Hi Everyone--
My CDE said that a typical bedtime snack should be high in protein and about 1 carb choice. I typically have a piece of toast with pb. I am worried about the high fat, even though pb is considered to be a "good fat". What are you all eating for your bedtime snack?
Kelly
I used to eat graham crackers every night before bed when I was on shots, but now that I'm on the pump I don't eat something unless my bs is under 110. I have a container of crazy core skittles next to my bed so I just eat a couple of those if my bs is a little lower than I would like.
eating before you go to bed does not make you gain weight. so no worries about the PB before you sleep. it's actually a pretty good snack.
It's funny, but since going on a CGM, I've realized I don't need a bedtime snack. (I'm on Lantus, but I'd imagine it's similar on a pump if you have the right basal?) But, previously, I always had protein w/ a little carb too. (Skim milk w/ a couple of crackers for example.)
i donno if it's good or not, but i like to have goat cheese and crackers sometimes when i'm relaxing before bed...i don't eat it though because i "need" a bedtime snack..I stopped following that rule a long time ago. i only eat before bed if i'm hungry now and that's what i try to eat, rather than cookies or chips or whatever.
I do not typically snack anymore using a pump, but I always preferred a banana with peanut butter, half a turkey sandwich on wheat bread, or just cranberry juice!
I like to eat cheese, beef sausage, and saltine crackers most nights. I saw the dietician in Jan. and she recommended whole wheat bread, wheat thin crackers, or eating the brown version of things instead of white. Things like looking for granola bars that have more fiber in them like the fiber one bars instead of choosing a rice crispie bar with her thinking, " what is the value in that"? Guess what I heard went came in one ear and out the other.
I don't usually eat anything after dinner, but if I do it's cheese or hard-boiled eggs (with thai chili sauce...mmm.....). I also like cream cheese dabs between two baby spinach leaves. I try to stay low-to-no carb for bedtime snacks. Oh, and Goldfish crackers (5 = 1g carb).
I change it up. Sometimes 1/2 of a Peanut Butter sandwich. Sometimes Peanut Butter crackers. But more often than not, cheese and crackers.
My doctor is trying to get me off of the whole bedtime snack thing. But I've done it for 33 years. It's a part of my routine. I don't know what I'd do before bed if I stopped. I like to have my snack and read a little bit to relax before bed.
This is one of the gazillion reasons diabetes stinks. First they tell you you have to have a bedtime snack even if you don't want it, so you get used to it and want it, then they tell you you really don't need it and should get off of it.
As for now, I'm sticking with it.
I usually do some kind of granola bar that's heavier in protein/fiber to slow the digestion so I don't feel so bad for eating carbs without insulin. (fiber one bar, clif bar, kashi golean bar, etc)
It's habit for me too. I've done it for so l don't feel comfortable sleeping without some carbs b/c I'm paranoid I'm going to go low. I bedtime snack even on a pump even though it makes no sense since I can adjust the basals instead.
I didn't know people were still advised to do bedtime snacks! Thought that went away 20 years ago when long acting insulins got better.
When I was a kid I had to go to nurse's office every day in the mid-morning and afternoon for a snack (usually graham cracker and milk). Do people on shots still have to do morning and afternoon snacks?
[quote user="jennagrant"]
I didn't know people were still advised to do bedtime snacks! Thought that went away 20 years ago when long acting insulins got better.
When I was a kid I had to go to nurse's office every day in the mid-morning and afternoon for a snack (usually graham cracker and milk). Do people on shots still have to do morning and afternoon snacks?
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depends. I think it's more for new diabetics and kids? When I got on carb counting vs fixed doses, my endo said I could eat as a I wanted. That was...5 years ago? But I gave up snacks 99% of the time (unless I was hungry or low or something) when I hit about 13 and I couldn't force myself to eat anymore...so 10years ago.
My doctor always tells me to eat an apple with peanut butter. He swears it's the best bedtime snack, but I always worry about the peanut butter making my blood sugar go up during the night. I'm always scared to eat after 7 or 8 because I've heard for so long that it makes you gain weight to eat that late. If I do eat after dinner, it's usually something small like a granola bar something...
