Finding healthy snacks for diabetics can seem like a challenge at first, particularly if you have been recently diagnosed. In the beginning, you can’t help but focus on all the different foods that you are no longer allowed to have, and this sense of loss can be especially profound at snack time. When most of us think about snacking, our minds immediately turn to chips, pretzels, cookies, and candy, all of which are simply not part of a healthy diabetic diet. For those diabetics out there who feel like their snacking days are gone, I present to you one possible solution: almonds.
Almonds Are A Healthy Snack for Diabetics
Keeping blood sugar levels under control is the central point of any diabetic diet or treatment plan. Everything you eat when you are diabetic has to be weighed against how well it fits into that diet and whether or not it promotes good health. Luckily, almonds fit quite well into a healthy diabetic meal plan.
A one ounce serving of almonds contains about 150 calories, almost 4 grams of fiber, 13 grams of unsaturated fat, and lots of vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamin E. When you combine this with the fact that almonds contain very little carbohydrate other than fiber, you have one very diabetes-friendly snack.
Almonds Help Regulate Blood Sugar
Though anecdotal evidence regarding the effect of almonds on blood sugar levels has been around for some time, it is only recently that scientists are completing objective studies measuring how eating almonds affects blood sugar.
In two small studies, scientists have found that eating one ounce of almonds before eating a meal resulted in a smaller rise in blood sugar levels afterward than had the almonds not been eaten. It is thought that this is the result of the high levels of healthy fats, fiber, and vitamin E that we mentioned before. After twelve weeks of doing this, the participants’ A1C levels, or average blood glucose levels, were also significantly decreased.
Almonds Are Versatile
One of the best things about almonds, other than the health benefits we have already mentioned, are how versatile they are. They can be eaten simply out of hand, smoked, roasted, slivered and added to salads, ground and made into sauce, made into a tasty peanut butter substitute that is much better for you, mixed into yogurt, and added to diabetes-friendly foods in more ways than you can imagine.
Diabetes is a tough disease to live with because of all the foods that you can no longer have, but you have to remember that a proper diet is a vital component of diabetes treatment and is required in order to maintain normal blood sugar levels. The next time you feel like a snack, don’t worry about not being able to grab a cookie or a few chips. Grab a handful of almonds instead. Not only are they good for you, but make easy diabetic snacks with limitless applications that can help keep your body healthy and your palate interested. Just watch the calories and make sure that you do not overindulge.