Problem: BEFORE dx, we were a family of not too many processed snacks. Nothing in little serving bags. No chips or snack crackers. AFTER dx, as we were pushed into the turbulent waters, life became filled with anything pre-packed that was close to 15c. This ruffles my healthy eating feathers and I'm thinking about my son's long term habits and health.
Possible solution: Telling my son that now that we know how to swim, we're going to swim better. Limit pre-packed garbage to his backpack for school and for dance.
Limitations: 1) Vegetarians who eat eggs, milk, cheese, the rare tuna, but no meat, poultry, swine, gelatin. 2) Braces. 3) (stereotype alert!) 15 year old boys are lazy and don't want to chop up food for a snack.
Action: I've combed through the thread on Low-Carb snacks. I've come up with a list. It includes nuts, which he really isn't supposed to have (braces), but he eats anyway sometimes, but isn't a huge fan. I don't think the list is long enough. I like things like the 1/2 grapefruit (one chop with a knife he might can bring himself to) and plums. But I need more ideas. Dig deep. Is there something you overlooked before? I'm looking for not junk, but convenient. Sure, I'm willing to chop up an apple into thin-enough-for-braces slices and scoop out some natural peanut butter, but what 15 year old likes to go to mommy for a snack. I need a list to post on the frig and food ready in the kitchen that requires little effort on his part and doesn't add too much to my work load (early on I cut up cucumber and the like and had ready in the frig and it rotted---I cannot predict his food mood).
Results so far: here's the list I came up with from the low-carbs thread
Pickles Pistachios Walnuts Almonds Grapefruit half Cheese (years ago one of his best friends predict my sons's death at an early age from cheese oversumption---heart attack) Hard-boiled eggs Plums Grapes
Am I asking too much? C'mon, make this list longer!
I know what you mean. I have braces too and I don't really like to eat meat that much. I'll eat it. I'm pretty picky. I eat sugar-free jello, veggies, and I am having a blond moment and can't think of anything else!
Another one of my favorite snacks that I didn't think of until now is what I call a 'pinwheel'. It might require a few minutes of easy preparation, and probably a small bolus.
Take a small tortilla and spread cream cheese on it. Put some turkey or ham on top, and then some dill pickle relish. Then you just roll it up, slice into pieces, and enjoy. (=
I only takes a couple of minutes to make, it tastes good, and it's actually pretty filling.
Right now my daughter is on a string cheese kick. String cheese, the cheddar and mozz sticks, etc.
How about black sweet cherries? This also satisfies her sweet tooth, and they are about 1 carb a cherry.
Blueberries
Sugar free freezer pops (Wylers makes them and one pop is 1/2 a carb)
Fresh green beans. Raw, great for that crisp snack.
Sorry, I can't think of more, for some reason, when I try to think of them (even when doing my shopping list) I draw a blank. When I am at the store, I am fine, but just trying to think of them off the top of my head generally dosen't work.
Okay, here's another one. Whole grain crackers and hummus is a good snack. WASA rye crackers are really good, too.
I'm not sure if cream cheese and hummus taste good together, but you could always try the tortilla pinwheel thing with just cream cheese and hummus. Or cream cheese and some veggies. Putting the veggies on there would require some chopping, though, unless they're pre-chopped.
Sugar-free Jello, alone or with cottage cheese and a sprinkling of nuts
Make sugar-free lime Jello with part coconut milk -- For a
large package, dissolve the powder in a cup of boiling water, add a can
of coconut milk, and then add the rest of the water. Stir well.
Pepperoni "chips" -- Zap the slices in the microwave
gogurts- the sticks of yogurt that are prepackaged- only 13 carbs, but for my daughter they act like 7 carbs
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Try freezing the GoGurts. Really good that way, and if packed in a sack lunch for school, they thaw and are still good and cold by lunchtime!
For drinks for sack lunches I freeze Capri Suns. The Roaring Water ones are 9 carbs each. Plus, they act like an ice pack to keep the food cold till lunchtime.
My son likes to take a low-carb wrap (La Tortilla Factory has one with 10 carbs and 7 grams of fiber--also has 5 grams of protein), cover it in mozzarella cheese and pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds. He's a bit picky, but I think it would be good with a bit of sour cream and salsa.
I like the cottage cheese w/ pineapple, but it does have a few carbs.
I'm thinking of using the low-carb wrap idea myself ... my cooking habits are about as advanced as a teenage boy's. lol. Wrap dipped in ... hummus, spinach dip, or cheese. Yum!
I don't actual eat low-carb, but when I'm on the lower side (70's...), I'll eat a low-carb snack to avoid taking insulin. (:
I'd never consider grapes a low carb snack. Fruit = fruitose which is right under glucose as a fast acting sugar.
For me I only consider low carb snacks as free food or the 5 to 8 carbs the body uses to function (heart beat, breathing, etc) each hour. So grapes have more carbs than a slice of bread and wouldn't be a low carb snack.
Maybe I just need to go to bed because I'm feeling a little sensitive and jumped on. Maybe it's just ignorance on my part. I've had a lot to learn in three months. I wasn't looking for "no carb." And no one has ever used the terminology "free food" with us (I vaguely remember that from when my dad was dx t2 25 years ago.) So I still have more to learn.
Maybe I should have labeled this "snack food" if 0-8 carbs is the standard limit for the definition of low-carb. My son can have a 15-30 carb snack without insulin, and he often needs to because of his high activity level. I was apparently mistaken in applying the term "low carb," to what I was thinking of as "a snack that doesn't have enough carbs for my son to have to take insulin." Or maybe it's as Katie said---"for me." My son is an active, growing, 15 year old boy. I'm not sure if that makes a difference as to what is low carb "for him."
17 grapes or a cup or I don't remember how many ounces is 15 carbs. So if that allows for more suggestions people can make, go for it!
Sorry. Didn't mean to come across as jumping on you. Tact is not a part of my personality; I'm bluntly honest with stating my opinions.
Everybody manages their diabetes differently so common terms seem to mean different things for different people.
I'm on a sliding scale based on 30 carbs at breakfast, lunch & dinner plus 3 15 carb snacks between meals and after dinner. I also count carbs (although it is more a matter of habit now knowing how different foods effect me). So I adjust my scale depending on what my BS is and what I'm going to eat.
So when I hear low carb I think of snacks I would eat outside of my 3 meals and 3 snacks that I wouldn't have to take an additional injection for.
I think of grapes more as something I'd eat to raise a low.