What are your favorite diabetic snack foods?

[PrincessFiona60]

Parmesan Crisps. Just fried and cooled Parmesan.

Guacamole in romaine leaves.

Bacon Jerky.

 

[Addie]

That's because, basically, it IS candy. And not a good choice for keeping blood sugar under control.

Reading through some of the responses in this thread, I am truly surprised. Here are a few other examples that had me shaking my head:

• Plain Cheerios right out of the box.
• Triscuits
• Utz pretzel rods
• A small banana
• plain Rice Cakes

Do people not realize that from your body's perspective there is virtually no difference between sugar and starch? They all end up in your bloodstream as glucose. Any of the foods on this list is going to cause elevated blood glucose levels.

Steve, I brought my diabetes under control to the point that I no longer need medication or insulin. So with just a handful of the above foods, I am still able to keep my sugar down low. My A1c hovers around 6.2. Sometimes I get it under 6.0. That is when I do a happy dance.

 

[GotGarlic]

Steve, I brought my diabetes under control to the point that I no longer need medication or insulin. So with just a handful of the above foods, I am still able to keep my sugar down low. My A1c hovers around 6.2. Sometimes I get it under 6.0. That is when I do a happy dance.

That's because you don't eat, not because you eat the right foods.

 

[Addie]

That's because you don't eat, not because you eat the right foods.

One would think that is the reason. But the opposite is the truth. That is when my A1c goes up to 6.2 or higher.

 

[GotGarlic]

One would think that is the reason. But the opposite is the truth. That is when my A1c goes up to 6.2 or higher.

That makes no sense. Probably because your blood sugar is low.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I have several that are diabetic and when I entertain or bring something to their place, one of my mainstays in the house is a spread or dip.This can be used on veggies, gluten free crackers, meat, etc. Here is one of my staple snacks.
Get sweet potato and slice very thin, almost like a chip or cracker and either microwave or bake them with just a spritz of olive oil and pink Himalayan salt. Basic spread..In a bowl take regular or low fat cream cheese softened then add:diced or mined or grated Habanero peppers, Jalapeno, green onions, garlic, ground cumin, salt and mix or put all in a processor...unless you like the chunks of peppers To thin out the spread, you can use sour cream or yogurt, depending upon if you are making a spread or dip...Now spread or dip and you're good to go! Enjoy!

It wasn't too awful long ago that I was searching the glycemic load and index information on sweet potatoes and found something that changed my sweet potato eating habits. When boiled, or steamed until done, but not overdone, sweet potatoes are diabetic friendly, with low ratings on the glycemic index and load charts. However, if you bake, fry, grill, or microwave them. they are just below sugar on the glycemic scales. So, you need to be careful how they are prepared if you are going to avoid spiking your blood sugar.
chief Longwind of the North
Seeeeeeya;

 

[Kitchen Barbarian]

I have found that sometimes "Natural" has sugar or corn syrup in it. We have a PB plant that makes Teddie PB located a couple of towns over. On a hot summer day when they let the steam out, you can smell the peanuts roasting. They only make two kinds of PB. One with and one without salt. It is the only PB I will buy. The one with salt. I buy it by the bucket full. My family loves PB cookies.

Now THAT'S the kind of factory I wouldn't mind living near at all!

 

[Kitchen Barbarian]

I had some Korean style pork jerky I really liked that I got from Costco, but at $9 for 13 oz (ON SALE yet) I can't afford that much.

Trader Joe's Ginger "uncrystallized" ginger. It takes me about 15 to 20 mins to nibble a piece to death. LOVE the hot flavor.

Hard lemon candy. Lasts for practically ever. Just a couple helps satisfy the snacking urge - assuming you don't crunch them up right away (which I don't).

I was shocked to discover that sugar-free hard candy is almost ALWAYS actually higher in total carbs than the "normally" sweetened stuff - and if its not higher, its at least as high. Fortunately candy has never been high on my list of regularly eaten food items. For instance, it's been 2 or 3 months since there was any lemon candy in the house. Unlike my dad, who had a huge bowl of candy sitting right next to his recliner to the day he died (and no he did NOT die of diabetes, LOL!).

