25 Anti-Inflammatory Snack Ideas

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Snack attack

Whether you get hungry around 10:30 in the morning, 4:00 in the afternoon, or after dinner, a good snack can banish those gnawing pangs in your stomach and give you a boost of energy.

But I want to go further than that. Why not use snacks to stave off chronic inflammation, too? Scientists are finding out more and more about how diet can help lessen inflammation. They’ve even identified individual foods and food groups that appear to reduce inflammation more than others.

We all may be susceptible to chronic inflammation. Just by getting older we increase our chances: “inflammaging” is the term for low-grade inflammation that becomes more common as we age. But we can fight back by fine-tuning our diet with foods that have been shown to be particularly anti-inflammatory.

Daily snack habits

As you’ll see from earlier blog posts, I’m a big believer in daily eating habits. In 2022, as I detail in one post, a new set of daily habits helped lower my LDL and total cholesterol levels by about 20 points. A thoughtful approach to anti-inflammatory snacking may be equally powerful. If we can instill a practice of choosing from the most anti-inflammatory foods for snacks every day, we may be able to make a significant contribution to anti-inflammatory forces in our bodies.

25 anti-inflammatory snack ideas

I’ve put together a list of 25 anti-inflammatory foods to choose from. Some may hit the spot for you. Others might not appeal to you or not be filling enough. Experimentation is encouraged! Try combinations of two or more foods, or combine one of these foods with other healthy food. It’s all good if it’s whole plant-based foods.

Anti-inflammatory fruit snacks

1.     Red apples (with the peel)

2.     Raspberries

3.     Blackberries

4.     Blueberries

5.     Strawberries

6.     Pomegranate seeds

7.     Black plums

8.     Black and red grapes

9.     Oranges (including blood oranges and cara caras)

10.  Mandarins (including tangerines, tangelos, etc.)

Anti-inflammatory vegetable snacks

11.  Radishes

12.  Celery

13.  Red bell peppers

Anti-inflammatory drinks

14.  Chamomile tea

15.  Green tea

16.  Black tea

17.  Ginger tea

18.  Matcha latte

19.  Turmeric tea or latte

20.  Small smoothies—consider including berries, cherries, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, and/or hemp seeds (efficiency idea: make a large batch and freeze mini smoothies in individual portions for the future)

Other anti-inflammatory snacks

21.  Black bean hummus

22.  Quick black bean salad with corn, cilantro, and salsa

23.  Chia pudding (with matcha or berries would give you two foods)

24.  Small handful of walnuts

25.  Seedy Flaxseed Crackers — yummy homemade crackers that include flaxseed meal and chia seeds

A number of research studies have shown that a plant-based diet is associated with lower inflammation than an omnivore, pescatarian, or vegetarian diet, so eating a wide-ranging plant-based diet, including but not limited to the foods in this snack list, is a lifelong best practice.