It’s Heart Month, and it’s a good idea to gradually add more heart-healthy foods to your overall diet. If you are trying to follow a DASH Diet plan and lifestyle, one strategy is to choose well at snack time.
Research about how consumers eat is showing that snacks are becoming more frequent, and often used as meal replacements. You may be wondering if you can still adhere to DASH Diet guidelines and include snacks during your day.
The answer is – Yes. Of course tried and true healthy snack foods, like fresh fruits and veggies or nuts, are always a great snack to enjoy anytime:
- Fresh apples or pears
- Citrus fruit
- Fresh berries or melon
- Raw carrots and bell pepper slices – dip in hummus
- Banana with a smidge of peanut butter
- 15-20 almonds, walnuts, pistachios, or peanuts
Turn Bananas into Muffins with a Twist
Can you make snacks a little more exciting? Absolutely! For instance one of my favorite ways to use up leftover bananas (the overripe ones that nobody in my house likes to eat) is to turn them into oatmeal muffin cups. See the recipe below.
Baked Banana Oatmeal Cups
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 cup oats
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 TB brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oen to 350F.
- Mash bananas in a small bowl. Add beaten egg and stir until well-combined.
- Add oats, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar to banana mixture. Mix until combined.
- Spoon into muffin cups, bake at 350 F. for 12-15 minutes.
Since the DASH diet guidelines also encourage you to include 2-3 servings of low fat dairy daily – add a glass of milk or a low fat Latte to these muffins. Other ideas – enjoy a low fat yogurt or an ounce of low fat cheese at snack time. Low fat string cheese is convenient, and the individually wrapped sticks are easy to take with you.
Health Food On the Go
Having healthy snacks with you when you are away from home is a good strategy to ensure you choose well, and include heart-healthy nutrients into your diet. Along with fresh fruit, almonds, walnuts or peanuts are easy favorites. I keep a small tin of nuts in my purse for times when I’m late for a meal and hungry.
Popcorn can fit too. Popping your own with unsaturated oil (like peanut or canola oil) is best, and popcorn provides a good dose of fiber too. Don’t over-salt it.
Craving Something Sweet?
You can’t beat a small handful of nuts for a daily snack. While nuts and fruit make great snacks, sometimes you may be craving something else, or you may simply need something non-perishable and convenient. For this reason, I recommend keeping some healthy packaged snacks on hand for those “on-the-run” times. There are so many choices on the market – some make more sense than others. Many of the single-packaged snacks have me yawning (or scowling because I feel the packaging is wasteful), but others can really serve a purpose in adding healthy food, with convenience, to your diet.
KIND occasionally sends me snack bar samples. They are mostly nuts, and some contain some fruit. The nut bars are higher in protein, and each bar provides 180-220 calories and about 3-5 grams of fiber. If you suffer from any food intolerances, they are gluten free (and some are wheat free and dairy free as well). They also offer “mini” bars, which are great for middle-aged women needed to add just the right amount of nuts (and calories) to her diet.
Two things I like about these bars: 1. They taste really good! 2. They have simple ingredients, with fruit offering the sweetness, and they add chicory root fiber, inulin, which is a prebiotic fiber. (While some people do not tolerate it inulin has been shown to be beneficial to gut health. Like all fiber, add it gradually to your diet and drink enough water).
Looking for Crunch?
Another great snack that’s been trending, are roasted chick peas. These make a great snack by the handful, or a great topping for salads. You can add either sweet or savory flavorings to suit your taste.
Always read the Nutrition Facts panel on packaged snacks or bars – check out the calories, sugar, and fiber content. Many may market products as “good source of protein” but this doesn’t mean they are necessarily high in protein, or that the product is healthier. Some “health bars” are really glorified candy bars.
The Future of Snacking
The purpose of planning better snacks is to add more nutrition to your diet, plus provide energy to hold you over until the next meal, but they may also be used as substitute for a meal, at times when your schedule is hectic.
Stay tuned. I’ll be sharing more data in future posts about how meals and snacks have changed over the years – and you may be surprised to learn that snacking may be a great way to improve your eating habits!
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