What can I snack on to lower my blood sugar?
Do snacks raise blood sugar?
This depends entirely upon what you eat.
Remember, of the 3 macronutrients, carbohydrates are the ones that will affect blood sugar the most. And when we think of snack food, carbs tend to be on the top of the list.
But they don’t have to be.
A snack that revolves around a good protein source is the place to start.
What snacks don’t raise blood sugar?
The low-hanging fruit for this one is a snack that does not have any (or many) carbohydrates.
Protein, fat and non-starchy veg are among the ingredients I think of. This can include:
Cottage cheese, hard-boiled eggs, nuts and seeds, half an avocado, cheese, some deli meat, vegy sticks with a little hummus.
But carbs aren’t bad, and you may want some in your snack. Just be smart, balance them with protein and fiber, and don’t go for ultra-processed food.
Apple and peanut butter, an open-faced turkey sandwich, a protein smoothie with berries and avocado, peanut butter on toast, and a bean burrito.
What is a good evening snack for a diabetic?
If you have type 2 diabetes, you may or may not need a bedtime snack.
When I monitor my patients using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), it gives us continuous overnight blood sugar data. If their blood sugar is steady all night long staying in a healthy range, I don’t tend to recommend an evening snack. I’d rather they have an extended overnight fast to help their body become more metabolically flexible and use up some of the extra energy stored in their liver.
If blood sugar is going up and down during the night, it is often called the Somogyi effect. I recommend a snack to see if that helps to stabilize it. Erratic blood sugar is not good for your sleep, and poor sleep isn’t good for your blood sugar control, which will then impair your sleep. Rinse and repeat. The snack I recommend is a protein snack like a piece of cheese, a spoonful of peanut butter or a handful of nuts. Then we monitor to see if this was effective. Periodically, it can be helpful to stop doing this to see if your metabolism has healed enough that you can now fast overnight.
If your blood sugar is NOT going up and down overnight, I recommend fasting. Stop eating 2-3 hours before your bedtime and fast overnight for 12-16 hours.
What should I do about the dawn phenomenon?
The dawn phenomenon is your body’s natural response to the morning release of cortisol. Cortisol naturally rises in the morning to get you up and moving and tells the liver to pump a little more glucose into the system to provide energy to your body. If you have fatty liver (which most people do if you have type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome) then there is an excess of energy in the liver. As a result, then cortisol opens the doors, a FLOOD of energy pours out and you get a morning glucose spike. I say, lean into this. Your liver desperately needs to unload this energy. Use it by going for a walk and doing some exercise. Your muscles will use this energy in a healthy way. If you continue with the overnight fasting and good metabolic practices, the dawn effect will lessen and you will get healthier.
Is it healthy to just snack all day?
For most people, no.
Snacking all day is problematic for 3 reasons.
First, it’s not good for your teeth 😁. It feeds the microbes that can erode your enamel.
Second, it’s not good for your digestion. Your digestion likes to take care of a meal, clean house, then rest. Frequent feeding leads to incomplete digestion and dysbiosis.
Third, it leads to insulin resistance. By keeping your blood sugar and therefore insulin levels up all day long… even at moderate levels, you keep your fat-storage switch stuck in the “ON” position. It never gives your body a chance to use up any of the stored energy. This keeps you feeling tired and storing visceral adipose tissue (VAT) also known as belly fat.
But there can be times when eating smaller more frequent meals is called for.
This is when you are recovering from illness or are very fragile and your digestion is not able to handle bigger meals. But even then, the focus needs to be on whole, minimally-processed foods, good protein sources, easy-to-digest vegetables, and healthy fats that nourish the body. Not ultra-processed carbs.
Is snacking a good way to lose weight?
No. This is how I like to think of it… Eat only meals. But how many meals you eat will depend on you.
If you find yourself hungry outside of your regular meal times, ask yourself this, “Am I hungry enough for a meal, or just a handful of chips?” If you’re not hungry enough for a meal, chances are that your mouth is just lonely and fasting is fine. Watch… that craving will come and go like the weather 🌦️.
If you are actually hungry, then eat! But eat something more like a small meal. I call them “solid snacks” because they contain 10-20g of protein. Then think back to your last meal and what’s been going on.
Did you not eat enough? Listen to your body and feed it.
Did you have enough protein? Same as before. But low-protein meals can spike blood sugar leading to more cravings. Shoot for at LEAST 20g of protein in each meal.
Have you bumped up your workouts? You might need an extra meal. Remember to fuel your workouts properly. Within an hour of that workout, get a solid snack or meal in with both carbs and protein to feed your muscles.
Did you not sleep well last night? If not, the elevated cortisol will cause cravings for hyper-palatable foods. And just make you more hungry. Nourish your body with some nutrient-dense food that has protein in it.
The advice I give the most often is to stop snacking because snacking typically implies non-nourishing foods. I recommend having a small meal instead, but if you want to call that a snack, fine. Have a “solid snack”.
Always look back at your previous meal to see why you even need a snack and learn to listen to your own body and give it what it needs, but watch out for when your mouth just feels bored.
Does snacking cause weight gain?
If you snack the usual way 🍿, yes.
Here is what I see. People trying to lose weight will restrict their calories. As a result, they are eating less protein and food overall. To stave off their hunger, they might choose to snack on low-calorie foods like popcorn or candy. The number of calories is low, but having that trickle of sugars coming in will keep insulin levels elevated and keep the body in “store fat” mode and out of “burn fat” mode. The metabolic switch isn’t everything, but it’s often overlooked during diets that focus solely on calories. At some point, we need to just STOP eating for a while to let blood sugar and insulin levels come down and let the body utilize stored fat.
That’s why I love tracking glucose levels with a CGM. It gives us great data on how our food actually affects our bodies.
Stop guessing and see exactly how food affects your body.
I love having my clients use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) for 1-3 months. It helps them understand how their body reacts to food and learn a truly personlized way of eating.
Nutrition 101: Metabolic Reset
“Why don’t they teach this stuff in school?”
I get asked this all the time. That’s why I created this 4-week, on-demand, online class designed to help you level-up your own nutrition knowledge. Digestion, meal timing, carbohydrates, blood sugar, protein needs and healthy fats. It’s all delivered on video with handouts and recipes.