Diabetic snacks and Hypoglycemic emergency kits

[Jean in Newcastle]

After this weekend's scare, I'm taking the advice of some of the Hive members to get my dh some snacks and to have a "hypoglycemic emergency kit" for him in the fridge. My low sugar kit has a small bottle of apple juice, a box of raisins and a baggie of peanut butter crackers. Is that ok? Can you give me suggestions for other kits I can make in the future? What are good snacks he can have? They have to be the kind he can eat on the run. And they can't have any dairy because he's allergic to dairy.

[Denisemomof4]

I think that has too many simple carbs in it. I know it wouldn't sustain me long term. The apple juice and raisins would help to raise my bs but think more fats and protein.

 

Is your dh lactose intolerant or does he have a full blown allergy? I found out that Cabot Seriously Sharp cheese is lactose free. Dd8 eats it and has NO issues. I just found out about this. I was so surprised!

 

I buy these bars that have nuts and honey in them. They come in all flavors and have all different kinds of nuts, honey, dried fruit, etc. I buy them in the health food section at the grocery store, the area where they sell the protein bars. I'd think something like that for your dh would be better. He needs the sugar to raise his bs, but he needs fats and protein to stabilize it. I'd do either raisins OR juice, not both, and make sure there is more peanut butter than cracker. I always have cooked meat in the refrigerator. Is this for him to bring to work? Plan on meals AND snacks to get him through the day. The more fat and protein and the less carb he eats, the better he will feel.

 

I think it's spirulina that helps regulate blood sugars. Maybe make shakes with some of that in it.

 

As someone with severe hypoglycemia issues if I don't eat on time, and also watching dd with the same issues, protein is the most important thing. We *always* have some cooked protein in the refrigerator for me. If I need a quick rise in bs, I will have fruit or what ever, then I will sustain my sugars with protein and light carbs.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Thanks, Denise.

 

Dh has an actual allergy to milk. He gets bad sinus infections if he ingests milk products.

 

The kit is for home. We also have lunch meats in the fridge. I could put some in the plastic bag for the kit.

 

He is fairly good about eating actual meals. It is the snacks that he doesn't always get because he doesn't have as much time to go and get them. That's why I need something that is grab and go. I'll look for those bars.

[FaithManor]

My ds has severe, debilitating at times, hypoglycemia so we have emergency kits as well.

 

Typical kit for him: - Cashew or Macademia nuts, cheese cubes, whole milk, carrot and celery sticks, and homemade granola (mine is based on oats and utilizes coconut oil, peanuts, sesame seeds, and just a few semi-sweet chocolate chips). Since your dh has dairy issues, you could try coconut milk because of the good omega oils and dried coconut in the granola. I usually include one piece of candy which he can eat first for that rapid upping of his b.s. but then he has to eat all of the other stuff as well. I also found a "beef stick" at the health food store (think Slim Jim without the preservatives) and he likes that too.

 

Faith

[Jean in Newcastle]

My ds has severe, debilitating at times, hypoglycemia so we have emergency kits as well.

 

Typical kit for him: - Cashew or Macademia nuts, cheese cubes, whole milk, carrot and celery sticks, and homemade granola (mine is based on oats and utilizes coconut oil, peanuts, sesame seeds, and just a few semi-sweet chocolate chips). Since your dh has dairy issues, you could try coconut milk because of the good omega oils and dried coconut in the granola. I usually include one piece of candy which he can eat first for that rapid upping of his b.s. but then he has to eat all of the other stuff as well. I also found a "beef stick" at the health food store (think Slim Jim without the preservatives) and he likes that too.

 

Faith

 

Very good! I'll get these ingredients.

[Cinder]

My dh is pre-diabetic. He tries to avoid simple carbs as much as possible. He also travels a lot, which makes finding good foods a challenge at times. His travel snacks include:

 

nuts--not peanuts, but a combo of macadamia, almonds and cashews (Planters has a pre-mix of these); he also includes walnuts

apples--these will last a few days

single serving cups of salmon and tuna

 

He met a co-worker who is in the same situation and who takes hard-boiled eggs on the road. Dh isn't that adventurous (they're out all day w/o any way to refrigerate food), but you could have that available at home.

[Lawana]

Jean,

 

One of the sure ways to start a blood sugar roller coaster is to overtreat a low bg─like your dh did the other day. Based on our experiences, I would recommend starting with snacks that have between 5-10g of carbs, and the remainder as protein/fat. That is not very much. For comparison, a 4 oz. box of apple juice has 15g. of carbohydrate. That is potentially enough to overshoot a correction, induce an insulin response, and set up the next low. Half that amount of carbs would be good starting point. It may need to be more, but probably not by much. And it takes many fewer carbs to prevent a low than to treat one.

