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Diabetes Diet Snacks

People with diabetes should not indulge themselves too much on snacks. However, sometimes snacking is necessary for keeping your blood sugar up between meals. The trick is to snack smartly. Some diabetes-friendly snacks can satisfy your sweet and salty cravings without jeopardizing your blood sugar levels or weight control.

  1. Make Fruits More Interesting

    • Load up your shopping cart with berries, apples, cantaloupes and oranges. These fruits are not only rich in vitamins but also loaded with soluble fiber, which helps decelerate the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. And despite their sweetness, they actually don't contain much sugar. If you don't want to eat them plain and boring, invent a delicious fruit snack of your own. For example, chop them up and put them in a cup of nonfat plain yogurt. Or you can make your own fruit salsa by mixing them with red onion, bell pepper, jalapeno pepper and some lime juice.

    Bars and Sticks

    • Low-fat granola bars and mozzarella sticks are also diabetes-friendly. One oz. of low-fat mozzarella sticks contain only about 70 calories and less than 1 g of carbohydrates. Therefore, they are a pretty good snack choice for diabetics. Just make sure you don't indulge yourself with too many sticks at a time. Granola bars are also moderate in carbs and quite hunger-curbing. Try to look for a brand that contains at least 5 g of fiber and no more than 150 calories per bar.

    Nuts

    • Nuts contain a lot of protein and healthy monounsaturated fats that can help lower cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. Although they are pretty high in calories, we don't usually see people become overweight from eating too many nuts. But to be safe, limit your intake to about a handful of nuts a day. Almonds in particular are not too high in calories and loaded with vitamin E that can help prevent diabetes complications such as kidney damage, eye problems and neuropathy. In addition, try to buy nuts with no added salt to avoid sodium. High blood pressure is one of the most common diabetes-related health problems. A low-sodium diet is key to good blood pressure control.

    Baked vs. Fried Chips

    • Say goodbye to those greasy fried potato chips, and opt for the baked variety instead. One serving of regular potato chips contains about 150 calories and 10 g of fat, while the same serving of baked potato chips has only about 110 calories and 1.5 g of fat. Keep in mind that just because they are low-fat does not mean you can allow yourself to eat more. Eat no more than the amount you would eat if they were fried.

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