Snacks before Bedtime

What are some you guys snacks that you have at bed time? My doctor tells me to eat a snack before bedtime as I have often woke up in middle of night or early morning with a low blood glucose and it’s a horrible feeling and scary. I don’t want to wake up with a very high glucose either.

So let me know

Hey Germain,
I’m new to the forum but not to diabetes. I just came from the doctor and was told to eat a snack before bedtime as well. My problem is my BG spikes high during the night. If I have a snack before bed I typically wake up 100-120. If I don’t eat I’m 140-180.
Give it a try for a week or so and see if it works for you.
Jerry

I somtimes eat a snack if I am going into bed in the 80’s or lower. I eat a spoonful oif peanut butter. Protein, fat and I don’t bolus for any carbs for it. Keeps me steady all night long.

Well, that is the beauty of Diabetes! You get to do what so many other healthy people would like to do but cannot or do not for fear of weight gain. But we get to have a snack!

I do understand what you feel like! I have in the past had such bad hypos that I do know that I should eat, but do not know what to eat, or even how! I do not know whether you live alone, but that does make it worse! Part of the reason you feel so scared is because one of the things that happen when you have a hypo is that your adrenilin kicks in “BIG TIME” and that makes you anxious or panicky!

Either you need to reduce your bed time insulin - I am guessing that you might be on a “human” or analogue slow acting insulin at night. Or, as your doctor says, need a snack!

I tend to have a couple of mini bars - say Snickers or similar and a handful of small crackers or chilli bites. That usually does it for me and I do not wake up high in the morning. The insulin you give yourself before bed will still be in the system and can deal with it.

I am now on Pork insulin - long story - and most of the time I do not have such a problem - except for some reason when I am staying with my mother, then I hypo far more frequently and almost guaranteed to do so at night.

It is a well known fact that the sugar levels are at their lowest at around 3 am. It might be worth setting your alarm to just before that time to check and record, for a few nights at least to see if you can work out an average.

I do not know if you are hypo aware or not. I am not. Sometimes when I wake higher than normal and I have a feeling as though I have a hangover, though I have not had anything alcoholic it is almost certain that my blood sugars dropped low, but not low enough for me to wake with it. Your body will eventually correct it and probably over compensate, causing the higher wake up readings.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get on!

My favorite evening snack is cottage cheese with some Sriracha sauce. Sometimes, I’ll mix things up and have Sriracha sauce with some cottage cheese. Other foods might include cheese or nuts. Anything with a high protein content will digest slowly over time and additional fat will just slow that digestion. If you go low at 2am, but eat your snack at 10pm, you really need something that digests slowly.

Now that’s something different – I will have to give that a try. How much Sriracha sauce do you add to your cottage cheese?

Eat something with protein that digests very slowly. If you are under 100 before bed eat a snack to raise your bg to 100 in addition to the protein. What type of insulin are you using? Something that may help you is to do a overnight basal test you should get the book “Using Insulin” which explains all about it.

I’ll start with a half cup of cottage cheese and a tablespoon of Sriracha. Then I’ll stir it around and make a big pink sludge. If I’m really hungry, I’ll have another half cup with some more Sriracha. Sometimes I’ll get some of those spicy indian pickles and throw them in too.