A question came up in my chorus:
How can people who bring snacks for rehearsal break be sensitive and supportive to singers with diabetes?
Let's start with (and in part two, eventually return to) the limits of what a group member who has normal blood sugar levels and metabolism can do to support diabetics and pre-diabetics in the group:
- You cannot fix us.
- You need not cater to us. It's thoughtful and kind to take us into account, but not expected every week or from every person.
- Broadly speaking, there's no food diabetics "can't eat"; we live in the real world and make complex food decisions and trade-offs every day, including sweets and baked goods.
- It's more helpful to broaden options than to restrict them.
What kinds of snacks provide good nutrition for us, as well as for normoglycemics?
- whole fruit
- nuts, seeds, and legumes (e.g. snap peas, edamame, chickpeas, beans)
- vegetables
- dips based on hummus, cottage cheese, Greek or Icelandic yogurt, nut butters, or beans
- cheese
- egg bites/mini quiche, especially if made with egg whites/substitutes
What about baked goods?
- Bring 'em.
- Cookies are easier for us to manage than, for example, cake; and small cookies easier than large ones.
- Girl Scout cookies provide a lot of popular flavors in an easily "dosable" size.
- Some European- or Latin American-style cookies, with less sugar and more texture as well as smaller size, can be a good choice.
- Crackers are not a bad choice.
- Whole-grain options are good, provided the result remains reasonably palatable. You don't want to bring stuff no one wants to eat.
- Type 1 diabetics are about 10 times likelier than the general population to be diagnosed with celiac disease, with severe systemic consequences from consumption of gluten. (See related resource below.)
What about packaged "healthy" baked goods?
It's hit or miss. They're often not that far from candy bars, relatively weak on fiber, or involve trade-offs like the high saturated-fat content of a lot of protein bars. It's not at all a bad idea to have some on hand, but we need to evaluate each according to our general or particular needs.
Standard snack packs of popcorn or chips in the 100–200 calorie range offer some of the same benefit with less calculation involved.
What about low-carb foods?
Language and consciousness about "carbs" is confused and confusing. Don't worry about it.
- You don't need to count carbs for us. We do that in our sleep.
- The value to diabetics of calculating "net carbs" vs total carbs is zero.
- Higher fiber and more nutritionally complex foods are better for all of us than straight refined carbohydrate, but for diabetics, that value does not reduce to a simple arithmetic formula.
What about artificially sweetened foods?
Another mixed bag. Recent research implicates a couple of sugar alcohols as increasing diabetics' already elevated cardiovascular risk. Less definitive research suggests exacerbation of other risks we already have, such as obesity and hypertension. And like any sweets, they may increase sugar cravings.
What about foods marketed as specifically diabetic-friendly?
In general, do not expect enthusiasm, or utility. If we wanted to sprinkle Sucralose on cardboard, or give ourselves diarrhea, we could do that in the comfort of our own homes.
What about high-protein foods?
- Cheese can work.
- Protein bars can work (see caveat above under "healthy" baked goods).
- Whole eggs, often recommended, may carry more cholesterol than some of us can handle. (See egg bites/mini quiche under kinds of snacks above.)
- In general, meats may involve trade-offs with cholesterol and animal fats.
- Sodium and/or saturated fat aside, jerky and charcuterie and other traditionally preserved meats carry a high general risk of colon cancer.
As with baked goods, you'll probably find welcome consumers for any high-protein source, and risk calculation is probably best left to those of us at risk.
What if no one eats what I bring?
Across all the categories discussed, don't bring anything in such quantity that you don't want to take it home and eat it yourself.
Are there good resources online for diabetic feeding and eating?
Yes, although many of them seem to assume more time to shop, prepare, and enjoy than many of us have during the work week, and don't take portability and sharability into account.
- For bakers, the American Diabetes Association Food Hub is a springboard.
- Abbott's Eat right on the go emphasizes portability; it's aimed at individuals, but also contains a good overview.
- For ready-to-eat packaged snacks, here's a cheat sheet from EatingWell.*
EatingWell.com is an incredibly rich resource for a range of special dietary needs and approaches. It's science-based, woman-directed, dietician-informed, comprehensive in addressing food issues, and exhaustive in explaining its criteria and methods. I discovered EatingWell through the packaged-snack cheat sheet mentioned above; I happened to have been familiar with about half the recommended products, and could judge that they had been selected in good faith and on their merits.*
I'm grateful for the question that prompted the sparking up of this moribund occasional blog. I look forward to springboarding off it to part two: How Not to Help Diabetics.
* I have no affiliate, promotional, or any other commercial relation with any of the entities mentioned or cited in this post, or with any of the products they may recommend.
