5 tips for smart snacking with diabetes

Tips for smart snacking with diabetes

Find yourself overindulging on snack foods when cravings hit? Don’t let this habit derail your diabetes meal plan.

Selecting healthy diabetes-friendly snacks can help optimize your blood glucose control, support your overall diabetes diet, provide you with a boost of energy, and help keep your fuller longer. The number of snacks you eat and when you eat them depends on your diabetes management and meal plan needs. Here are 5 tips for smart snacking that you may find helpful.
 

1. Know how carbs affect you

Smart snacking begins with understanding how your body reacts to insulin and carbohydrates. It’s important to be aware of the type and amount of carbohydrates you’re eating to avoid potentially dangerous spikes or drops in blood glucose. Carbs that may cause a larger spike in blood glucose than other carbs include high glycemic-index foods such as regular soda, candy bars, and white-flour pasta and bread.¹ 

Don’t forget to count the amount of carbohydrates in your snack in your overall meal plan and bolus accordingly.

2. Plan ahead

Resist the urge to run to the nearest vending machine or stop at the nearest fast food place. Prevent hunger strikes by preparing a healthy snack to carry with you at work, in the car, in your purse, or in your bag. Not only will preparing these diabetes-friendly snacks help manage your glucose levels, but it’ll also do good for your wallet and waistline. 

If easy-to-find snacks are too hard to resist, make them less readily available. Stock up on healthy options, such as raw almonds, hard-boiled eggs, and blueberries, keep raw cut vegetables in your fridge (you’re more likely to grab them if they’re ready to eat; try them with a low-fat dip on the side), and avoid buying snacks that are high in calories, sodium, and fat, such as chips and cookies.
 
If there’s always food around at work, prevent mindless snacking by taking a break elsewhere or eating your prepared healthy snack.

3. Choose diabetes-friendly snacks

Look for snacks that help you achieve your targeted daily calorie and carbohydrate goals while meeting your personal taste preferences. Unless you’re experiencing a low blood sugar, healthy snacks should include a combination of protein and carbs, such as an apple with peanut butter, low-fat cottage cheese, or whole-grain crackers with low-fat cheese — these won’t cause spikes in your blood sugar and will keep you full longer. An apple or orange, three cups of popcorn, a hard-boiled egg, or 15 almonds are just a few examples of some great snack options.
 

4. Portion control for smart snacking

Portion control is key, and without it, those light bites may end up having as many carbs as a meal, wreaking havoc on your blood sugar and contributing to weight gain. 

Prepackaged individual-sized snacks can help you keep portions in check, and if you purchase foods in bulk, use measuring cups and spoons to measure individual-sized portions into baggies. Be sure to check labels on prepackaged foods, as some bags may contain more than one serving size, and low-fat or fat-free foods may contain added sugar and salt to make up for flavor.
 

5. Snack mindfully

Think before you eat. 

Are you actually hungry, or are you bored? Munching mindlessly out of boredom or in front of the TV is a sure way to gain unnecessary weight and interrupt your meal plan and diabetes management goals. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t ever eat your favorite snacks in front of the TV. Just be sure to choose a healthy diabetes-friendly snack option that’s an individual serving size. 

What tips do you have for smart snacking? We’d love for you to share them with us in the comments below!

References:
1.    Diabetes Meal planning. (2024, May 15). Diabetes. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/healthy-eating/diabetes-meal-planning.html

[Originally published 2014-11-10. Updated 2024-07-23]