Why a candy bar is the wrong thing to eat when you have a low

In diabetes education classes, the most common advice given is to eat a candy bar or have a soda when you have a blood sugar low. Why is this a bad idea? When your blood sugar drops low, it only needs a little help to get back up, i.e. 5-8 grams of carbohydrates. When you have a snack that has 20 plus grams of carbs, your blood sugar will shoot up and then you will have to get it back down to a normal level. This leads to unneeded stress on your body and unwanted fatigue.

So…what should you eat when your blood sugar drops?

Aim for 5-8 carbs…anything under 5 grams of carbohydrates won’t really move your blood sugar much at all, so you just want a little over that.

• Half of a tangerine
• ½- ¾ cup of blueberries
• 6 strawberries
• ½ bell pepper
• ½ cup of almond or coconut milk
• A small handful of nuts

Do your own research to find more snacks, but these are simple ones to start with!

Try this and then start to experiment to see what your favorites are and say GOODBYE to unnecessary highs and lows!