Low Carb Snacks: low impact on blood sugar
One of the challenges of living with diabetes is what to do when your child is hungry and their blood glucose is sky high. Or what can you feed them when they want to eat but don't want another injection. Low carb snacks are perfect for those times. Here are some ideas for low and zero carb snacks, with the carb content per serving size clearly outlined.
In our home it seems like there's not enough time between breakfast and lunch to have a carb-filled morning snack. And afternoon snack bleeds into supper which bleeds into a bedtime snack. My pre-schooler (and especially toddler, when he was one) seemed to eat constantly. “Wait an hour to eat” has never gone over well as a strategy for allowing blood glucose an opportunity to return to normal. Neither has it worked to feed him a high-carb snack of a granola bar or cereal: his blood glucose may still have been be above-target after his last meal when we threw carbs at it; numbers in the high teens or even 20’s were not uncommon for us when we disregarded carb content when blood sugar was already high.
So when time is limited between meals, or when blood glucose is high at the time he wants a snack, we opt for low- or no-carb snacks instead. (Other possibilities include choosing low glycemic snacks and/or using a pre-bolus, that is, giving the insulin 15 minutes or more before the start of the snack.)
Lower & No-Carb (“Free”) Foods
If you are looking for low-carb snack and meal options, in general look towards:
Should Our Family Eat a Low Carb Diet?
Some things to keep in mind:
Lower Carb Snack Ideas
With that said, for those times when you want to provide a low- or no-carb snack, here are some ideas for snack components (which can be used to dream up your own low-carb snack combination). The list is not exhaustive, but is a sampling of possibilities, which have been well-received by our sons.
Note: The carb values are approximate, given as relative guidelines only – be sure to calculate your own carb values for the brands and quantities you prepare.
| Avocado | 0 | ||
| Deli meat: ham, roast beef, turkey, chicken | Check labels carefully – “loaf” type deli meats and those with more fillers may have some amount of carbs | 0 | |
| Hot dog weiner (no filler) | Ex. Schneider’s Country Naturals® | 0 | |
| Roast chicken | 0 | ||
| Chicken salad | 0 | ||
| Shrimp | 0 | ||
| Hard-boiled egg | 0 | ||
| Devilled egg | 0 | ||
| Egg salad | 0 | ||
| Cheese (marble, mozzarella, cheddar) | Some brands do have a small amount of carbs – check the package. | 0 | |
| Cheese String, Cheese Twist | 0 | ||
| Tuna salad | 0 | ||
| Salmon salad | 0 | ||
| Olives, green | Carb content varies by brand – check the package. The high fibre content of olives reduces the amount of available carb. | ||
| Olives, black | Carb content varies by brand – check the package. | ||
| Jell-O®, sugar-free | Jell-O® brand contains Aspartame. It can be found in the dairy cooler; Snack Pack® brand contains Sucralose. It’s found on a regular grocery shelf, usually near the puddings or granola bars. | 0 | |
| Mushrooms, canned, whole | Carb content varies by brand – check the package. | 1 | 1/2 cup |
| Mushrooms, fresh | 2 | 6 med. caps | |
| Chicken Weiner | 1 | 1 weiner | |
| Soft cheese | Soft cheese | 1 | 2 triangles |
| Pickles – baby dill | 2 | 4 pickles | |
| Plain Nuts: | |||
| Almonds | 1 | 11 nuts | |
| Hazelnuts | 1 | 10 nuts | |
| Pecans | 1 | 7 nuts | |
| Walnuts | 1 | 15 nuts | |
| Peanuts | Carb content varies by brand – check the package | ||
| Cucumber | 3 slices (medium thickness) | ||
| Mini Cucumber | 2 | 1 mini cuke | |
| Bell peppers | 1-2 | 5 slices | |
| Grape tomatoes | 1 | 5 | |
| Asparagus | 1 | 3 spears | |
| Pickled asparagus | 1 | 30 g | |
| Broccoli or cauliflower | ~1 | 2 medium spears | |
