Why Snacking in Important for Diabetic Children?

As we all know, diet & nutrition are important for a healthy lifestyle. But is it possible that when your child have diabetes and still have fun eating? Certainly they can. The reason is, consuming snacks is very crucial of every child’s daily meal plan, especially for those kids with diabetes. Normally, when parents first notice that their child have diabetes, they can’t stop thinking about how to control their kid’s diet and change their kid’s eating habits. But, kids with diabetes still can eat healthfully and still can enjoy snacks. Most of the people are told to stay away from heavy meals and stretch their eating throughout the day, therefore, kids snacking can actually be encouraged.

Nearly all diabetic diets or meal plan will have at least 2 to 3 snacks per day in order to maintain a balanced diet, but, parents must watch on what their kid eat over the whole day and are within the individualized nutritional goals of the child. The main part to uphold an active child’s blood glucose level is to get the balance between the child’s insulin, intake of food and also physical activity. This is because insulin and exercises will help to lower down the blood sugar levels where foods can raise blood sugar levels, particularly carbohydrates.

According to some experts, foods will need to change as the kids with diabetes grow and they have to become more physically active. Snacks may be necessary in preventing blood sugar from dropping too low between meals. But these should not be snack foods high in sugar and fat, like candy or chips. Furthermore there are studies from doctors and nutritionists indicate that snacks for children with diabetes should originate from: grains, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. Additionally, they recommend using the Food Pyramid for Kids as a reliable guide to understanding food groups and portion sizes.

Foods can become healthy snacks with only a few modifications. A piece of fresh fruit, carrot and celery sticks are always a good idea, low-fat sugar-free yogurt, low-fat popcorn are examples of low fat snacks. In addition, parents can add a few spurts of butter-flavored spray and a add garlic or onion powder on popcorn make a tasty snack that can help to avoid high concentrations of fat and sodium. Parents can also include bran muffins, graham crackers, cereal and milk in their children’s diet or make it as snack.

Usually, kids with diabetes have the tendency to over snack for fear of low blood sugar levels. Therefore, if parents are not alert of this kind of situation, it may cause problems as they try to respond to the child's elevated blood sugar levels. That is why it is so important that their meal plans and diets need to be well-monitored by adults. This also can make sure that the children nutrition status is achieved and not over or malnutrition because of diabetes.