Type 1: Post-hypo healthy 20g long-acting carb snack for Backpacking

[AMcG]

Hi there

I was diagnosed type 1 in March so just getting to grips with everything! I am going travelling soon to South East Asia and need to carry with me some emergency long-acting carb hypo treatments with me, roughly about 20g and I want them low fat and low sugar as I've put weight on since being diagnosed and am trying to get rid of it

Because we will be backpacking they also need to be in wrappers with a long shelf-life.

Any advice on good brands / actual products? A lot of the cereal bars I find are full of sugar

Thanks!
Amy

 

[SB2015]

For a days walk I use Wurthers. They are indeed sugar, but they help me keep my level around 5 during the day’s walk. I use a Libre to monitor and if needed pop a Wurther.

For longer acting I use cereal bars, but find the long actedness of them makes things more unrpredictable. I use a Temporary reduction in my Basal rate on my pump and reduced bolus for meals, and Wurthers as necessary during the day, which accounts for steeper sections and my tiredness towards the end of the day.

 

[Matt Cycle]

Hi. Feel a bit envious as I always wanted to go to that area when I was younger - Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand etc. Hope you enjoy your trip. 🙂 A you know for a hypo you need something fast acting, e.g. dextrosol tablets. For trying to prevent hypos when hiking or whatever then you can do as SB says and top up with sweets as you go. Carb Killa bars are low sugar but still have around 14g carb. Quite expensive and do contain polyols although you can probably buy in bulk from Amazon. There are similar high protein/low sugar/moderate carb bars. Home Bargains sell one a lot cheaper than the Carb Killas - I think it's called ProFirst (at my local one it's in the sporty drink/whey protein section).

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I’ve never needed to follow up ‘normal’ hypos with longer acting carbs. I found early on that if I followed up once I had got up over 4.0 I just kept rising into the teens so I kinda stopped automatically following up hypos with something longer lasting.

Your Diabetes May Vary, of course!

I would have thought that it would be more important to reduce your insulin generally (both meal doses / ratio and background) rather than chase your regular insulin doses with extra carbs.

Both the heat and the extra activity are likely to make you more sensitive to insulin, so you might find cranking things down 10% or so at a time might reduce the need for hypo treatments and follow-ups?

 

[Radders]

I am not sure that “slow acting” and low fat go together!

I love 9 bars and Nature Valley bars but neither are low calorie. Alpen Light bars are low calorie and may be slow enough in the context of strenuous exercise, but you’d need two. How about raisins or sultanas? You could pre-package 20g of carbs worth in ziplock bags or similar (about 30g sultanas). Quite compact and they keep. Not terribly slow but again if you’re doing lots of exercise and feeling hypo that may not matter.

 

[New-journey]

Hi there

I was diagnosed type 1 in March so just getting to grips with everything! I am going travelling soon to South East Asia and need to carry with me some emergency long-acting carb hypo treatments with me, roughly about 20g and I want them low fat and low sugar as I've put weight on since being diagnosed and am trying to get rid of it

Because we will be backpacking they also need to be in wrappers with a long shelf-life.

Any advice on good brands / actual products? A lot of the cereal bars I find are full of sugar

Thanks!
Amy

Hi Amy
It is brilliant you are going to South East Asia so soon after diagnose, so inspiring. I am sure you will have a fantastic time and good idea to take bars with you. I travel too and done lots of research and still not got the perfect bar! I now buy Pulsin ones, as they don't add sugar, one has stevia others just dates. I imagine you are still producing some insulin so it will be good to have healthy bars for you to munch on as you are travelling. There is another one which I will now go and find! . https://www.pulsin.co.uk/raspberry-acai-fruit-nut-bar.html

You can find them in most supermarkets.

 

[AMcG]

Hi. Feel a bit envious as I always wanted to go to that area when I was younger - Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand etc. Hope you enjoy your trip. 🙂 A you know for a hypo you need something fast acting, e.g. dextrosol tablets. For trying to prevent hypos when hiking or whatever then you can do as SB says and top up with sweets as you go. Carb Killa bars are low sugar but still have around 14g carb. Quite expensive and do contain polyols although you can probably buy in bulk from Amazon. There are similar high protein/low sugar/moderate carb bars. Home Bargains sell one a lot cheaper than the Carb Killas - I think it's called ProFirst (at my local one it's in the sporty drink/whey protein section).

Hi Matt
Thanks for your message. I am taking dextrose tablets for fast-acting carbs. Will have a look for those ProFirst bars, you're right those other ones are quite pricey, but I hadn't thought to look at fitness / body building bars, thank you!
As for travelling SEA, my partner and I were made redundant earlier in the year (around the time of my diagnosis!) so we've gone freelance and are hoping to make a bit of a habit of travelling from now on! Never too old I say 🙂

 

[AMcG]

I’ve never needed to follow up ‘normal’ hypos with longer acting carbs. I found early on that if I followed up once I had got up over 4.0 I just kept rising into the teens so I kinda stopped automatically following up hypos with something longer lasting.

Your Diabetes May Vary, of course!