PB is really good to eat, it actually helps stabilize your levels or something. I've been told before to have a spoonful of peanut butter with meals haha.
I like to eat these All Bran bars. They aren't very appetizing on their own but I put peanut butter on top, which makes them taste like a peanut butter cookie (yum). :) Sometimes I munch on some popcorn if I am hungry too. I am supposed to eat a snack before bed for now, and it was recommended to me to eat bread or granaola bars with peanut butter. The pb makes it taste so much better and it is healthy for you. :) I also like to eat some crackers like others mentioned, sometimes with cheese or with pb. :P I am getting hungry just thinking about it.
[quote user="Sarah"]
I'm always scared to eat after 7 or 8 because I've heard for so long that it makes you gain weight to eat that late.
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It's a total myth. If you want to eat before bed, go for it :o)
Yarrrr I better best not be postin' on this forum but I am a pirate! I be eatin meself a lot o bananas before bed. Then I be sleepin on the peels.
[quote user="Batts"]I think it's more for new diabetics and kids? [/quote]
Hiya! My daughter was dx'd Nov. 2010. She has really gone away from mid morning snacks and only bedtime snacks if she's hungry or on the low side, then she will do a carb/protein snack like carrots and PB. She has been having consistent morning lows (40/50's) and we are adjusting her Lantus. One nutritionist said she HAS to hit all her meal and snack times and two others said don't eat if you're not hungry........but do not skip breakfast, lunch or dinner. She tests at school mid morning, but generally doesn't feel like a snack, so she doesn't have one.
[quote user="Ann4"]
[quote user="Batts"]I think it's more for new diabetics and kids? [/quote]
Hiya! My daughter was dx'd Nov. 2010. She has really gone away from mid morning snacks and only bedtime snacks if she's hungry or on the low side, then she will do a carb/protein snack like carrots and PB. She has been having consistent morning lows (40/50's) and we are adjusting her Lantus. One nutritionist said she HAS to hit all her meal and snack times and two others said don't eat if you're not hungry........but do not skip breakfast, lunch or dinner. She tests at school mid morning, but generally doesn't feel like a snack, so she doesn't have one.
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Thanks for the updated information Ann4. Both nutritionists are kind of right in your daughter's case. Since she's taking Lantus she has a steady, base rate of insulin and needs to eat periodically to cover that. But if you're adjusting your daughter's short acting insulin (Novolog or Humalog) based on her blood sugar and the number of carbs she's eating, then she doesn't have to eat if blood sugar is okay. Insulin pumps are cool because you never have to eat to cover insulin. I've been able to fast for a whole day with good blood sugars.
And Batts, what you said about snacks being a kid thing makes sense. My non-diabetic son snacks often because he burns so much energy. It makes sense that a diabetic kid would need snacks to keep glucose levels up if they're using long acting insulin.
The balancing of basal insulin in kids is really hard in my opinion. While in theory, the basal insulin amount should be delivering at a constant rate thru the day, the child's body demands never seem to match that, or at least my son's didn't. To have an amount that was good thru the night meant that he had at least 1, if not 2 lows during the day. So he had to have snacks during the day at set times. Thank goodness he is on a pump now, because he doesn't have to have snacks as much - though at daycare all day he has morning and afternoon snacks in addition to lunch. At home, he just eats if he is hungry.
It was probably the hardest adjustment for me when he was newly diagnosed to be giving all these snacks! I never minded getting snacks for him if he was hungry, but I just felt we went from listening to his body's hunger cues to eating just because it was time to eat and it felt like we were just done eating and would have to eat again! Ugh. And I have never been big on bedtime snacks because I work, so we eat at 6 pm. I have pokey eating kids, so they might not even finish until close to 7. To have a bedtime snack means they are eating it at 7:30, so that they could get in bed by 8. THat was just ridiculous in my opinion. So now with pump - no snacks unless his bedtime number is low - or if he is hungry, but then I am almost always covering with insulin anyway.