)
 
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