Before you say "oh no, not this again" I have decided that I will limit my "behavior modification" updates to just once per week. This is what's IN me right now, and I have to write about it. Poor Ron and Phil and my brother Mike, have to listen to it daily.
As a disclaimer, I am NOT a diet or exercise or even a diabetic professional. I am just sharing what I have found through research, trial and error, professional advice, etc. What I am sharing it totally MY opinion or MY take on all information I have gathered.
That said, when my dietitian helped me set up my new eating plan, she wanted me to consume 180 grams of carbs per day which is 12 servings of carbs. Even to my untrained eye, that just seemed like a lot. Granted, before I started this new me, I was probably eating a gazillion grams of carbs per day.
In my mind, 180 was too much, so I try to stay under 100. I'm not sure if I'm helping or hurting myself in the long run, but I gotta tell you, in doing things my way, I am dropping two to three pounds per WEEK. Seeing those numbers drop like that is totally addictive! I am seeing numbers I haven't seem in YEARS. I am wearing clothes that have been gathering dust in the back of my closet for years! So, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing as long as my back holds out.
Ok, on to this week's topic: SNACKS! When I talked to Sue, my dietitian, I told her I had an addiction to salty things. I need my pretzels almost as much as I need to breathe! So, 30 grams of my allotted 180 grams of carbs in my diet is for my pretzels! You gotta love that way of thinking!
I said earlier, my new life is all about decisions. I decide I like snacks so based on how many carbs I ate during the day is what kind of snack I have at night. Trust me, I do have a variety to choose from!
I have become a self proclaimed expert at reading the nutritional value labels on everything. I watch my carbs like no one's business. Let me give you one word of advice on reading labels. Not only do you want to know how many carbs are in an item, but also what constitutes a serving. Grrr, I've been burned by that one before! Check serving size!
Even my beloved pretzels differ. Depending on the brand and size, you can have a few or a lot! For example:
My favorite Utz brand pretzels from Sam's Club: this is the top snack for a day! Eight pretzel rods is 30 grams of carbs though. I REALLY have to want a snack and I have to REALLY want pretzels to eat 30 grams of useless carbs. I'm not going to say I don't do it, but I sure do it a lot less than I thought I would. It's all about decisions. Is 30 grams of carbs ok today? Some days the answer is yes. Some days, it's no. On the days when the answer is no, we move on down the list.
Who hasn't had Rold Gold pretzel sticks? Tiny but lovely little bits of happiness. And, I can have 48 sticks per serving for a total of 23 grams of carbs. A serving of Rold Gold looks like this:
Either way, if I'm having pretzels, I break them into smaller pieces. It's all about the hand to mouth comforting.
And, yes, I really do portion out my snacks like this. My one cup measuring cup and my little snack bags have become every day tools for me. I don't have to like it, but I do have to do it. Besides, when you have your snacks portioned out like this, it's easier to grab one bag and call it good. I know this is all I can have, so that's all I have. Again, this works good for me.
Next on the list is kettle corn! The two cups of kettle corn shown above is only 21 grams of carbs! And, two whole cups, some nights feels like you're getting a huge snack! That's a lot of hand to mouth comfort, I'm telling you! This was a pre-popped bag of kettle corn. If you buy the small snack bag size of microwave kettle corn, each snack bag runs about the same. The brand I have at home is 20 grams of carbs per bag. That's a good snack!
I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but this is becoming a fast favorite, even over the pretzels! If someone would have told me a month ago that I would suddenly LOVE celery with peanut butter, I'd have called them a liar! But the truth is, I can't get enough of it anymore! In my Jif creamy peanut butter, there are 7 grams of carbs per 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. I started out measuring 2 tablespoons and that just wasn't enough. I've doubled it, and what you see above is about 4 tablespoons of peanut butter, or 15 grams of carbs. To me, this makes a better sized snack. As a matter of fact, this was my snack last night and again today as part of my lunch. Who knew I'd grow to eat celery? I haven't done it in 47 years! Old dog, new trick! Scary!
If I've decided to eat more carbs during the day, I try to cut down on my snack at night. One of the first things they told me about eating as a diabetic is that you HAVE to eat. Often. Ok, that part I like hearing! So, a snack at night is important for me. If I don't want to spend any more carbs, I have alternatives.
A suggestion from Sue to cure a salt craving is to take cucumber and salt it. You'd be amazed how that works! I take about a cup of sliced cucumber, throw some salt on it and that's a snack. All that for a grand total of zero carbs and I've had a salt fix!
And, lastly, what I affectionately call my "cup of crap"!! This is a cup of whatever veggies I have on hand cut up. Here's what I mean:
Top left is my celery. These don't make the cup of crap too often, just because I prefer the celery with the peanut butter! Top right is okra and one broccoli stalk. I cut the stalk up in my salads! Bottom left is carrot sticks and bottom right is green beans. I've also had pea pods, broccoli, cauliflower and whatever else I can't think of right now. As soon as I bring this crap home, it gets cleaned and cut up. I'm much more likely to eat them if they are ready to eat!
The cup of crap above is an easy one of just carrot, green beans and okra. I've been buying cherry tomatoes like crazy and I like to add a few of those in my cups of crap as well. Again, zero carbs.
So there ya go. My most important food of the day, snacks! If this information helps you, great! If you have suggestions or ideas for other tasty low carb snacks, let me know!
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