Top 10 Diabetic Snacks That Are Delicious
Eating healthy snacks is a great way to manage your diabetes and stay on track with your nutrition goals. But it can be difficult to find snacks that are both delicious and good for you.
Fortunately, there are plenty of tasty options available that won’t spike your blood sugar or add unnecessary calories to your diet.
Here are 10 diabetic-friendly snacks that taste great and will help keep you satisfied in between meals. Whether you need something savory, sweet or crunchy, these snack ideas have got you covered!
1. Hard-Boiled Eggs
Whether you’re diabetic or not, hard-boiled eggs are a great snack in general. They carry high protein content that makes them an ideal snack.
You can get up to 6.3 grams of protein from one large hard-boild egg. You need protein in your diabetic snack because it prevents the blood sugar from rising.
Moreover, eggs are known to promote fullness, which helps ensure a lower calorie intake, assisting in weight loss. You can eat one or two hard-boiled eggs for snacking purposes, either on its own or with healthy toppings, such as guacamole.
2. Yogurt with Berries
Who doesn’t love berries? And once paired with greek yogurt, it’s yummilicious.
Yogurt is an excellent snack for everyone, including diabetic people. This diabetic snack is rich in probiotics that can help improve your body’s overall ability to metabolize foods containing sugar, a general problem caused by diabetes. Moreover, yogurt is also high in protein, which helps keep blood sugar levels low, especially greek yogurt.
When yogurt is paired with berries, it becomes a combination of the best diabetic snack since berries are rich in antioxidants that help reduce inflammation and prevent pancreas cell damage, an organ responsible for releasing blood sugar levels and reducing hormones.
3. Almonds
If you’re looking for the best diabetic snack that’s convenient and can be consumed on the go, then there’s nothing better than a handful of almonds.
Almonds are rich in nutrition since you can enjoy over 15 vitamins and minerals from one ounce of almonds. Moreover, research has proven that almonds can play a pivotal role in keeping blood sugar levels under control in people with diabetes.
This is probably due to the combination of healthy fats, protein, and fiber you find in almonds, all important contributors to keeping diabetes under control.
Do keep in mind that almonds are quite high in calories, so don’t get carried away. Limit your portion size to just a handful of almonds a day if consumed as a diabetic snack.
4. Hummus and Veggies
Don’t like chickpeas on their own? Well, then throw it with tahini and some other ingredients and enjoy a delicious dip, hummus!
Hummus is a rich and creamy spread made using chickpeas packed with fiber, minerals, and vitamins. It can be paired with raw vegetables or some toasted pita bread. However, as an ideal diabetic snack, it’s best consumed with raw veggies.
According to a study, those individuals who consumed a minimum of 1 ounce of hummus as a meal had four times lower insulin and blood sugar levels than those who consumed white bread instead.
Not sure what to pair your hummus with? To make hummus the best diabetic snack ever, we love enjoying it with carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, and cauliflower.
5. Avocados
No healthy snack list can ever be complete without mentioning avocados. This little green fruit is packed with monounsaturated fatty acids and high fiber content, making it the best diabetic snack ever. These two elements can play a magnificent role in keeping your blood sugar levels under control after eating meals.
While most people love consuming avocados as a dip called guacamole, you can also have it sliced with your hard-boiled eggs, and sprinkled with lemon juice, salt, and pepper flakes. Or, how about having it on its own? There’s no possible way of going wrong with this diabetic snack.
6. Peanut Butter and Sliced Apples
Apples are a delicious treat on its own, whether you like them crunchy and sour or soft and sweet.
However, when paired with peanut butter, did you know they can become the ultimate diabetic snack?
As we know, apples are packed with several nutrients, such as potassium, vitamin B, and vitamin C. In contrast, peanut butter provides our body with the magnesium and vitamin E needed to help manage diabetes. Together, they become the best diabetic snack.
Apples and peanut butter are both rich in fiber, too but don’t get carried away once you start munching. One medium apple with two tablespoons of peanut butter is more than enough to help you manage your blood sugar. If you like a variety, you can switch apples with pears, bananas, or any other fruit of your liking too. In the end, you’ll enjoy similar benefits.
7. Roasted Chickpeas
Tired of sweet diabetic snacks and need something savory and crunchy? How about roasted chickpeas, sometimes also known as garbanzo beans.
Chickpeas are one of the most healthy legumes to take advantage of since one cup of chickpeas provides 12.5 grams of fiber and 14.5 grams of protein. These qualities are precisely why chickpeas qualify as one of the best diabetic snacks.
Chickpeas can help reduce diabetes risk since they play an amazing role in managing your blood sugar levels. Apart from consuming it as hummus, you can also roast whole chickpeas and add season as per your liking for a quick and crunchy snack that’s also best to take it on the go.
8. Cottage Cheese
Are you a cheese lover? Then this is a diabetic snack you’ll love.
Cottage cheese helps control your blood sugar levels since they have a high protein content. A study showed that men who consumed 25 grams of cottage cheese and 50 grams of sugar had 38% lower blood sugar levels than men who only had sugar.
Cottage cheese has a very subtle flavor with slight hints of salty notes as compared to other traditional cheeses. That’s because it has a higher fat content which gives it a milkier and lighter taste. While cottage cheese tastes best when consumed plain, you can also pair it with different fruits to increase fiber intake and nutritional value.
9. Popcorn
Just because you have diabetes doesn’t mean you’re not supposed to have fun. Enjoy your life with a balance, such as popcorn.
Popcorn is one of the healthiest whole-grain snacks in the world, not just the best diabetic snack. It has been considered one of the most suitable diabetic snacks since it has low calories and can help diabetic people manage their weight or even lose weight. One cup of popcorn only contains 31 calories and 1 gram of fiber, amazing right?
While the easiest option is to get the microwave popcorn, we’d recommend you limit that to “special occasions” only since they’re very high in fat and salt. Instead, get yourself some plain popcorn kernels and make your own in a pot. You can lightly season them to your liking.
10. Chia Seed Pudding
We saved the best for the last – chia seed pudding.
Chia seed pudding is one of the most delicious yet laziest diabetic snacks ever that can be made by soaking chia seeds in milk overnight to give it a pudding-like consistency. THAT’S IT!
Chia seeds are a very healthy snack since they’re rich in many nutrients that can stabilize your blood sugar levels, such as fiber, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids. Since chia seeds also have a fantastic adsorbing quality, such as water, they can help control diabetes by slowing the digestion process, which slows the release of sugar in the blood.
If you want to make the best diabetic snack out of chia seeds, just add some honey to taste your milk mixture and add your chia seeds. Let them set overnight, and enjoy it the next day paired with fruits of your liking, such as bananas. You can also mix in oats and make a delicious breakfast out of this diabetic snack.
Conclusion
Diabetes is a severe medical condition that affects more than 537 million adults worldwide. However, we also understand that living your life as a diabetic patient is not easy. That’s why we’ve created this ultimate list of the best diabetic snacks ever to help you have fun while monitoring your health. Try them and let us know, which of these was your favorite.
Note: If you’re allergic to any of the items mentioned above, kindly refrain from using them and search for the next best alternative instead. Also, if you notice a change in your diabetic condition, such as swollen legs or feet, poor heart health, or kidney issues, visit your doctor and get your tests done instantly.