I'm still working things out. There are a lot of things I can have in moderation but I have memory problems that are intermittently much worse than at other times. I am just coming off a few weeks of a decline in cognitive functioning and during that time I was eating things and then forgetting I'd already had my "allotment" of spare carbs for the day. Needless to say that had negative consequences. So now I will only buy small amounts of the things that need to be moderated so I can't "forget" and overindulge. So for instance yesterday I got about 1/4c of honey roasted peanuts from the bulk bin at Winco and that'll be all of that in the house until its gone. Since I only go to Winco once or twice a month - pretty sure I'm safe on that front, LOL!

I am working on finding ways to add celeriac and jicama snacks to my repertoire. Celeriac is about 7 carbs per cup and jicama is about 9. Allegedly celeriac makes pretty good American-style chips and the jicama is a VERY low carb alternative for veggie fries. Other good choices are eggplant, tofu, and zucchini for veggie fries, tossed with herbs/salt/spices and air fried 'til they're crispy on the outside. We'll see.

 

[Deb555]

I discovered Wasa bread - hearty crackers, multi-grain is my favorite - 3 g fiber in each one. I spread some peanut butter on - we find whatever has the least amount of sugar and buy that.

Also, someone clued me in on using the dark process unsweetened cocoa powder to make a dark chocolate drink. She just melted the cocoa powder in water, added 10x sugar, but I use unsweetened almond milk and a substitute sweetener.

Almond milk has 30 cal and less than 1 g carb per 8 ounces. And even though I am a milk chocolate person, and not a dark chocolate fan, there's something about this and I love it.

I started using the dark cocoa for the flavanoids for arthritis pain. It does help. And it gives me a yummy treat for two problems. A co-worker suggested mixing it with the peanut butter, but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Deb555]

Steve, I brought my diabetes under control to the point that I no longer need medication or insulin. So with just a handful of the above foods, I am still able to keep my sugar down low. My A1c hovers around 6.2. Sometimes I get it under 6.0. That is when I do a happy dance.

Not sure where this discussion went to, but I can say that last fall I discovered that fasting actually raises blood sugar. You need some carbs in order to "trigger" your pancreas.

There's lots and lots of research and evidence about this, and if you don't want to do the research, try not eating for a few days. Not trying to be snarky - different things work for different people, and I have proved that for me, at least, it's absolutely true.

Not only that, but I have also found that too few carbs allows the protein I eat to convert to sugar. I was flabbergasted to find that out! Now, if I eat broiled meat, and veggies, I also add a starch, and my sugar stays lower than if I skip the starch. It still astonishes me to even say it.

Chief Longwind, I am going to try boiling a sweet potato. We have found we can't eat them or our sugar goes sky-high. OK, maybe 20 points higher, but still. But I always bake them. Maybe steam or water leaches out something from them? I just figured they were one of the foods that are supposed to be lower on the GI, but just weren't for us. Thank you for an option to try.

 

[jawnn]

wow there is so much good stuff on here, I was thinking about this last night, I desperatly need a good snak food. thanks.

 

[blissful]

What if doctors that specialize in nutrition, that read studies, that run studies, interpret studies for your benefit and tell you that fat causes insulin resistance? Then what will your snacks be? https://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-causes-insulin-resistance/ It's not new information. There are 110 videos on diabetes, all based on studies. The media is selling the ketogenic diet. The high fat in the keto diet also causes cardiovacular disease, high blood pressure, and ED. It's probably not what you wanted to hear.

 

[jawnn]

no fat no carbs only vegitibles?

Last year my knees' arthritis got so bad I could not longer ride my bicycle. So the lack of exercise helped my diabetes get so bad I am taking experimental meds like Truelicity. In small doses, because large amounts makes me feel nausea. I don't want to take insulin because I think it just makes the diabetes worse over time. So I was glad to find a link to this in e-mail.

I need to fix my oven so I can cook coconut-flour muffins or crackers [Seems like the potato chip entrepreneurs would start making these]. I got some Ryevita crackers total carbs per 2 slices 12g minus 4g fiber= 8 countable carbs....seems like a lot to me. I don't know what coconut-flax seed would be, but it must be less carbs and more fiber.

I ferment foods like Kimchi but they are more of a side dish. You can google my instructable by the name of “How to cook without recipes”. But I worry about coconut flour and possible residue from removing the fat. Maybe I need to find pure organic with the oil still in it.

