What Are Heart-Healthy Snacks?

You can have heart-healthy snacks and still be creative. Here are the five keys to healthy snacking and planning to make healthy snacks part of your routine.

When it comes to heart-healthy snacks, you want something that’s low in cholesterol, trans fats, sugar, and calories.

The keys to heart-healthy snacking 

• Planning to make healthy snacks part of your routine
• Balance to provide a mix of high-fiber complex carbohydrates with good sources of plant protein
• Moderation to keep a snack between 100 to 250 calories
• Selecting nutrient-dense not calorie-dense foods
• Mindfulness to keep making healthy choices
• Timing to avoid snacking in the evening

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Heart-healthy snacks

You can start with fruits and vegetables. They’re low in calories and full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Vegetables, whole grains, and fruits also add fiber to your diet.

Sometimes a light snack, like a piece of fruit will satisfy you, but sometimes you need something a little more substantial. That’s where fiber, folate, and B-vitamin foods come in.

Soluble fiber snacks include oats, beans, and peas. Snacks with B vitamins include:

• Broccoli
• Asparagus
• Spinach
• Fortified cereal
• Whole grains

Don’t forget healthy fats, such as olive and canola oil, most nuts and seeds, and avocados.

Good fiber snacks can help lower cholesterol and blood pressure, reducing your overall heart disease risk. Your options include:

• Oat-based granola bars
• Homemade trail mix
• Slivered almonds mixed into low-fat yogurt
• Fresh fruit
• Orange cilantro black bean salad
• Guacamole
• Hummus
• Black bean salsa
• Black bean and avocado nachos
• Crudités

Heart-healthy snacks might not sound appetizing, but you can choose from many that are satisfying and delicious. You might want certain qualities in your snacks, such as crunchiness, satisfying drinks, snacks that fill you up, and others that satisfy your sweet tooth.

For crunchiness, try:

• Pears and apples
• Carrot and celery sticks
• Bell pepper slices
• Zucchini or cucumber circles
• Roasted chickpeas
• Broccoli and cauliflower florets
• Popcorn
• Rice cakes
• Whole grain crackers
• Nuts and seeds

More heart-healthy snacks

For a healthy drink, try:

• Plain or sparkling water with some added fruit
• Fat-free milk or plain soymilk
• Unsweetened tea or coffee
• 100 percent fruit juice (in small portions)
• Low-sodium tomato or mixed vegetable juice

Snacks that fill you up can include:

• Whole-grain toast with peanut or almond butter
• Cherry tomatoes with hummus
• Low-fat or fat-free cheese
• Plain low-fat or fat-free yogurt
• A fruit and veggie smoothie
• Whole-grain crackers with tuna or salmon

To satisfy your sweet tooth, you could try:

• Canned fruit in natural juice or light syrup
• A thin slice of angel food cake
• A baked apple
• Raisins
• Dates
• Figs
• Other unsweetened dried fruits
• A frozen banana
• Frozen grapes
• Homemade fruit salad

Tofu is an excellent protein source without saturated fat. It mixes well with a wide variety of foods as a filler.

A heart healthy shopping list includes less saturated and trans fat, so stay away from fatty meats, and fried foods, cakes, and cookies. Cut down on sodium; look for low sodium or no sodium added types of canned soups, vegetables, snack foods, and lunch meats.

Creating a habit of eating balanced snacks can help you achieve your heart-healthy goals.

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