Snacks for diabetic kids

[StickyShoess]

DD is newly diagnosed T1D, she’s a bit of a grazer and always has been, she has 3 meals plus 3 snacks a day, but I feel like all of her snacks have become samey and she’s getting bored

Atm it’s generally veg sticks, dairylea triangles, cold meats and cheesestrings, then with the occasional measured portion of fruit/crisps/milk/crackers/yoghurt - all a bit boring!

What do your diabetic kids snack on?

my niece is T1D and she loves these jelly juice pouches x

Nuts? If she's not allergic.

Pot of sugar free jelly.
Chicken drumstick.
Hard boiled eggs.

Celery and peanut butter is on of my favourites, apple and peanut butter if I'm a bit low and can cope with some carbs. Peanut butter with carrot sticks is ok too. I guess hummus would work as a low carb dip but I'm allergic to chickpeas. I quite like a mix of toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, with a sprinkle of salt.

Berries are quite low in carbs as is plain Greek yoghurt. The two combined make a tasty desert or a small portion as a snack. Berries set in sugar free jelly make a nice change too.

I've also been known to make a sort of mouse, sugar free jelly but use only half the water and replace the other half of the liquid with Greek yoghurt. Whisk it up till its getting frothy then leave it to set.

How much carb is she allowed without an injection? Usually ten or 15g a couple of times a day? Freddos, skinny popcorn, quavers, squeezy yoghurts, etc all come under 10 or 15g.

On the fruit, raspberries are only 4g per 100g as I'm sure you've spotted, and melon is around 6g per 100g, so she can eat quite a lot of that. Raspberries mixed with whipped cream with a bit of vanilla essence mixed in is really low on carbs and very filling.

Livlife toast is only 4g per slice - the slices are tiny but she could have two or three..

If you feel up to it, you could make some low carb muffins (look at something like ditch the carbs, or all day I dream about food for inspiration). Obviously no need to limit carbs that she has injections for but if she wants to graze without an injection then there are some ideas there, depending on how you feel about artificial sweeteners.

Like @gigglinghyena I've been known to make weird mousses.. Also, sugar free lime jelly crystals made up with about half the water and whisked together with cream cheese makes an edible cheesecake. We used to put ground almonds, a little bit of granulated sweetener and a pinch of dried ginger as the base and grate a little bit of very dark chocolate over the top.

Thankyou some really good ideas, I obviously just need to be a bit more creative

She’s allowed 10g without an injection, I’ve started swapping all of our crisps and biscuits to ones she can have but she likes a ‘snacky plate’ and grabbing a biscuit and going she wouldn’t consider a proper snack (🙄) so all of her plates have started to look the same - plus she still likes to have a drink of milk before bed so that usually takes up her 10g so then we’re only left with ‘free’ stuff for her to eat (she used to have a drink of milk and a banana every night)

I’m just trying to find different ways of doing snacks without her actually realising it - which I’m realising is easier in theory than in practice

Thankyou for some new ideas!

I will definitely look at that bread too, I feel quite restricted with bread products at 20ish grams a slice even at mealtimes as we’re trying to keep meals to 50g atm

Ds likes fridge raider chicken, 10 cal Jelly pots, space raider crisps, snack packs of popcorn, a tangerine, cheese, one biscuit, chicken drumsticks.

Have they got you on fixed doses for the meals? I can't remember if you said you were carb counting yet? She's going to be really hungry for a bit as she makes up that lost weight, so you could talk to your DSN about increasing the lunch time allocation?

Just remembered Oppo ice cream. Doesn't taste "quite" like the real thing, but it's really low carb. Ocado do it but it's available elsewhere.

Yes she’s on fixed doses atm
I had wondered whether the hunger would ever subside, how long did it take your DS to stop feeling hungry all the time? If you can remember?
I didn’t know we could increase it just for one meal a day, I will definitely ask, lunchtime and just after school seems to be when she wants to eat the most, breakfast and dinner she’s less fussed, then she likes to have something substantial before bed too

MrsNacho which packs of popcorn do you get?

How about making a batch of mini frittatas in muffin tins - you can change things up by using different veg or cheese? I used to love celery with primula and apple slices with nut butter. Once she's over her honeymoon period it might be worth considering a pump.

Pepperami
Seafood sticks
Rice cake with peanut butter
Popcorn
Olives
Prawns and garlic mayonnaise dip
Urban fruit coconut chips

I had wondered whether the hunger would ever subside, how long did it take your DS to stop feeling hungry all the time? If you can remember?

A couple of months, I think. DS went from being a picky eater to hoovering up everything he could - it was extraordinary.

For low carb snacks now he might have: veg sticks, cherry tomatoes, nuts, ham, cheese, cold chicken, pork scratchings , strawberries, olives, half an avocado. Greek salad usually works, if you keep the salty olives and feta down. Or smoked mackerel and cottage cheese.

It seems to work better (though it's more of a faff) if he has a selection of things, and I do try to ration out the salty things.

Multipacks of Pom bears and the rabbit ones from tesco, skips are just over 10g.

Wafer type biscuits.

And then for no carb, preparami, hummus and celery/carrot, scrambled egg with chopped up bacon through it.

The hunger lasted a while and to be honest he struggled a bit with hunger until he got his pump and was able to eat at will. But most kids are hungry for the first couple of months while their body weight returns to normal.

We only did fixed doses for a week or so before we started adjusting insulin to carbs (rather than the other way round). During that time he was eating roughly 40g breakfast and 70g each for lunch and tea I think (age 8). Hopefully they will get you adjusting insulin to carbs soon, they probably just want to see what her insulin carb ratios will be and it's easier to work this out I guess if she is eating set meals? Don't be afraid to question and to let the team know she is struggling to meet her hunger on the current regime.

I now have a preteen who is hungry all the time, but only because he is a preteen (well, unless it's hypo hunger or hyper hunger, but mostly because he is a preteen). He definitely finds that his pump helps with eating what he needs.

the cheddar and black pepper Riveta thins (not the coregated cardboard ones, these are long and thin) are only 4g carbs each, if you have them with cheese and pickled onions (if she likes them) makes good snacky plate