Snacking With Diabetes: Living with diabetes isn’t always easy, but there are a number of diabetes diets which can help you to maintain your blood insulin levels and keep your blood sugar under control. The problem with these diabetes diets is that many of them fail to incorporate snacking in any way, and many diabetics who had grown up accustomed to having the occasional snack have to learn rather quickly how to adjust their life and diet to completely ignore their snack cravings. It doesn’t have to be this way, however; snacking can still be a part of the diabetic’s healthy lifestyle, and for those who incorporate regular exercise into their diabetes regulation it can even help to prevent dangerous blood sugar lows that can occur after exercise.
The key to snacking with diabetes is moderation and portion control. Make sure that you don’t snack too often or in too large of amounts and most snacks aren’t going to cause problems with your blood sugar. The manner by which you choose your snacks should be consistent with how you choose other foods that you eat, so if you know that a snack food will potentially cause problems then it should be avoided. Provided you don’t go overboard with your portions, however, a number of favorite snacks can still be had at least from time to time even when living with diabetes.
Snacks high in sugar should obviously still be avoided, just as you would any high-sugar food that could cause problems with your blood sugar. Many popular snacks now come in a reduced-sugar or no-sugar alternative version as well, so even some of your favorite sweet snacks can still be enjoyed without guilt or worry. A number of healthy alternative snacks can still be enjoyed as well, since they have a significantly lower sugar content and can provide vitamins and minerals which will help you to regulate your diabetes as well.
If you are prone to fluctuations in blood sugar during certain parts of the day, snacks might actually help you to keep your diabetes under control. Try to remember to have a small snack during any part of the day when your blood sugar usually drops, monitoring your blood sugar closely when you first add a snack to your regular diabetes diet regimen. It’s important that you keep an eye on your blood sugar for at least the first few weeks, since this will let you know how much of an increase you have from the snacks that you eat and whether or not your portions should be lowered or increased. Even after the first few weeks you should still check your blood sugar after eating snacks from time to time, to make sure that your blood sugar remains within an acceptable range.
As with all aspects of your diet and your diabetes management, make sure that you discuss the possible benefits of adding snacks to your diet schedule with your doctor. Not only will they be able to help you determine proper snack portions and the types of snack foods that will be best for you, but they will also likely be able to suggest good times of the day for you to have your snacks. They may even be able to advise you of specific exercises or other activities that you can add to your daily routine if you were wanting to add both snacks and exercise in an effort to better control your diabetes.