I would have thought that it would be more important to reduce your insulin generally (both meal doses / ratio and background) rather than chase your regular insulin doses with extra carbs.

Both the heat and the extra activity are likely to make you more sensitive to insulin, so you might find cranking things down 10% or so at a time might reduce the need for hypo treatments and follow-ups?

Hi Mike, I am just getting used to it still tbh. I was advised to follow hypo+fast-acting carb with a slow one, but I am often ending up in the teens (probs why i've put on the weight!!!) so perhaps I need to reduce that too all trial and error at the moment, and more of the error!

I am chatting with my diabetes team about reducing insulin for the extra heat and activity, but yes I think I am going to start off extremely reserved with the insulin! Don't fancy too many hypos in unfamiliar places, it's bad enough when it hits out and about in England....

Thanks so much

 

[AMcG]

I am not sure that “slow acting” and low fat go together!

I love 9 bars and Nature Valley bars but neither are low calorie. Alpen Light bars are low calorie and may be slow enough in the context of strenuous exercise, but you’d need two. How about raisins or sultanas? You could pre-package 20g of carbs worth in ziplock bags or similar (about 30g sultanas). Quite compact and they keep. Not terribly slow but again if you’re doing lots of exercise and feeling hypo that may not matter.

Ooo raisins / sultanas is a good idea for hikes and super cheap - thank you! We will be doing some hikes so that will be great 🙂

 

[AMcG]

Hi Amy
It is brilliant you are going to South East Asia so soon after diagnose, so inspiring. I am sure you will have a fantastic time and good idea to take bars with you. I travel too and done lots of research and still not got the perfect bar! I now buy Pulsin ones, as they don't add sugar, one has stevia others just dates. I imagine you are still producing some insulin so it will be good to have healthy bars for you to munch on as you are travelling. There is another one which I will now go and find! . https://www.pulsin.co.uk/raspberry-acai-fruit-nut-bar.html

You can find them in most supermarkets.

Thank you! I am so excited, my partner and I were made redundant around the time of my diagnosis so it seemed like the opportune time, decided to not let this stop me doing what I want to do! Great to hear that you are a traveller too, fills me with encouragement

Yes - protein bars I hadn't thought of that at all they look great thank you so much for your advice! Legend

 

[AMcG]

For a days walk I use Wurthers. They are indeed sugar, but they help me keep my level around 5 during the day’s walk. I use a Libre to monitor and if needed pop a Wurther.

For longer acting I use cereal bars, but find the long actedness of them makes things more unrpredictable. I use a Temporary reduction in my Basal rate on my pump and reduced bolus for meals, and Wurthers as necessary during the day, which accounts for steeper sections and my tiredness towards the end of the day.

Thanks for your advice !

 

[Barbie1]

I use Nakd bars as my "carry everywhere snack bar in a wrapper". They are basically dried fruit and quite small and lightweight. My personal favourite is the Bakewell Tart flavour.

 

[Radders]

I use Nakd bars as my "carry everywhere snack bar in a wrapper". They are basically dried fruit and quite small and lightweight. My personal favourite is the Bakewell Tart flavour.

Love those, but usually limit such snacks to 15g so my favourite is the gingerbread one which seems to be less commonly stocked unfortunately.

 

[Matt Cycle]

I use Nakd bars as my "carry everywhere snack bar in a wrapper". They are basically dried fruit and quite small and lightweight. My personal favourite is the Bakewell Tart flavour.

Oh yes, forgot to mention these before. I get the Aldi ones - called 'That's it' raw fruit bars in packets of 5, obviously a lot cheaper than the Nakd bars but with less choice of flavours. For @AMcG they're exactly 20g CHO.

 

[Radders]

Oh yes, forgot to mention these before. I get the Aldi ones - called 'That's it' raw fruit bars in packets of 5, obviously a lot cheaper than the Nakd bars but with less choice of flavours. For @AMcG they're exactly 20g CHO.

I spotted something similar in Lidl today.

 

[christophe]

Surviving the days with toasted coconut flakes and macadamia nuts.. they are growing on the shelves of Sainsbury's but can't say how available they are in the wild.. found Eat Natural protein bars at 14g carb, Nature Valley as above. To be honest anything with carbs in it means an injection for me unless I have a small amount so I go for something that is easy to pack and repack .. the bars for example would take me around six hours to eat, but the wrapping allows me to keep them going.. I guess a few resealable bags would work on the road especially if you do that trick where you roll them up around the contents to push most of the air out, then seal.

 

[AMcG]

@Barbie1 and @Matt Cycle - thanks! The aldi ones look great and don't break the bank. Perfect. Just had a look online and it looks like lidl has just brought out a range of healthy snacks, protein balls and 'graze' boxes so might have a look there too. Google 'lidl new range of healthy snacks' - super cheap too!

And thanks @christophe i'm hoping to find some raw fruit in food markets and of course taking many ziplock bags with me (they seem to be a bit of a backpacker currency) so will hopefully have all sorts of weird and wonderful dried fruit snacks 🙂