Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard has worked in the diabetes research field ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
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Which foods/drinks do you prefer to use to treat a low? Share your favorites in the comments! Cancel reply
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Sometimes I use energy bars like Larabar or Bob’s Better Bar
Glucase is the only way I know exactly what I’m getting. Otherwise, I start sugar surfing between lows and highs.
I know I cause a spike but nothing works faster for me than soda. And it is pretty easy to find.
When I’m home or in my car, I count on a little can of pineapple juice. it has carbs in the mid 20’s. I also always carry a roll of lifesavers in my pants pocket for times when I’m away from the juice, such as in a store, etc. In certain cases the lifesavers were just that! However, because they’re tough to chew I don’t just eat them for fun so a roll may last me months.
MILK!
It has fat, protein, and carbs! Helps stabilize with our over correcting with sugary items! I only use candy in my purse or car because because you can’t have milk with you everywhere.
I don’t like milk, but during my pregnancy my doctor told me to drink a glass before bedtime depending on how my readings were. It was perfect for the reasons you list!
In a situation where we need to get my husband’s blood sugar up quickly, we use glucose tablets because we know exactly how many carbs he is getting and they work quickly. However, when we catch a downward trend soon enough – especially – at night, he prefers to use Muscle Milk because they don’t spike his BG and he doesn’t have to follow them with protein rich food to avoid a crash on on the other side.
When my blood glucose goes low, I want pure carbs, in liquid form, to get digested quickly. For year, my go to was pure juice. However, I developed digestive acid problems, plus gastroparesis. Now, my go to is pure honey. Works great.
In addition to the things I checked off yesterday, my go-to’s are cookies, cereal, and toast.
Milk works for me also
I marked candy. Specifically Airheads. They are easy to chew and turn to liquid before I even have time to swallow. I don’t get a lot of lows, but want to treat them quickly when I do and the Airheads fit the bill quite nicely.
I really miss soda, so when I’m at home, I go for a quarter cup (roughly 15 grams of carbs) of that. I also use glucose tablets. I miss juice too, but it goes bad way before I can use it up. Anything with fat in it takes too long if I am really low.
Honey works fast, though I do sometimes get a spike. A tablespoon of honey w/ a half tablespoon of honey seems to work for lows from 45-70 for me.
If I’m home,. 4 oz of apple juice works quickly without causing a rebound spike. If in the car or outside I’ll use glucose tabs or energy gummies.
Tortilla Chips
Anything with dextrose as the main ingredient…sweet tarts, smarties, bottle caps, pixie sticks. They are cheaper than glucose tablets and also easier to portion out (I don’t always need four or eight or more grams of carbs to fix me back up, depending on the situation). Years ago I always drank orange juice for a low but it truly takes a lot longer to digest and thus, I feel crummy for longer. The dextrose thing is a Dr. Bernstein trick, I highly recommend it!
I keep a little jar of jelly beans (1 carb each) next to my bed and also some dried apricots (4 carbs each). Depending how low I am I can switch between the two. The problem with the jelly beans is that the sugar sticks to your teeth and you have to chew a bit before swallowing. I will check out the airheads someone mentioned I would like something that turns to liquid sooner.
I prefer ice cream but I use glucose tablets! Ice cream is one of my favorites but not great for treating lows. Sigh🙁
Smarties, glucose tabs and honey are my goto’s.
Glucose and Kind bars. Milk if I am seriously low. Then, anything I really enjoy that has around 16 grams of carbs. There’s an ice cream bar that is 16 carbs. Yum.
I primarily use glucose tabs because they are predictable. Sometimes jelly or honey.
I use jelly beans during the day They don’t melt or break up when I go for a walk on the forest trails and use marshmallows at night because I don’t have my teeth in
A shot glass of pure maple syrup.
My preference is to eat a lot of candy, especially the gummy kind. I stick with grape juice since I don’t care for it and it’s easier to stay on track, especially when I get that low type of hunger where the kitchen contents mysteriously vanish.
Dex 4 is my go to. Haven’t used them in quite some time but they are always around or on my person. As I always say thank God for Tandem and Dexcom they make things much more manageable as does Keto.
I use glucose tablets at night, because I do not have my glasses on and cannot measure anything. But during the day in summertime, a teaspoon of honey does the trick. Honey hardens in winter so much that it no longer pours. So then I use a standard size marshmallow. I cannot use marshmallows in summer because they melt. Things like milk and cereal no longer work for me, as they take too long to bring up my BG.
My go to at home is juice. But when I’m shopping or out in my car somewhere I use jellybeans, or smarties or a glucose shot or glucotab.
I dislike the taste of traditional gluco-tabs, so I use mega-sized Smarties — one tablet = 4 grams of carbs, which raises me 10 points. Typically I only eat one at a time, but depending on how low I am or whether I have insulin on board, I might eat two at a time.
You can buy them by the box on Amazon.com. I have them on Subscribe & Save, and they cost about $22 for 24 rolls.
At home I have some Capri Sun pouches on my nightstand for any overnight lows. They work fast for me and it takes little effort to down the whole thing. I do also have glucose tablets by my bed but those are a chore to eat, especially at night. For daytime at home I will sometimes use glucose tabs, or 5g lollipops. Milk also raises my BG quickly. Pure fruit juice seems to take longer than everything else.
I like Capri Suns too!
Skittles are my go-to when I’m in trouble. Fast-acting and I don’t have to eat my weight in them to make a difference. Otherwise, I sip as much juice as I need for that particular event.
I named juice, soda and candy as my favorites, though I’ve used everything on the list except sugar cubes. Liquid carbs are my go-to if handy because they bring me up quick. Grape juice is a quick acting juice, but harder to find in boxes these days. I picked soda and candy because they are the most delicious forms of recovery, but controlling how much of these you consume when you’re low is hard. Glucose tabs have the benefit being be disgusting so do you don’t want to eat anymore than you have to.
Honey! So yummy. And if I’m about to exercise, I’ll eat a spoonful of PB and honey after the initial spoon of honey to maintain my BG during my workout.
Juice definitely works best and quickest for me. I also use glucose gummies, Go-Go Squeez applesauce pouches, and Smarties.
Grape Juice is my go-to. Works quickly and it’s better than any juice with corn syrup. Soda works well too but I try to avoid caffeine. Its also works quickly but not very healthy.
Rice bran syrup. Since it is pure glucose (unlike honey which is 50% fructose which needs to be converted to glucose by the liver) it is the fastest acting thing there is.
Clif Bloks for when I’m out. They’re not too dry like glucose tabs. (Watch out, some have caffeine.)
https://www.clifbar.com.au/shop/product_line/bloks-energy-chews
My favorite and most effective carb to treat lows is Welch’s Fruit Chews. Approximately 2g per gummy and they work within 5-8 minutes to bring up BG. Also, they dissolve quickly in the cheek, so are effective if I’m unresponsive. The packets are difficult to open sometimes, so I bought little ziploc bags to carry them in my purse for easy access. I avoid juice and most candy (other than jelly beans LOL!) as it’s too easy to over-correct the low.
Not sure how so many others find it effective to use glucose tabs, or honey, or other straight candy alone. For me, it definitely requires more complex carbs to maintain the correction. A Tate’s cookie is my go to after glucose tabs.
Fanta soda has the most carbs and works the fastest for me, then glucose tablets. All the others taste good but take longer.
Glucose dummies
*gummies, not dummies 🤦🏻♀️