Nilla Wafers are vanilla-flavored cookies that are used in many pudding truffle recipes and eaten as a light, sweet snack. Diabetes does not prevent you from enjoying Nilla Wafers if you plan for them and understand their impact on your blood sugar. Nabisco manufactures two separate types of wafers, traditional and reduced-fat. The reduced-fat version contains no egg products.
Serving Size
A single serving of Nilla Wafers is 30 g, or approximately eight full-size cookies. Each serving contains 140 calories. Select the reduced-fat version to reduce the calorie impact to 120 per serving. The traditional cookies contain 50 calories from the 6 g of fat in each serving, while the reduced-fat cookies contain only 2 g of fat for 15 calories.
Carbohydrates and Sugar
Every 30-g serving of wafer cookies contains 21 g of carbohydrates. Sugar is the culprit for 11 g of the carbohydrates in each serving. The reduced-fat version of the cookies contains 24 g of total carbohydrates per serving. There is no measurable dietary fiber in the cookies to reduce the net carbohydrate load.
Sodium
Nilla Wafers contain 110 to 115 g of sodium per serving. Hypertension and cardiovascular concerns are common among diabetics, and a low-sodium diet is important for heart health. Add these cookies to your meal plan in moderation to keep your sodium intake at the lowest possible levels. Talk to your doctor about your personal recommendation for sodium in your meal plan based on your own medical history.
Planning
Select Nilla Wafers as a carbohydrate snack when your meal plan allows for an extra carbohydrate choice. Test your blood glucose to ensure that it is within your target range, or measure the proper insulin dosage to account for the carbohydrate choice. Your insulin dose will vary depending on the ratio that you use. A guideline to start with is 1 unit per 15 g of carbohydrates, but talk with your doctor about your insulin sensitivity and the ratio you should use.
