I love potato chips. Crunchy, salty, greasy, sometimes flavored, potato goodness. I mean, come on! What else is a standard Idaho potato for if not to deliver salt and butter, no matter the method?
I also love not feeling blargh or ugh or generally yucky after eating junk food. And no matter how much I love eating potato chips, I almost always feel blargh or ugh or generally yucky afterwards. That grease and salt again, doing unhappy things to my body!
As of 4/4/18, I’ve gone ELEVEN DAYS without eating potato chips! For comparison, my longest previous chip-free streak was four days.
Yes, that deserved a celebration!
No, that celebration didn’t mean I gave myself permission to go buy a bag of potato chips. :)
And also no, I don’t anticipate that my potato-chip-free streak will extend out as far as my current cross-stitching streak, which as of today is up to 162 days. I imagine that at some point in the not-too-distant future I might decide to give myself permission to have some potato chips. Or not. I think about them, and I find I’m losing the craving.
How?
Substitution. Or as the author of a recent New York Times column might say, replace instead of resist.
I found particularly that I craved salt and crunch after a long day working, whether outside at the greenhouse or in my yard. I started stashing a bag of roasted & salted almonds & cashews in my car, as well as keeping a container of them on the kitchen counter.
I’ve said it (and other people have said it too) that when craving crunch, substitute carrots.
Yeah, no. That sometimes works, and that sometimes doesn’t. Largely, honestly, it doesn’t. When I want salt & crunch, I want potato chips. Except that when I munch on some almonds & cashews, I’m done. I’m good. The craving to go out and get chips (or ask my hubby to get chips on his way home) has gone away. I’m not succumbing to the craving and then getting aggravated about it. I’m replacing it with something different. Healthier? Maybe. (The health benefit of nuts is another topic I plan on writing about later!) Still salty & crunchy? Absolutely. Also, the nuts I’ve been eating have been much less greasy than most potato chips. That’s a win as well.
Side note! Is it odd that saying carrots don’t satisfy the cruchy-salty craving moment made me want a carrot? Yum! Gee, it seems as though I recently posted about carrots. ;)
Meanwhile, I digress.
I’ve also been holding myself accountable by keeping a note in my phone and I update it daily. “Did you eat potato chips today?” When I looked back through recent days and realized how long I’d gone without chips, I did a happy dance! So not only do I have the substitution strategy, I have positive accountability without beating myself up if I do decide to have chips.
How about you? What potentially unhealthy snack or habit have you replaced with a better substitute? What’s your strategy?
Cheers! Here’s to your health!
p.s. Tonight’s wine is Lakeside White from the Rocky Waters winery in Illinois. Delicious!