Try These Snacks to Keep your Heart Healthy

Raise your hand if you find yourself in a similar situation: You eat healthy foods regularly, but when it comes to snacks, itโ€™s a whole different story.  Especially when you need to grab something quick or youโ€™re rushing out the door and a bag of chips or a chocolate-covered granola bar is way easier than actually making something.

But whether youโ€™re a stress-snacker or you reach for something at the same time every afternoon, snacks can have a direct influence on our healthโ€”namely our heart health. 

โ€œFood choices impact your blood pressure, glycemic control, and cholesterol values,โ€ explains Carlos Ince, MD, Chief of the Division of Cardiology at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD. โ€œThese are all significant risk factors for developing heart diseaseโ€”both ischemic heart disease and heart failure. The choices that we make in food selection can have an immediate impact, but the long-term potential impact on the heart is huge.โ€

So what are some smart heart-healthy snack choices? Here are a few that Dr. Ince recommends:

  • Pears dipped in fat-free/low-fat cottage cheese
  • Vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, celery and cucumbers paired with hummus or tzatziki
  • Roasted chickpeas
  • Popcorn, particularly if itโ€™s air-popped or made with a nontropical vegetable oil
  • Whole-grain crackers with canned very low sodium tuna or low-sodium salmon
  • Baked or raw apples sprinkled with cinnamon
  • Raisins, dates, figs and other unsweetened dried fruits
  • Frozen bananas or frozen grapes; a fresh fruit salad flavored with fresh herbs, like mint, or fresh ginger root
  • Fruit and veggie smoothie

On the flip-side, like we mentioned, when youโ€™re in a rush, tired, or craving something sweet, it can be easy to opt for something not-so-healthy. Dr. Ince advises steering clear of processed snacks like chips, pudding, toaster pastries, pudding, and the like.

As he explains, these foods to avoid are processed or ultra-processed options that tend to raise your blood pressure and blood sugar, for example. โ€œThis increases [the] risk of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, or hypertension,โ€ he says. โ€œThe good foods are not processed, low in carbs, and low in sodium.โ€

His general advice for people who want to keep their heart health in top shape: โ€œTry to eat a sensible balanced diet,โ€ he recommends. He says the best diet from a cardiac perspective is the often-recommended Mediterranean dietโ€”with its โ€œcousin,โ€ the Atlantic diet, gaining in popularity.

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