These elderly nutrition snacks can help tip the balance – in favor of you or your loved one’s dietary needs, in an enjoyable way – using highly healthy foods and snacks.
Many seniors experience loss of appetite or change in eating habits due to a variety of issues. Sometimes they are no longer able to cook much. Nutritious snacks to just grab can come in very handy.
You can also check how to give calories and meals to the elderly patients in our guide to counting calories and meals.
About Elderly Nutrition Snacks
Choosing snacks will depend on health issues (including the ability to chew well), doctor recommendations, dietary restrictions, allergies, etc.
It’s typical for the elderly to pick at meals or snack in small amounts throughout the day. Unfortunately, sometimes this snacking is very unhealthy. We all know much of the snack food is lacking in proper nutrition. The sugar, bad fats, and carbs are, in fact, detrimental to older adults’ sensitive health and lead to all sorts of elderly nutrition problems.
Since many enjoyable senior activities revolve around food and snacking, let’s make them healthy. In all cases, use as much low-salt or no-salt as possible in your elderly nutrition snacks, as well as reduced or no sugar. Also, choose healthy oils. If you like easy cooking, find some fabulous and very easy, healthy snack recipes to make.
Snack List – To Have on Hand
Easy to grab and munch! It’s always best to get natural foods, minimally processed, especially from the health food section or store. Here are some favorites:
Bag of Cut Pre-Veggies — Such as broccoli, cauliflower (although they get brown faster), and baby carrots. (Both broccoli and carrots are high antioxidant foods). These already-cut and bagged veggies are ideal to stock and grab.
Bag of Organic Baby Spinach Leaves — besides putting these into sandwiches, tortilla roll-ups, and the like, we eat them straight out of the bag like others eat chips! Spinach is also a high antioxidant food and is recommended for good vision, especially preventing macular degeneration. Bags of greens make ideal elderly nutrition snacks.
Bag of Organic Spring Greens Mix — another green leafy snack – which is recommended for good vision.You can have the Orgain Organic Plant-Based Protein Powder. It has the vanilla bean vegan, low net carbs, and is gluten-free.
This mix includes organic plant-based protein, organic dietary fiber, carbs and is completely sugar-free. You can have this as your favorite protein shake recipe for a quick breakfast or snack dinner. All you need to do is mix it with water or milk, and you are done. This recipe is ideal for healthy, on-the-go nutrition for men, women, and kids. These are perfect for meal replacements, smoothie boosters, building grams, and muscle recovery.
Snap Pea Pods – These raw pea pods come in bags and are naturally a little sweet. And crispy. Delicious!
Mini Baby Carrots – The smallest mini-size carrots are quite thin and are the easiest to bite and chew.
Red peppers – These need to be washed and cut, especially high in Vitamins C and A. Good for the eyes. Peppers of all colors make great elderly nutrition snacks.
Bag of Pre-Shredded Red Cabbage — The US Department of Agriculture says the red pigment (anthocyanins) helps fight cancer. Use in tortilla roll-ups, sandwiches, general cooking.
Cherry tomatoes — Easy to pop into your mouth and eat. No cutting necessary. High in antioxidants.
Celery sticks — High in vitamin C, good for blood pressure, cholesterol, and preventing cancer. We also like to add a little spreadable cheese.
Avocado — Needs to be cut or sliced, also found in guacamole dips, high in vitamins, minerals, and lutein, which is recommended to prevent vision problems and macular degeneration. Avocados can be used in all sorts of elderly nutrition snacks.
Olives — Choose kalamata (Greek) or Nicoise (French). They are naturally processed and more flavorful. Other standard black and green olives (Mission olives and Spanish olives) that you see on the grocery shelves may be cured with lye.
Variety of fresh, seasonal fruit – Always best to get organic without pesticides if possible. You can also clean with a special spray fruit and vegetable wash. See the fruits mentioned above in the antioxidant list for your elderly nutrition snacks.
Hummus – It is a flavorful Mediterranean chickpea dip also often made with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and a little salt. Get a natural kind. Also great as a spread.
If you want to add mouthwatering items to your snacks platter, WW Sea Salt Hummus Crisps are the perfect option to go with. Whether you want something with salsa or other delicious dips, these crisps are great. Free from artificial flavors, kosher, and gluten, these perform most efficiently in enriching your diet.
The chickpea flavor is everyone’s favorite; thus, there’s no way to compromise on the flavor. It’ll enable you to enjoy the loveliest pre-portioned snacks in your meals. A perfect option to eat during your diet plans. It consists of 20 snack bags, and each box contains five bags.
Dried apples — and other dried fruit. We get them from the health food store without preservatives and low- or no-sugar.
Dried cranberries — make sure they are as low in sugar as possible. They’re also fun to toss in cereals, or even in rice or other cooked grains.
Natural juices — we get these in the natural food section. They contain natural sugars and are 100% natural fruit juice. Most other commercial juices add a lot of extra sugar and empty calories.
Raw nuts — (Some elderly, of course, find nuts difficult to eat). Unprocessed nuts maintain their nutrients. Many are high in antioxidants. The best nuts are almonds, walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pine nuts, pistachios. Nuts can be included in many elderly nutrition snacks — use your imagination.
