If you have type-2 diabetes, eating right is very important to help manage the disease. But this doesn’t mean that you also need to stop eating snacks. Even snacking between meals or before bed is often recommended when you take insulin treatment. Just make sure that your choice is healthy and has least effect on blood sugar.
Eating snack with diabetes
It’s very important for diabetics to manage their blood sugar as well. As long as they can keep it normal, there is nothing to worry. On the other hand, poorly-controlled high blood sugar is to blame for the diabetic complications to occur!
Diabetes can be dangerous when it has caused its complications which some are life-threatening. The complications include cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, neuropathy (nerve damage), eye problems (blindness in worst scenario), kidney disease, and diabetic ketoacidosis.
If you have diabetes, your diet is the core of treatment plan to cope with the disease. What you eat can affect your blood sugar. Therefore, eating right is important step for managing the disease. How about snacks?
When it comes to snacking, what most people think are usually foods high in fats, carbohydrates, calories, or even sugars. But there lots of other options which some are healthy and safe for your blood sugar.
Eating snack is not off-limits if you’re a diabetic. Even there a number of benefits from eating snack for diabetics. If it is healthy or part of your meal plan made by your dietitian, it does help manage your blood sugar as well as avoid binge at mealtime.
For many people with diabetes, snacks do help manage the disease and curb their hunger. There are lots of healthy snacks to choose from. But for diabetes, just remember the following key points:
- First, you need to know which a ‘good and safe’ snack for your diabetes!
- The kind of food you eat matters, but don’t forget about the portion size especially for carbohydrate! Carbohydrate, fat, and even protein have an effect on blood sugar. But carbohydrate impacts your blood sugar the most.
- Fit everything (including your snacks) into your daily calorie budget! Even healthy snack such as fruit and veggies contain calories. So eat everything in balance to keep your weight off and prevent obesity.
- However sometimes, it’s not easy to fit snacks in your meal plan especially if you take insulin. For such case, check with your diabetes educator or doctor for assistance!
In general, snacks with low carbohydrate (about 10-30 grams of carbohydrate) and don’t not contain many calories are the best choice for diabetics. You should also love ones loaded with essential nutrients such as fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals!
Should diabetics include snack in their diet?
Snacking can be a part of diabetic treatment plan, especially for diabetics who take insulin treatment. It can help reduce the risk of hypoglycemia (too low blood sugar) when you’re on insulin. It is often recommended for people with type-1 diabetes. But sometimes people with type 2 diabetes need it, too
As well we know that type-1diabetes is insulin dependent. This means, patients usually need to take daily injection of insulin to control the disease. Type 1 is usually associated with the abnormality of immune system that mistakenly attacks and destroys islet cells (insulin-producing cells) of pancreas. This can significantly affect the ability of the body in making insulin. Even pancreas may not be able to make insulin at all.
Type-2 diabetes is more likely to be associated with lifestyle factors (such as poor diet, lack of physical activity, and obesity), though it also runs in families. In this kind of diabetes, pancreas is still able to make some insulin but it doesn’t meet to the body needs –or– there is adequate insulin released by pancreas, but the body cannot use it effectively (insulin resistance).
Snacking for people with type-2 diabetes is optional choice. They don’t always need to include it in their diet. However sometimes it can be recommended when they take diabetic medication (such as insulin) that can lead to hypoglycemia. Although type-2 is usually not insulin dependent, but sometimes insulin treatment is required.
But like anyone else – snaking can help control blood sugar and curb hunger (even though if you don’t have diabetes) as long as it’s part of your balanced, healthy diet. In general, it’s worth a try for everyone.
What is the best time to eat snack with diabetes? This can vary from diabetic to diabetic. While some need to have it between meals or before bedtime, others may need to split it throughout the day.
And when you’re so hungry in the afternoon, you don’t want to start grabbing anything, do you? That’s why afternoon snacking is also a good idea. Some diabetics find that it is helpful to curb their hunger once they’re home.
For more advice of whether you need to snack at certain times, talk with your healthcare provider! But in general, it’s dependent on the following factors:
- The treatment plan that you follow.
- Your low blood sugar pattern.
- The expected level of your physical activity.
- And your lifestyle.
Type 2 diabetes snack before bed
Diabetic blood sugar level is very easy to fluctuate. People with diabetes are not only easier to have a spike in blood sugar, but also a significant decrease in blood sugar!
Not eating enough food at night is problematic, too. This can cause lack of fuel in the body that stimulates the liver to release more glucose into the bloodstream by converting glycogen, causing a high blood sugar in the morning. Here is why some diabetics may need to eat snack before their bedtime, again particularly true if they take insulin.
There are many healthy snack options to choose from, even though if you have diabetes. If you’re advised to have bedtime snacks, try the following tips and suggestions which are not only healthy but also tasty!
