To snack or NOT to snack??

Recently, I have a few conversations about “to snack” OR “not to snack”. Lots of people believe that they need to snack three times per day because of the diabetes, even if they are not hungry. While some people think because they need to lose weight, they will skip food as much as they could including snacks. So, should we “snack” OR “not to snack”?

 

 

My answer to this question is: IT DEPENDS.

 

Everyone has different needs and there is definitely no one single right answer here. So think about these different scenarios:

 

If you are on certain types of medications or insulin. Snacking is definitely helpful in maintaining a stable blood glucose level.

 

If you exercise a lot, you will definitely need a snack to replenish your body particularly after exercise.

 

If you have type 2 diabetes and only use diet and exercise as your way of management. Snack is not a MUST.

 

If you are trying to lose weight, less calorie intake definitely would help with weight loss. This means that snack is not necessary. However, if you always feel hungry and a light snack could be useful to curb the hunger and prevent people from overeating in the next meal.

 

If you are elderly or losing appetite, snack is definitely a MUST to maintain your nutritional status and muscle mass.

 

Therefore, it is a very individual choice to suit different lifestyle and medication regimen. If you need some help, It is better to have a conversation with your diabetes educators and dietitians to work out a plan that suits you.

 

If you decided to snack, here are some low GI tasty options:

• 1 cup of air-popped popcorn
• 1 snack-right fruit pillow
• 3-4 vitaweats with cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, hummus or tzatziki dip
• small handful of natural nuts (almonds, pistachio, walnuts etc)
• A spoon of chia seed with 2 tablespoon of yoghurt and some fruit
• 1 small pack of chicnuts or homemade roasted chickpeas