To snack or not to snack...

linda321 said:

I used to snack a lot, but have weaned myself off them. I always enjoyed a (low fat) choc bar mid morning, but keep them for hypos now! On my DAFNE course we were told we could have up to 25g of carbs without the need for bolus as the basal would take care of it. Now I have my libre, I know this doesn't work for me. I had a small snack yesterday afternoon as I was 4.3 before driving, and spiked to 14, even though I was walking round the shops!

I weaned myself off snacks just because I don't want to have spikes. If I can do it anyone can!!

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Your DAFNE course leader got that badly wrong @linda321, basal insulin is meant to keep your bg levels stable in the absence of food, if you need a 25g snack to keep your bg levels up then this would mean your basal dose needs adjusting.

Using twice daily insulin, I always eat a small snack mid morning and mid afternoon but my main meals were not that large and I balanced out the effects of the insulin controlling my bg ok by eating the little and often way or sugar surfing with food the easy way.

With basal/bolus, there is no way of knowing how high or low a bg has gone unless a blood test is done or use cgm or Libre. If my bg is less than 8mmol at the 2hr post meal mark, I will eat a snack but also look at the time to work out how much IOB is left from a meal bolus and then see how much carb I need to eat to use up that IOB. If I eat more than the IOB reveals, then I will bolus for the remaining carb. This website explains IOB
http://static.diabetesselfmanagement.com/pdfs/pdf_2253.pdf. Another good app to download is PredictBGL which will tell how much carb needs to be eaten to use up IOB and keep bg within the targets required so this should help to stop insulin stacking

FWIW I asked the DAFNE people on Twitter. DAFNE info is that you can eat less than 10g of carbs without bolusing and park it till the next meal, however, having not been on the course, I can't imagine this means eating three snacks between two meals of 9g of carbs and then parking the bolus increase till the next meal.

tim2000s said:

FWIW I asked the DAFNE people on Twitter. DAFNE info is that you can eat less than 10g of carbs without bolusing and park it till the next meal, however, having not been on the course, I can't imagine this means eating three snacks between two meals of 9g of carbs and then parking the bolus increase till the next meal.

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It depends on the acting time of most bolus insulins.......4-5hrs for most of them and, not everyone wants to fast and basal rate test so it probably is safer in the long run to eat a small snack of about 5-9g carb and allow for the remaining IOB? (many wont know unless they have been given some guidance) together with the action of the basal, to sort out bg levels and probably just do a correction if need be at the next main meal. That way, hypos should be less.

LucySW said:

Samantha, if you could wean yourself off snacking, your control would improve, because you'd become more insulin sensitive. Have a read/listen to Jason Fung. He's mainly targeting Type 2s, but his point is relevant to Type 1s too.

I think the old advice to snack is not good.

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I'm not sure she was following advice but merely enjoying snacks like 99% of the population? No need to refrain from snacks if you can cover appropriately with insulin, imo.