A Guide to What Snacks Diabetics Can Eat at Night

January 28, 2021

A Guide to What Snacks Diabetics Can Eat at Night

Somogyi is a phenomenon can be a result of taking insulin right before you go to sleep. When you wake up the next morning, your blood sugar levels are high. That’s your body reacting to extremely low blood sugar levels. When it detects such a drop in sugar levels, it releases hormones to compensate for that and results in elevated sugar in the bloodstream.

Diabetic patients are prone to spacing their meals at regular intervals. The nighttime is the longest ordeal they have to deal with. They prefer to have 5 or 7 meals instead of 3 large ones. However, people can tailor their snacking routines corresponding to their weight, age and other health factors.

Before reading further, have you seen our Blood Sugar Ultra supplement?

What kind of snacks or foods diabetics can have?

Night snacks are imperative for diabetics to steady their sugar levels.

Ideally, a diabetic patient’s night meals should have:

Healthy fats
Very limited carbs, and
High protein

A combination of foods with above composition may help control your blood sugar levels on either side of the night time.

Types of Healthy Snacks for Diabetics

Try the following healthy snacks before going to bed.

Nuts

Diabetics may opt for nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, and peanuts. These nuts contain minerals, vitamins, and healthy fats.

Almonds, in particular, can provide E vitamin, and walnuts are rich in omega 3 fatty acids.

Hard-boiled Eggs

A hard-boiled Eggs is a great natural source of protein. An egg can nourish you with 6.3 grams of protein. Eggs contain very few carbohydrates. This combination gives a diabetic an emergency relief some time. Egg should remain a night snack for diabetics.

In order to get fiber, you may create a combination of whole gain crackers and eggs. Fiber will slow down your digestion, allowing your body to obtain energy from food for a relatively longer span. A good night sleep is a blessing for a person with diabetes.

This combo may help you keep your sugar level in check.

Low-fat Cheese and Whole-wheat Crackers

Cheese will provide protein like egg does, whereas, whole-wheat crackers will add dietary fiber. It is best that you choose unprocessed cheese. This combination with whole-wheat crackers will give lower glycemic scores than white varieties. This will make them less effective on blood sugar level.

Baby Carrots, Tomatoes, and/ or Cucumber Slices

These are all non-starch vegetables, a great value addition for night snacks. They can serve as low-calorie, low-fat and low-carb food. All three veggies will offer plenty of other vitamins and minerals, which may keep you blood sugar levels moderate.

These vegetables will also have antioxidants and fiber to boost heart health.

If you intend to have more protein, you can opt for low fat cheese. It’s an amazing low-calorie snack altogether.

Celery Sticks with Hummus

Celery is a low calorie food, but high fiber option that will add vitamins and minerals to your diet. You can pair it with any non-starchy vegetable and hummus to add protein.

Try making hummus at home and make it by blending chickpeas, lemon and tahini. Spray these on top as per requirement or taste.

Popcorn

Pop-corns are light, healthy, and full snacks. They contain minerals, vitamins, fiber, and the much-needed protein, which may help keep your sugar levels stable.

Popcorn is a healthy whole-grain snack food. First, it is low in calories, and second, its density is low as well.

Roasted chickpeas

Chickpeas are pack lots of proteins and fiber. A cup full of roasted chickpeas will provide about 11.6 grams protein and 10.5 grams fiber.

Chickpeas, beans, and lentils, are foods with low glycemic index, making them a perfect snack for diabetic patients.

Chickpeas have characteristics that may help reduce your blood sugar levels.

Sliced Apple and Peanut Butter

Peanut butter provides you with protein, fiber and healthy fats. It’s an attractive nutrient for those looking to keep their blood sugar levels in control.

On the other hand, apples will provide vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Both foods together become an ideal go-to snack for diabetics. Slice an apple and add a layer of peanut butter on each slice.

You can also add cashew butter if you like its taste more.

Sugar-free Greek yogurt

An ideal night snack for people with diabetes should contain a max of 10 grams or less of sugar. Yogurts that have a total carb content of 15 grams or less are good for diabetics. Greek yogurt is a great option when you look for low carbs, and high proteins.

