hi. i just got diagnosed with type 1 about two days ago and i’ve been extremely hungry. i’m still trying to figure out what has lots of carbs vs protein and i’m wondering what your favorite things to snack on are that are tasty and won’t dramatically influence my blood sugar. thanks!
Hi! Meats, cheeses, and nuts are typically good low-carb options. Things like almonds are great because they’re easy to take with you wherever you go. If I’m at home sometimes I’ll have a piece of fish for a snack or make a really basic quesadilla on a small tortilla.
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Hi Nan @nem2wb
welcome to our “almost exclusive” T1D Club - there are only a few million of us worldwide. And I hate having to welcome you because I suspect you really didn’t want to qualify [diagnosed T1D]. I joined T1D over sixty years ago. 
There really isn’t such a thing as a “free” food other than a celery stick or a leaf of iceberg lettuce. As was already said, almonds are an excellent food, lots of good stuff in them, but like everything else you shouldn’t just sit down and eat and eat - everything should be done in moderation. I usually eat snacks because I need or want carbs - I’ve maintained a BMI of about 20 my whole 76 years yet I stay very active, eat more than 220 grams of carbohydrates most days and keep my Hb A1c below 6.5.
My suggestions to you? Enjoy life, be active and productive and manage your diabetes to enable you to do and live the way you want - it can be done. Keep in mind that everything will affect your blood sugar - what you eat, what you do, what you don’t do; and yes, emotions and stress.
Best wishes for you, please stay in touch and let us share in your success, your misses and your progress.
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hi @nem2wb,
good advice above - so I’ll just add that the “Calorie King” has a great database of food with the fat and carb contents. imo, get a copy it’ll really help until you get a sense of carbs in different foods.
also - hope you have access to medical help such as a CDE. A Certified Diabetes Educator can help you put together a plan that works for you, and can be a great resource for help for the first year.
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this is truly so helpful, thank you for your help, advice, and support. i already feel so incredibly grateful to already have such a strong community of t1d immediately after the diagnosis. advice like this makes it all so much less scary. again, thanks and take care!
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The main thing to do is to have protein if you have carbs. My son loves peanut butter and flavored almonds. Apples and PB are great too. Even if you eat ice cream, try to eat some protein with it. Protein burns slower than carbs, so it will keep you from spiking. It is more about balance and moderation than avoiding or excluding. The main thing to exclude is concentrated sweets (candy, juices, non-diet sodas). They rapidly increase your sugars. I also suggest that even if you are low and need to eat carbs to raise it, that you follow that with some protein to stabilize it.
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All fabulous input T1s. Stay away from enriched wheat flours that prompt hikes. Includes, Cereals; Pastas; Breads at large; Pizza. Enriched wheat flour puts belly fat on you. See you tube: ‘Wheat Belly’, it is fact. Off enriched wheat flour now 2 years and lost 25#s w excellent A1Cs. 55 yrs w T1.
Never spike when eating just proteins and fats. Keep carbs to a minimum unless exercising.
Clauson Pickle Wedges…The kind in the refrigerator secton.
They are VERY low carb, and most diabetics dont even see a rise from them.
They are cold, yummy, and while not ice cream, they will do.
4 or 5 frozen grapes don’t have too big a carb load, but are perhaps better than ice cream, Keep a ziplock full in the freezer. A little less than one carb per grape.
Learn to enjoy desserts as they were originally intended. Not a bag full of cookies, just one or two small ones, eat slower. Mother’s mini-oatmeal cookies, 2 for 10 carbs.
Also look for some fun stuff you can “indulge” yourself with when you are about to have a low.
This means like fun packs of M&M peanut, or a Fun Size Snicker bar. 10 Carbs each. Will head off an impending low and has some protein in the nut part, and some fat to make it absorb a little slower.
Jelly beans at 2-2.5 carbs each, but Jelly Belly jelly beans only 1 carb each. Count how many carbs you need to thwart that low, and eat em slow to plane out, or faster if you are already low.
Then there is skittles, they travel well and don’t melt.
These little tricks help you enjoy life a bit (Better than a glucose tablet!)
I was a bit overweight so I switched to 7 inch plates for meals, instead of the standard 9-10 inch dinner plates.
Lower carbs and calories.
Hope you can use some of these ideas.
Jerry
Hungry? Sure maybe you’re brain just thinks that you need food. I learned a LONG time ago that whenever my INSULIN level was low I’d want to eat. Sure, lots of luck since there is no way to determine what your insulin level really is. But I found that if I were to take just a tiny bit of regular (quick acting) insulin that irresistible urge to eat would disappear in about fifteen or twenty minutes.
Good luck figuring out just how YOU respond to all the things in your “new” life. Gosh, that’s just one of the fun things in ANYONE’S life.
I’m not a doctor and I’ve never even played one on TV, but I have been injecting other animal’s insulin into my body for over fifty years and I’m STILL learning stuff about myself and how I “work”.
I almost forgot to mention … when my brain insisted that I actually had to chew on something I found that raw carrots were great.
Try sugar free chocolate pudding with some natural peanut butter it’s really good
We carry Justin Pbutter packets, dehyrdated apples,applesauce, and nutter butters everywhere we go. I also premeasure things out and put a stickers so I know exact carb counts.
Cheese, deli meats, carrots, celery, lettuce, pickles, green beans (canned or fresh), avocado, olives, most salad dressings in small amounts, sugar-free jello, nuts, berries and fruits (measure for carb counts), nut butters, hummus. Read the label for carbs and measure. Eggs, beef, chicken, fish, pork, bacon, sausage, and hot dogs. Most of this is no carb or low carb. Also watch the fat content. Get the food scale “Perfect Portions”, it weighs food but also counts the carbs in a lot of common foods such as fruit, veggies, etc by entering a food code.
My go-to snack is apples and almond butter (fresh) or apples and cheese sticks. Hard boiled eggs will tide me over, nut mixes with small amounts of dried fruit. There is plenty out there that is fairly low carb. I try to stay away from stuff that tastes “sweet”. My family (kindly) tries to make sugar free desserts. They don’t understand that it’s still high carb, and the sweet taste just makes me want more. Dial down your “sweet tooth”, it’s much easier in the long run.
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