[Halftime Hope]

Replies within.

 

After this weekend's scare, I'm taking the advice of some of the Hive members to get my dh some snacks and to have a "hypoglycemic emergency kit" for him in the fridge. My low sugar kit has a small bottle of apple juice, a box of raisins and a baggie of peanut butter crackers. Is that ok?

 

Since your dh isn't on insulin, that poses a whole host of difficulties when he adjusts his blood sugar after a low. First off, does he have any idea what his conversion ratio of "grams of carb = points of blood sugar increased" is? He needs to experiment and see if he can figure that out.

 

Secondly, the hypoglycemic emergency kit you described is probably way, way too many carbs to get his blood sugar back into normal ranges, and it isn't the fastest acting sugar, rather a combo of "fast-ish" and slower acting carbs. By the time he gets enough fast-ish sugars to make him feel better, he'll have enough longer acting sugars in his systems to drive his blood sugar up quite high (250 - 300 according to Dr. Bernstein) for several hours.

 

You really need him to take glucose tablets to get the sugar into his bloodstream ASAP, in a small, controlled, predictable dose, not some sugar now and some carbs converting to sugar later. Glucose is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the mucous membranes of the mouth and entire digestive track, and it doesn't have to be processsed in the liver like the other sugars (fructose and sucrose) do.

 

When he's had a low, he's going to feel really carppy and his brain will be be screaming that he has to be in "panic consumption" mode for awhile. He will way overeat carbs, feeling like he hasn't had enough, unless he has something in black and white, or a protocol to follow, that he can train himself not to deviate from. Even so it might be difficult, b/c thinking can be impaired and very irrational, as the brain tries to recover from the low brain fuel.

 

Getting the glucose in his bloodstream STAT will help with that, as will having an additional something non-carby that he really likes that has another strong "comfort" score. For us, the savory flavor and fat texture of beef summer sausage, or the savory/salty and crunch of cheese crisps work pretty well.

 

The best part of the glucose tabs is that they are fast and they are measured. On average, 1 gram of glucose will raise a 170 # person's blood sugar about 4 mg, a 210# person's about 3.3 mg. The glucose tabs sold at wally world each contain about 4 grams of glucose.

 

My best suggestion for you is that he purchase Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution book. This book is a goldmine of practical information, for both insulin dependent and T2 diabetics. (That's old school terminology--don't hold it against me. ; ) )

 

Can you give me suggestions for other kits I can make in the future? What are good snacks he can have? They have to be the kind he can eat on the run. And they can't have any dairy because he's allergic to dairy.

 

You've gotten lots of good snack ideas, ranging from low carbish to not. What he chooses to do for a Way of Eating will dictate what snacks will work for him. The key is to minimize the blood sugar swings that drive the carb binging, which causes blood sugar swings... and then he'll be a much happier camper overall.

 

hth

[SweetMissMagnolia]

hubby was a vol fire-fighter and he says they used to have these little tubes of "cake frosting" that they would use when they were called to a diabetic emergency-- :iagree: with the other posts about the snack lists....good ideas

[AK_Mom4]

Jerkey and sausage sticks - you can find some with less-nasty ingredients in the health section.

 

Nuts - that granola recipe sounds yummy! There are some low-carb bars out there on the market that work well for a 10g-15g carb snack. You have to read the labels. Special K cereal (dry-no milk) is a good munchy snack.

 

They sell tuna/cracker packs in the store that are open and go and a good snack choice. Again, read the label.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Thanks so much everyone! He is on insulin - one shot in the am and on in the pm. That is one of the reason he is having these lows because he's trying to figure out what the dosage should be - esp. on days when he runs. And yes, he has the Bernstein book too. I'll get it out and will look at it again esp. for advice on this issue.

 

I'm so glad that I started this thread because I was suspecting that he was overcorrecting. You say that the kit I put together was too much sugar and simple carbs- he was doing much more on his own! (I will correct my kit.)

 

We eat fairly low carb normally - eggs and low glycemic bread for breakfast; salad with protein for lunch, lots of veggies and meat with a very small amount of carbs at dinner. It is snacks (or the lack of them when he needs them) that kill him, I think, though we have and eat quite a bit of nuts and stuff like that.

 

The other big complication for him is that he gets constant sinus infections. It is actually the reason he became diabetic to begin with. When ever he has a new infection, his blood sugar gets very hard to control. (And yes, he's had surgery and goes regularly to an ENT.) This is the reason he doesn't do dairy because that showed up as an allergy. But even without dairy he still gets them and we can't figure that part out. . .

 

So now you have the rest of the story!