Refined stevia works fine for me, but the doctors tell me not to use it because they think it stimulates bad bacteria growth in the gut. All the more reason to eat live bacterial foods like KimChi and Sauerkraut. Some where I saw yogurt made with almond milk, so you can avoid the sugars in cow-milk yogurt. See my “Instructable” about fermenting foods [google “How to cook food without recipe's” at Instructables .com.]

Peanut butter? When you buy it, drain off the peanut oil and replace it with flax seed oil. Bread should not be eaten unless it is pure sourdough rye [with caraway] very difficult to make it and harder to chew.

Very few people know that Wheat, Maze and Rice enslaved the human race by offering us more carbohydrates; all we had to do was selective breading over thousands of years and now we are killing our self's with them by refining them even further with machines. So I eat Buckwheat, a more primitive plant so it is strong in nutrition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_buckwheat_dishes

Snack foods for diabetics that don't want to count carbs

• Coconut flour crackers [baked] (If there is enough fiber, it somehow balances out the carbohydrates)
  
• Marmite on sprouted wheat toast or crackers with olive oil.
• Raw garlic [pressed] with olive oil and nutritional yeast flakes.
• Fresh ground horse radish on crackers are intensely nice. Clears out my sinus' also.
  
• Home made Kim Chi on coconut crackers....
• Tempeh steam-fried [about ten minutes] with Umiboshi brine or Shoyu [soy sauce] and lime juice, and possibly Caraway seed. But Garlic, Ginger and Soy sauce are the best.
  
• Edamame with yeast flakes and sesame Gomasio.
• Almond milk sour-yogurt cream-cheese with chives. [drain the whey out of yogurt]
  
• Chia seeds turns almond milk into chocolate or vanilla mousse without cooking or freezing. Refined stevia has no bitter taste.
  
• Jicama [best snack], dip raw sliced chips in Gomasio or sour [yogurt] cream cheese. Celery, and Carrots works for this also.
  
• Dehydrated vegy slices? With oil and salt. Don't fry them!
• Tofu baked with Shoyu [wheat free soy-sauce] and a little Balsamic vinegar.

 

[jawnn]

How much fiber can you eat?

how much fiber can you eat?

https://dtc.ucsf.edu/living-with-diabetes/diet-and-nutrition/understanding-carbohydrates/counting-carbohydrates/learning-to-read-labels/understanding-fiber/


Coconut flour crackers
1 cup coconut flour [soaks up a lot of liquid so don't rely on measurements; add liquid to dry then stir and find out for your self how much it takes to make a batter]
2-3 eggs or tapioca starch [think about it]
¼ c ground flax seed or psyllium seed husk [for more fiber]
3-4 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil [add liquid oils last to a dry-ish batter after the other liquid has been absorbed]
Bake at 400 degrees F. [204c] 10 minutes?

 

[blissful]

how much fiber can you eat?

25-30 grams of fiber is recommended. 97% of the US population doesn't get the recommended amount.
You brought up overly process flours, refining them, and how it is killing us. That is very true. The food industry has done the same thing with fats, refining animal meats/grains/seeds/nuts to remove the nutrients, fiber, carbs, leaving us only with refined fats, those are killing us too. Saturated fats do damage to the cells producing insulin and the insulin receptors, causing insulin resistance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nujyif7MkMA
I haven't cooked with refined oil now for coming up on a year. Coconut oil has saturated fat, I dropped it.
Jawn, you have a lot of good ideas for snacks, you go! With your list everything looks good except for the added oils.
When the media talks about carbs, they are giving the impression that carbs are all complex carbs and all overly refined carbs, have the same effects, but they don't. When nutritionists talk about healthy carbs, they mean complex carbs, such as whole grains, sprouted cooked grains, vegetables, seeds, nuts. When the media talks about protein, the masses think that means meat/dairy, but the truth is that plant foods have quality proteins.
A diet with only plant food will give you more than enough protein without the baggage of disease producing effects of animal foods. The Standard American Diet (SAD) has the % of calories as 35%fats/15%protein/50%carbs. This is why diabetes, and cardiovascular disease kill more than half the population.
A healthier diet than SAD, is less fat, equal protein, increased carbs and fiber. Just the opposite of what the media is selling. The media is selling keto. The media has never been interested in your long term health, they are interested in selling headlines.
Yesterday I ate 46.4 g of fiber which included fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, nuts (flax seed ground 1 T). I NEVER felt better except maybe when I was 20.
Between walking and eating plant foods, I've lost 21 lbs. DH started just eating plant foods 5 weeks ago, he lost 12 lbs. His activity level has remained the same, activities (no formal exercise) outside for 2-7 hours per day. </br>
I was prediabetic, but now it's gone. I eat % of calories of 10-15% fats/15% protein/70-75%carbs. All from plant food. I didn't count the fat/carbs/proteins/micronutrients until 3 days ago because I didn't really need to count. I just wanted to confirm what I know to be true. And B12 and vitamin D are the only two nutrients needed beyond what food can provide, that includes people on an omnivore diet.