| Lupini Beans, canned | These are pretty dense – not for the faint of heart. Ex. Unico® brand | 1 | 1/2 cup |
| Green beans, fresh | 1+ | 10 beans=1oz = 30g | |
| Green beans, canned | Ex. Blue Menu™ brand | 1 | 1/2 cup |
| Mini rice cake | Ex. Quaker ® brand (sour cream & onion, etc) | 1.2 | piece |
| Turkey pepperoni | 1 | stick | |
| Ham stick | Freybe brand | 1 | stick |
| Pepperoni stick | |||
| Garlic sausage | |||
| Mini-meatballs | Carb content varies by brand – check the package. | 1 | each |
| Baby corn (canned) | Ex. Aroy-D brand | 1 | 7pieces(=85g) |
| Chicken bologna | Ex. Hal-Alal brand | 2.5 | 1 slice |
| Edamame (soy beans) | My kids enjoy them steamed in pod, sprinkled with salt and pepper – half the fun is squeezing the beans out of the pod. | 2 | 20 pods |
| Edamame (soy beans) | 3 | ~1/2cup shelled beans | |
| Black Diamond Fun Cheez® | 2 | package | |
| Processed Cheese Slices | 2 | slice | |
| Blackberries, Raspberries | (1g carbs per 3 large or 4 med berries) | 4 | 1/2 cup |
| Strawberries | Strawberries | ~3 medium strawberries | |
| Cottage Cheese | 4 | 1/3 cup | |
| Yogurt, plain | 4 | 1/3 cup | |
| Yogurt, flavoured, sugar-free | 4-5 | Single-serve container | |
| Baby MumMum® infant/toddler cookies | 4 | Package (2 rusks) | |
| Gerber Graduates® Lil' Crunchies | 4 | 16 pieces | |
| Puffed Wheat | Ex. Nature’s Path® brand | 4.5 | 1/2 cup |
| Corn Puffs | Ex. Nature’s Path® brand | 5.5 | 1/2 cup |
| Goldfish® Crackers | 5 | 14 crackers | |
| Ritz Bitz® | 5 | 12 pieces | |
| Popcorn –plain | For variety, sprinkle with parmesan cheese or drizzle with sugar-free chocolate syrup | 5 | 1 cup |
| Apple slices | 10-15 | 1 medium apple | |
| Peanut Butter (Unsweetened) | 2 | 1 tbsp | |
| Cream Cheese (regular fat) | 1 | 1 tbsp | |
| Hummus Dip | Carb content varies by brand – check the package |
Snack Combinations
Here are some ideas....
- Mushroom Caps: fresh mushroom, stem removed, topped with cream cheese (plain, salmon-, or tomato-flavoured) and bacon bits, and then lightly baked
- Celery with: tuna, salmon, chicken salad, egg salad (OR peanut butter OR cream cheese (plain or flavoured)
- Cucumber slices topped with:
- cream cheese (plain or flavoured – Note: drying the cucumber slice with a paper towel will help the cream cheese to stick), or
- salsa and a cheese slice
- tuna or salmon, or
- deli meat
- Cottage cheese with nuts and/or berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, for example)
- Yogurt (plain, or sugar-free flavoured) with nuts and/or berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, for example)
- Lettuce roll-up: egg salad, deli meat, tuna, and/or veggies, wrapped in a lettuce leaf
- Meat roll-ups: avocado, cheese, peppers, olives, grated carrots, tomato, etc – wrapped in a slice of deli meat
- Tooth-pick Kebabs: a variety of the following, cut into cubes and loaded onto a toothpick or skewer: cheese, olives, pickles, hard-boiled egg, carrots, etc)
- Corn Thin Pizza: using a round Corn Thin as the base, load on pizza toppings (cheese, olives, pepperoni or ham stick slices) and bake until the cheese melts
- Rice Cake Pizza: as above, using rice cakes as the base
- Cucumber slices topped with cream cheese (plain or flavoured), salsa + cheese slice, and/or tuna, salmon, or deli meat
- Rumake: water chestnuts, in a soy-based marinade, wrapped in a slice of bacon, then baked
- Greek Salad: black olives, grape tomatoes, and cucumber chunks, with oil and vinegar dressing and salt/pepper (for a variation, add mushrooms, too)
- Homemade Vegetable Soup, with extra veggies: puree if desired; add meat if desired, ex. chunks of chicken or beef
More low carb (and full-carb) meals & snacks:
Recipe Archive
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The above information was reviewed for content accuracy by clinical staff of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Diabetes Clinic.