[vettechmomof2]

Really, one of the best items for hypoglycemic event is either glucose tablets or glucose gel if he is unable to chew. Obviously neither of these items should be used if he is not concious.

 

1 tablet is worth ~ 4 grams of carbs. He needs to find out how many points 4 grams will raise his blood glucose. For my daughter 1 tablet will raise her ~ 20-40 points. So if she is 50 mg/dl, I would give her 1 tablet and re test in 15 minutes then give a small protein heavy snack. PB, cheese works for my daughter, piece of a granola bar.

 

Anyway overtreating is a very common problem BUT if you want to try and combat the rollercoaster effect you need to try and reduce the lows from occurring which means he tests at regular intervals. Before exercise and after exercise or a stressful event,etc.

 

:grouphug:

[kandty]

Keep in mind everyone is different and it will take time to figure out what (on average) works to get your blood sugar up and keep it normal (and this can change over time). I have 29 years of experience! Straight sugar is the best thing to raise blood sugar the fastest and following up with a protein and/or carb will help maintain it. That is what has always worked best for me. I don't recommend glucose tablets has I think they taste bad :tongue_smilie: and they don't always work well for me. But, that is just me though. ;)

[Lawana]

Thanks so much everyone! He is on insulin - one shot in the am and on in the pm. <snip>

Jean,

What kind(s) of insulin is your dh on?

Regular and NPH maybe? Or Lantus and Humalog/Novalog?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Jean,

What kind(s) of insulin is your dh on?

Regular and NPH maybe? Or Lantus and Humalog/Novalog?

 

Lantus.

[Lawana]

Lantus.

Good. That's quite an easy insulin to deal with, as it has flat action, with generally little or no peak. I was concerned that the insulin peaks were causing lows if he were on NPH, for example.

[nowimscrappin]

Really, one of the best items for hypoglycemic event is either glucose tablets or glucose gel if he is unable to chew. Obviously neither of these items should be used if he is not concious.

 

1 tablet is worth ~ 4 grams of carbs. He needs to find out how many points 4 grams will raise his blood glucose. For my daughter 1 tablet will raise her ~ 20-40 points. So if she is 50 mg/dl, I would give her 1 tablet and re test in 15 minutes then give a small protein heavy snack. PB, cheese works for my daughter, piece of a granola bar.

 

Anyway overtreating is a very common problem BUT if you want to try and combat the rollercoaster effect you need to try and reduce the lows from occurring which means he tests at regular intervals. Before exercise and after exercise or a stressful event,etc.

 

:grouphug:

 

I agree - I would separate treating a low from the ongoing snacks he needs. If he's only get 2 shots a day, he's on a regimen when he has to eat at certain times to feed the insulin. That's one challenge that needs to be addressed. But, when he's got an immediate low, you want fast acting, no fat, as pure sugar as possible. Emma uses fruit snacks - a pack is 21 carbs and we can just give her 1 or 2 for a mild low or more for a more severe low. Glucose tabs are also good - we have the big 4g carb ones and the small glucose bits that are 1g a piece.

 

For emergencies, its not a bad idea to have a tube of cake gel, obviously as long as its dairy free. Cut the tip off and have it in the emergency kit. It can be rubbed on the gums if he's not 100% responsive but merely out of it but it also can be squirted into his mouth. These are good quick go-tos for low.

 

On the regimen he's on, he should always follow up a pure sugar to treat the low with a "sustainer" 15-20 minutes later. This is where the peanut butter crackers, granola bars, etc, come up. Get the blood sugar up first with the quick sugar, and then give him some higher fat items with carbs to keep it up.

 

Good luck

[Jean in Newcastle]

On the regimen he's on, he should always follow up a pure sugar to treat the low with a "sustainer" 15-20 minutes later. This is where the peanut butter crackers, granola bars, etc, come up. Get the blood sugar up first with the quick sugar, and then give him some higher fat items with carbs to keep it up.

 

 

 

Your bit about the timing is esp. helpful. Thank you.

 

BTW - we've asked the doctor and the nutritionist (back when he was first diagnosed) about stuff like this but they've always been so vague that it hasn't been any help at all.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

great ideas.....those glucose tablets are good to have but sometimes my bs drops big time to like 30ish....and to get it back to up normal I'd have to eat the whole little tube of them.....something sugary is good to have onhand also.....

[kandty]

Ran across this article today. Haven't read it yet, but maybe it will be useful.

 

http://countdown.jdrf.org/LifeWithDiabetes.aspx?id=8589934713

[Jean in Newcastle]

Ran across this article today. Haven't read it yet, but maybe it will be useful.

 

http://countdown.jdrf.org/LifeWithDiabetes.aspx?id=8589934713

 

thank you.