 

[GotGarlic]

Hey, bliss, great to see you! [emoji16] You've become quite the vegan evangelist! Glad you like your new diet. In my opinion, though, any diet that doesn't include essential nutrients is, by definition, not the best. Of course, eliminating entire food groups will lead to weight loss. Most people can't sustain it for long.

There are a whole lot of options between a diet of mostly highly processed foods and plants-only. Since humans are carnivores, and a vegan diet requires a lot of knowledge and planning, most people find it doesn't work for them.

I guess this means you've discontinued your cheese-making hobby. Have you sold your equipment?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Moderated, Off Topic, Rude and nasty, go find another sandbox to play in if you can't be nice.

 

[Addie]

Moderated, Off Topic, Rude and nasty, go find another sandbox to play in if you can't be nice.

Thank you very much.

 

[jawnn]

If every one agrees that we need to eat much more fiber and get plenty of bacteria {I hope KimChi has B12}
I need a book on this non-fad diet, I can't deal with fads, I don't even eat much kimchi. But chocolate is one the top; of the food pyramid, right? Unfortunately it has sugar in it. And it has been proven that it will kill you.

Does KimChi have essentials beyond the bacteria? I have a friend that was eating only once a day and she ate a lot of my Kimchi...that's why I have become so good at making it. It doesn't stink much but there is a lot natural vinegar in it. Organic seaweed and hot pepper powder. No added salt [except the seaweed]

I am going to look for a book called the “The simple homemade High-fiber roughage cook book” simple healthy food for real food fanatics.

Is this any kind of saturated fat? “Saturated fats do damage to the cells producing insulin and the insulin receptors, causing insulin resistance”. Or is the one no one talks about: hydrogenated sat fat? Odd that the medical industry still does not make a distinction between the two. Or is it “triglycerides” that are the cause???? you will hear about that when they develop drugs to remove triglycerides. Or is it a lack of Omega3 fatty acids??? Meantime I have to make my doctors happy and take Staten's that I do not trust. I have two stints in my attires.
Chocolate Chia pudding is the best for fiber; Chia Seeds (34.4% fiber) and Dark Chocolate (10.9%).

Put this and photo on the food instructable.

Search:
The simple homemade High-fiber roughage cook book
cloth lined vinyl rain jacket 3xl

Cold chia pudding
This is essential food for every day. Use hot nut milk or cow juice if you're insane; chill in refridge: eat at least one cup every day. ¼ cup chia seeds; refined stevia does not have a bitter taste and will not make your blood glucose shoot up your brain. Fresh mint leaves are very nice.
Chocolate Chia pudding is the best for fiber; Chia Seeds (34.4% fiber) and Dark Chocolate (10.9%).

 

[GotGarlic]

If every one agrees that we need to eat much more fiber and get plenty of bacteria {I hope KimChi has B12}

B12 is not a bacteria, so there is none in kimchee.

I need a book on this non-fad diet, I can't deal with fads, I don't even eat much kimchi. But chocolate is one the top; of the food pyramid, right? Unfortunately it has sugar in it. And it has been proven that it will kill you.

A reasonable amount of chocolate will not kill you. Neither will sugar, as long as you don't overdo it.

Does KimChi have essentials beyond the bacteria? I have a friend that was eating only once a day and she ate a lot of my Kimchi...that's why I have become so good at making it. It doesn't stink much but there is a lot natural vinegar in it. Organic seaweed and hot pepper powder. No added salt [except the seaweed]

It has fiber. I don't know what happens to the vitamins and minerals the vegetables had before being fermented. Fermenting is primarily a preservation method, not a way to maximize nutrition.