Diabetes Management And SnackingYou CAN work snacking into your diabetes management plan. Here is how to snack the RIGHT way... Snacking is an important part of a diabetes management plan. Snacking isn't just something you do when the urge hits you, or when you feel you can't wait until dinner is served. Snacks should be a normal part of planning your meals. Snacks have to be included in any food totals you calculate for each day. Type I and Type II diabetics using medication (insulin, orals) to help control diabetes might have to eat a snack before bedtime in order to guard against having a hypoglycemic reaction (insulin reaction) during the night. Snacks are also used throughout the day to guard against overeating. Make your snacks fit your way of eating. If you're a light eater you might want to choose something that gives you all of your allotted calories in a small amount of food. If you feel you'd like to eat more, you might want to choose a mixture of low-calorie foods that add up to your allotted calories. It's up to you. Here's an example of what you could choose: 1 full can of soup 150 calories OR 12 Low-fat pretzels...... 122 calories OR 1/2 cup of low-fat ice cream...110 As you can see choosing snacks doesn't have to mean eating bland foods. You don't have to buy extra food to have appropriate snacks. The foods you use for snacks don't have to be special foods that only
come out of the cupboard when you want something to eat between meals. Snacks can be anything that you want to eat, as long as it fits into
your meal plan. If you have 200 calories set aside for a snack , and you're on a low-fat diet you can If you would like to have special snack foods in your cupboard start looking for foods that appeal to you and fit into your meal plan. When you're in the supermarket try to find foods that give you a fair amount to eat for 150 calories or less. This way you can mix and match (if you have more than 150 calories allotted for your snacks) As you can see, your choice of snacks can be as varied as your imagination and food budget will allow. You can mix and match foods as long as you take the time to know their nutritional values and are careful about portion control. When you're deciding what to eat for the day include any snacks you plan on having. If you're on a 1500 calorie meal plan and your breakfast, lunch and dinner add up to 1470 calories, you only have 30 calories left for snacks. If you're used to eating a mid-morning and bed-time snack this only leaves 30 calories for BOTH of them. You might want to re-do your meal plan so youcan have more calories available for your snacks.
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