Furthermore, yogurt can be the healthiest dairy option among other items, such as skim milk and low fat cheese. Yogurt will give you calcium and high quality proteins. You can try this as a night snack, as it may help control your blood sugar level during nights.

Seeds

Seeds, like nuts, are a great and natural source of proteins and fiber. You may try sunflower, sesame, or pumpkin seeds in the evening or close to the night time.

Avocado

Snacking on avocado may help you manage your blood sugar levels. Avocados contain fiber and fatty acids, which makes them a very friendly night snack for diabetic patients.

You may eat an avocado on its own, or dip in guacamole or something similar. They are high in calories, so it is best to have a serving size of 1/4^th to half of an avocado.

Beef Sticks

Beef sticks are portable and diabetes-friendly. Their low-carb and high-protein content makes them an excellent night snack for diabetics.

These beef sticks will provide around 6 gm of protein per 28 gm serving, which may help you keep your blood sugar under control.

If possible, you should opt for beef sticks that come from grass fed beef. They are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which is not the case with grain-fed beef. They may help keep your blood sugar moderate.

However, it is very important to note that beef sticks are high in sodium, which can trigger high blood pressure levels. Try a moderate intake of beef sticks to minimize the chances shooting your blood pressure levels.

Turkey Roll-Up

They are easy-to-make snack rolls. They contain cheese or vegetables of your choice in a wrap of small strips from a turkey breast. Both veggies and cheese are low-carb foods.

They are a great night snack option for diabetics for their low-carb and high-protein content. This may help keep your blood sugar level from shooting up.

The proteins in turkey may suppress your appetite, which is good in preventing you form overeating. A regular intake of turkey roll-ups can help you with weight management. They are a healthy option for those with type-2 diabetes.

Tuna Salad

A very famous salad in Eastern Europe and Far East regions.

You can get Tuna salad by combining tuna and mayonnaise and other ingredients like onions, tomato, and celery sticks. Tuna fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which may help in managing your blood sugar levels.

Chia Seed Pudding

Mix chia seed in milk until the mixture achieves a pudding-like steadiness.

It’s a very healthy snack for diabetic people. Chia seeds are protein-rich, and have healthy fiber. They may help stabilize your blood sugar levels.

Chia seed fiber absorbs water, which may slow down the digestion process and release sugar into the blood, slowly.

They may also be helpful in lowering triglyceride levels in your body, boosting your heart health as a result. This food carries a great deal of heart-health benefits, which is very important because diabetics are prone to developing heart diseases.

Trail Mix

Trails mix is a combination of nuts, dried fruits, and seeds. A single serving of trail mix carries about 5 grams of proteins, which makes it a filling night snack to possibly promote sugar level control in people with diabetes.

It also offers healthy fats and fiber that come from seeds and nuts. These ingredients have shown to help reduce blood sugar levels.

Edamame

Edamame are green soybeans, all unripe and still in their pods. Their nutritional qualities make them a great nigh snack for diabetic people.

They carry 17 grams of proteins and 8 grams of fiber, in a 155-grams serving.

Edamame can also help with insulin resistance, a condition in which cells are unable to use insulin effectively, causing your blood sugar levels to shoot up. It may also help keep control your blood sugar levels during the night.

Homemade Protein Bars

Protein bars are an optional snack for diabetic patients. These bars will offer significant amounts of protein.

You can get homemade protein bars that include peanut butter, whey protein, and oat flour. To lower their sugar contents, you may reduce the amount of honey and omit the chocolate chips.

How Blood Sugar Level Changes Overnight

Diabetic people’s blood sugar levels change during the night for two reasons:

At dawn, between 3 am and 8 am, your blood sugar increases as a part of the wake up process. This causes high levels of blood sugar in the mornings.
Due to the Somogyi effect. Sugar levels drop invariably between 2am and 3am, causing your body to produce a hormone that causes a surge of sugar levels. An excess release of these hormones will result in high blood sugar levels in the morning.

You may avoid this condition by snacking at night.

End Remarks

This is a cursor for those diabetic people who must not omit or skip their night snacks. Every one of you can benefit from learning how their body processes blood sugar at night times. Having knowledge of the rise and fall of blood sugar levels may help a person choose the right manner of eating and snacking. For better professional advice about your condition, it is best you get in touch with your doctor.