Nut butter — Get unprocessed, fresh nut butter that maintains its nutrients. These can be used in all kinds of elderly nutrition snacks. Besides peanut butter, try almond butter or cashew butter. Spread on whole-grain crackers, or make a sandwich with whole-grain bread. Nut butter is a great alternative if the elderly have a hard time chewing nuts.
Natural pumpkin seeds — Again, for some, seeds can be difficult. Raw seeds are very high in vitamins and minerals.
Unsweetened, all-fruit jam — made with pure fruit, these provide nutrients and are naturally sweet and contain no added sugar. You can put it in yogurt or over natural ice cream too.
Consuming all nutrients of uncommon fruits in your lunch, breakfast, and dinner isn’t possible. But Crofters Organic Morello Cherry will impress you in meeting your nutrient needs. It contains Morellocherries, organic cane sugar, and natural apple pectin. Completely organic and free from gluten materials, it serves as the perfect serving for one person.
It gives 30 calories per serving, which is more than enough for getting the desired nutrient needs. The NON-GMO production of this item is the reason for its ever-growing demand among those who want something tasteful in their meals. It contains a perfect balance of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. So consume it daily in your breakfast and live your day happily.
Natural granola, without added sugar — Fun to just put in a bowl and snack on.
Granola bars — a wonderful brand is Kashi. These are natural granola bars and are low in fat. They have a good balance of healthy carbs, protein and sugars, and other nutrients.
Herring in Wine Sauce — Herring has many nutrients such as Omega 3 fatty acids, as found in other ocean fish. This is one of Dad’s favorite snacks, on a whole-grain cracker.
Canned Tuna and/or Salmon — again, lots of healthy nutrients. Since it is pre-cooked, it can be used right out of the can on crackers or toast or in a quick salad.
Natural Salami Slices — minimally processed and without nitrates. Get it in the natural foods section. Salami, of course, does contain salt.
Whole-Grain Crackers — you’ll get lots of ideas from this page for using crackers in elderly nutrition snacks. Try to find low-fat, reduced salt.
Craving for some cheddar snacks? This mouthwatering product will make your taste buds go crazy. Manufactured with actual cheese and very handy ingredients, Simple Mills Almond Flour Crackers proves as best option. It comes with simple ingredients and the delicious taste of cheddar cheese, which best suits your daily snacks. You can get a good quantity of vitamin E as it contains about 3g of proteins.
Whether you’re going for a solo walk or want to share snacks with your fellows, it goes as the best option. Moreover, if you want something crunchy with soups, salads, or other meals, it will prove as the perfect option to choose.
Whole grain tortilla chips — Baked is always best. And serve with a little salsa, of course.
Popcorn — low salt, and low- or no-butter. Also, try parmesan cheese or a little freshly ground pepper. Or both!
Trail mix — low or no sugar types are ideal.
Brown rice cakes — Brown rice is much healthier than white rice because it is unprocessed and contains more nutrients.
Yogurt — Plain, unsweetened, which you can then dress up with berries or natural jam, or a little natural granola on top. Greek yogurt is also a favorite and more natural.
Spreadable cheese — you can get natural cheeses in small tubs. Again, most types do have some salt. Great to put on vegetables!
Rice Dream — Instead of ice cream. Non-dairy, lactose-free. These are all-natural frozen desserts that are derived from rice instead of milk or cream. They have the texture of ice cream, are just delicious, and come in many flavors. They also come in frozen bars on a stick with a natural chocolate coating or frozen pies. Our favorite is called a Mocha Pie. Find them in the health food section or store.
Natural popsicles — Make them at home by pouring natural juice with no added sugar into a popsicle form, add a stick, and freeze. You can also add in a piece of fruit.
Healthy oils — your elderly nutrition snacks should be ideally made with olive oil, peanut oil, sunflower or safflower oil, flaxseed oil, soybean oil – these do not have the dreaded Trans fats. If you see packaging that says “hydrogenated,” run the other way! These processed oils are only good for the processing process in the factory, and shelf life – Not your life! Avoid coconut oil, palm oil, and related palm products. If you eat dairy, eat low-fat products (soy products are better for you, such as soy milk).
Antioxidants — as you know, these are molecules and natural compounds found in foods that stop free radicals dead in their tracks. Free radicals damage our cells, which can result in a whole range of diseases. Antioxidants help slow aging, prevent heart disease, stroke, cancer, and reduce blood pressure, to name a few.
Here are some top antioxidant foods to include in elderly nutrition snacks: berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries); broccoli, tomatoes, red grapes (including red wine and natural grape juice); garlic, spinach; green tea (studies also indicate black teas); carrots; soy; whole grains.
Natural Sugars — found in fruits and vegetables – use these when snacking as much as possible. White sugar has been called “white death” and should be used at a very minimum in elderly nutrition snacks. It can act as a free radical in our bodies and cause our organs to work overtime to process it until they finally develop problems and can’t function, even shut down. Honey and fructose are also just other forms of sugar and should be used sparingly. (But of course, once in a while, one needs to splurge a bit).
Fruits — Fruit is a very powerful ally and can get the body to practically vacuum itself out—sort of. Not to mention that all-important age-defying help. And then there’s memory. (You can get lots of this nutrition through healthy snacking with fruit).
For more information, check out our article on the best healthy foods for senior citizens. All the foods are natural and prevent your elderly loved ones from health-related problems.