New to Diabetes and would like some help with free foods

My daughter was just dx'd 3/31/10. I posted under the Introductions to hear a little more about that.

Anyway, I wanted some feedback on what everyone uses for free foods.

What do your kids enjoy and what can I stock up on for the times that she is still feeling hungry.

Thanks
Kristi

 

Sugar free Jell-O, celery w/peanut butter or lite ranch dressing, salami these are my son's favorites. (Walmart has their own brand of sugar free jell-o which is way less $$ than Jell-O brand. They also have their own version of Crystal Lite.) Scrambled egg, too.

 

lunch meat
cheese
turkey bacon
pickles
egg

 

Any kind of cheese, hard cheeses, American, string cheese, cream cheese on a piece of celery, brocolli dipped in ranch, baby carrots (small handful) hard boiled eggs, pepperoni, slim jims, any kind of deli meat, chicken strips sauted with some spices thrown in for flavor, cucumber slices, bacon

 

Hi Kristi and welcome.

first, let me just assure you that this ravenously hungry child will not always be that way (in case you were wondering) in the weeks after dx, kids are trying to refuel their bodies since they had been starving for quite some time.

so...we don't use free foods much anymore, but when we did, cheese, cottage cheese, nuts, like peanuts and cashews were all our favorites.

What sort of insulin regimen are you on? If you're finding that with your current system she's always hungry, then do start to see what alternatives there are. Kids shouldn't be hungry - kids should be kids. You shouldn't have to feed them based on their insulin, you should give insulin based on their food.

 

We keep hard boiled eggs and string cheese around. Also someone had mentioned cottage cheese, lunchmeats, logan likes pepperoni.

 

Cheese, cheese and more cheese. String, cubes, spreads, every variety you can think of. Cottage cheese, too.

Lunchmeats. Pepperoni.

Eggs. She burnt out quickly on hard boiled eggs, but I've since taught her how to make an omlet, and now she can make herself a carb-free snack by herself if she's too hungry to wait for dinner. She's quite proud of her new specialty, and often cooks breakfast for her brother, now, too.

The only non-protein "free food" she'll eat is sugar-free jello.

 

I feel like I should whisper this one: pork skins...gross but helps with that munchie need.

My son hates cheese by itself, but he likes thinly sliced ham, pepperoni (I buy the turkey type), beef jerky (read labels, not all are free), wraps made with lettuce, salads with minimal dressing, sausage (watch fats though, can cause a spike), grilled chicken, olives, nuts in small quantities.

 

Amanda likes String cheese, hard boiled eggs, salami, black olives, slim jims, Crystal light to drink (any flavor) sugar free jello, celery with cream cheese on it..deli meats, pickles, any cut up veggies, carrots, raw broccoli..any veggie she will eat...Cheese, pepperoni,

 

whipped cream or cool whip...my daughter would eat a bowlful. You can freeze the cool whip & it is like ice cream. I can't remember the carbs..but very low like 1 or 2.

kim

 

My daughter really likes thinly sliced salami or ham, cream cheese spread on it and roll it up.

Cottage cheese is a favorite--throw in a few slices of peeled apple--all under 5g carb!

In the summer here, our fav grocery store carries these mini popcicles--about 3 carbs each. Love it!

 

Carrot sticks and hummus - homemade usually but sometimes bought
Scrambled eggs
small tin of tuna/chicken chunks
Peanuts - but not too many as they can make him go high
Cheese - same as peanuts above
Slices of red or green pepper (capsicum)

 

Fresh berries
Red Bell Pepper with Feta cheese
smart foods popcorn

 

Slim Jims, beef jerky, Babybel cheese (he loves these so much, I've started buying them in bulk at BJ's!), pepperoni, celery with ranch dip, Light & Fit Carb contol vanilla yogurt (3g carbs), summer sausage (I keep it cut up in the fridge - he has always loved it and is thrilled that it is "free")

His absolute favorite 15g carb snack is the new "Breakfast On the Go" Trail mix pouches from Emerald. He loves the Smores blend - he keeps them in his backpack and baseball gear bag, and we always have some in both our cars.

 

lunch meat
cottage cheese
sugar free jello
sugar free popsicles (these are great in the summer, especially, and remain a favorite of the whole family)
nuts (he's really into pecans right now)
all other kinds of cheese
a few strawberries (you'd be surprised how many strawberries you can get for less than 5 carbs)
raw veggies (with or without dip) especially pepper strips and cherry tomatoes
pickles (not sweet)

Free drinks:
diet pop (caffeine free)
Propel "flavored water"
Crystal Light (many stores carry "owned brand"
Minute Maid Fruit Falls (convenient juice-box style pouch)
iced tea with sweetener

We use free snacks if we don't want to load up completely on carbs. We have used free snacks at bedtime, when we were struggling with a post-bed rise (now fixed with better basal) and for kindergarten to eliminate a nurse trip mid morning (unless there is a birthday treat) and keep him in the classroom.

We are lucky that DS likes LOTS of foods, so our range of choices is wide.

 

Thank you all for your feedback!!!

I told her about slim jims and a big smile came over her face.

Frizzy, as far as insulin regimen - CHOC hospital sends you home with an inital base and correction scale. Each night we call in with her bg numbers and they adjust the dose according to her numbers over the last 24 hours.

After 2 weeks we should have an actual base to go off of.

In the beginning her numbers were hi and her body was fighting the insulin. She was still in the 400's after being in the hospital for 3 days. Her numbers are now finally starting to come down so I now that they will continue to lower her dose.

We are using Humalog, NPH & Lantus. Breakfast is Humalog & NPH, Dinner is Humalog & Lantus. We have a correction scale for lunch. This morning she received 15 Humalog & 24 NPH.

I am still learning here, but she is doing great!

Thanks again for all the feedback!

 

Ashleigh eats sugar free jello, cheese sticks, pork rinds, beef jerkey

 

have you seen the pepperoni dots? fun and cute!!

Crystal

 

The NPH might be what is causing a lot of the hunger. I had to install a mental barn lock on our fridge after my son was diagnosed. With the NPH, we had to feed it, not feed Sloan, the way it is supposed to be. He was always hungry, but wasn't able to eat as he wanted because of the NPH. We changed to a different endo and are now on Lantus and NovoLog and life is soooo much easier.

As far as free snacks go, Sloan eats lots of peanut butter. He also likes the low carb yogurt (Kroger has some that are 4 or 5 carbs). The small Danino kids yogurts are a nice snack size and low carb as well. Popcorn is a great option. 1 cup is only 5 carbs.

 

Welcome to the forum

My daughter was ravenously hungry - but only for about 3-4 weeks - after that her appetite returned to 'normal' / pre D.

I can't add many foods to the already comprehensive list, however we used her hunger to introduce a whole range of new foods to her diet (she was 2 1/2) and have never looked back. I remember making curries and fish dishes, introducing cucumber sticks and many other free foods, all relatively low in carbs, but therefore giving a good portion to help feed the hunger.