TIPS AND SNACK
IDEAS FOR SCHOOL KIDS WITH DIABETES
Diabetes is the world’s fastest growing chronic disease, affecting people
of all ages. In South Africa, reliable statistics on children with diabetes are
not available, but Johannesburg paediatric endocrinologist, Dr David Segal,
estimates that about 6 000 children under the age of 14 are currently diagnosed
every year.
There are many different types of diabetes, with type 1 diabetes
mellitus and type 2 diabetes mellitus being the most common. Approximately 90%
of children with diabetes have Type 1 diabetes. According to the South African
Diabetes Research Group, type 1 diabetes is growing by 3% per year in children
and adolescents and by 5% in pre-school children.
If you have a child with diabetes, you will know how difficult it can be
to keep them on their diet. And now that your child is back at
school, it may be even harder.
It is very important to make sure that your child's school and their
main teacher know that they have diabetes. Explain their needs and
what the possible symptoms could be. Written instructions and guidelines from
parents can be very helpful,” says Shelley Harris, Public Relations Manager of
Novo Nordisk (SA), local division of the world’s leading diabetes healthcare
company.
Make sure that there is always some emergency glucose on hand in case of
a low blood sugar attack (hypoglycaemia). A small bottle of juice or one or two
glucose sweets should be sufficient to prevent the situation from becoming more
serious. This should be followed by a snack, eg a fruit,
sandwich etc.
Registered dietician Liesbet Delport recommends the following healthy
snacks for school:
Popcorn, dried fruit (preferably low-GI), nuts, or trail mix with nuts,
seeds and sultanas, veggies like carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and baby
tomatoes, low GI-fruits like apples, pears, apricots, grapes and naartjies,
provitas with small cubes of lower fat cheese, low-GI sandwiches with
peanut butter or low-fat chicken mayo and
lettuce, low-fat yoghurt, biltong (without fat) or game
biltong and cereal and fruit bars. "Bokomo's low-GI fruit and cereal bars
and Safari's low-GI just fruit bars are great options," says Delport.
Also remember to pack a bottle of water and some fruit juice. "Good
choices for low-GI fruit juice are apple juice or Appletiser, fresh orange
juice, Liquifruit Mango and Orange and Peach and Orange, or the Ceres Cloudy
Apple and Pear, Passion Fruit, Pineapple, Secrets of the Valley fruit juices.
However, remember that you can only have 125ml at a time. It’s always better to
dilute 100% fruit juice with some water as it’s very concentrated. Drinking
yoghurt, Milo and flavoured milk are also fine, as long as you make sure it’s
made with low-fat milk, low-GI and lower in kilojoules like the In Shape range,
otherwise it's too concentrated and better to dilute it with low-fat
milk," Delport advises.
You can also bake some snacks in advance. Spoil your kid with Banana
Muffins (they are great with peanut butter), crispy Crunchies or decadent
Chocolate Brownies.
Recipes:
Banana muffins:
Crunchies:
Chocolate Brownies:
For support and more
information:
Diabetes SA – www.diabetessa.co.za
Kids and Care South Africa – www.kidsandcaresa.co.za
