I just got done eating a bag of Lay's Potato chips. I couldn't help myself. i think I've been working off all my stored carbs and sweating out all my stored salt, cause potato chips were all I could think of for 2 hours straight. I had an incredibly hard bike ride home Thursday cause of the Hurricane (leftover) winds, and maybe I just needed some carb energy storage foods....maybe.

How do you guys deal with cravings like that? I've been doing so well with eating healthy foods, but it's like there was a potato chip monster inside me who was going crazy and needed a fix.

I know I'll work it off on the bike ride home, but I'd like to have some other things around to take care of those insane cravings, any suggestions? Nuts are good for cravings, right? Even fried potato cravings?

Wow. I know I'm gonna regret that bag of chips.

Oh, don't regret it, don't beat yourself up - that way lies madness! just ... sometimes your body/head wants to eat rubbish. if you eat healthily most of the time, who cares?
I find stress makes me want to eat stuff that i know isn't good for me. And i know what it's like when one food takes control of your brain. Sometimes you just have to give in!
I'm sure you'll wake up tomorrow and crave something scrummy and non-bad for you.

And thinking about it, maybe your body just needed a fast energy fix - and fried food gives you just that. Only temporarily, and so it's not really a 'good' food choice, but what the hell. Just don't do it every day and don't worry about it when you do.

sometimes, you just gotta eat what you're craving for and sometimes you just gotta eat what is healthy for you.

instead of chips, when i want something crunchy and salty, i go for (though not raw) popcorn. i dunno why.

but usually, avacados do the trick for me. i make guac and use various types of crackers that i buy at the raw foods cafe. And sometimes, i just break down and have organic corn chips or tortillas with them. :) so yummy. I could eat mexican food every day. oh wait--i do! :)

I think that was very brave of you to talk about your "breakdown". I had a similar thing happen to me, when i ate a bag of potato chips. The next day, i felt terrible. But it was good bc it reminded me of how terrible cooked food makes me feel. I didnt regret it though, it was part of the process, and a necessary step for me to realize that 100% raw truly is what is best for me. So use it as a learning tool. Only you know what is best for you. If you intuitively feel potato chips are not for you, dont eat them, and if u do eat them without guilt. I used to love foods like that, but now I find them to be fools gold. The benefits of being raw taste better than any comfort food. Oh, have you had flax crackers? They're so good. I soak a bunch of flax seeds overnite, and them I mix them with the juice of one lime, and a jalapeno and dehydrate them for two days, Sooo good!! :rockon:

I found a bag of raw unsalted cashews at at grocery store near me for $7.39!!! 2 POUNDS!!! I though that was the best deal I'd ever heard of. So now, I bring a bag with a few handfulls of those with me to work, and that really helps with the snacky cravings I've been having.

2 POUNDS FOR $7.39!! "Wow", I said. Now, for another trip to the farmer's market tomorrow to pick up a ton more apples and nectarines. So addicted.

Thanks for the suggestions and the "don't beat yourself up" comments. I've just been doing so well for so long by avoiding all the garbage that I don't know why I went crazy with the potato chips. Oh, well. I did feel like crap the next day and also woke up with a big zit on my face, so maybe that'll teach me.

I have come to enjoy, in a weird way, all my diet-breakdowns (and all other breakdowns too). Sure there's frustration in the beginning, but in the end it just shows me that I'm human and I definitely like to be human.

To me, breakdowns signalize the need to reexamine my objectives and motivations. Breakdowns are natural and will happen wherever there are rules and discipline. IMO both of these lead only to mediocre results at best, in any field or activity. Whatever I'm doing, I should do it because I love to do it and not because I have imposed rules upon myself. :deal:

There's nothing wrong with this process. This is how we humans learn and we should never stop to learn. :up:

My biggest weakness it nacho chips. I just make sure they're organic. I buy them from the Farmer's Market with fresh salsa. I make that my snacking food.

I eat junk food all the time. I strive to make sure said junk food is organic, and it's always vegan, but it's empty calories all the same. Considering I did these before becoming vegan, I'm not worried. My overall diet is so much healthier than it was P.V. (pre-vegan) that I could care less about snacking.

Often if I crave something salty I'll grab a handful of cherry tomatoes. It's surprising how effectively that will overcome the cravings :)

OMG have majorly jumped off the bandwagon. My intent was never to go 100% raw. My intent was to increase raw foods to a large percentage of my diet though.

And holey crap. I'm too ashamed to say just how poorly I've been this past week or two and getting my veggies in. Today for example I've had two meals of nachoes and chocolate chips for dessert. Sheesh. That is terrable. I haven't been that bad in awhile. I need to eat ore nuts or something in the morning so my body fills up on good fat.

Somebody please whack me.

:notvegan:

Or do you mean :whip:

Nah, definitely :whack: that kind of whack.

Don't worry, you'll get back with it. Like everybody else said, we all have lapses. I don't really think you need a :whack: at all, just a little :smitten: encouragement. Good luck.

~NS~

Hehe. Thanks for the wacks and the whips. :) Sometimes I need them.

Whenever I get certain cravings for junk food I try to figure out what ingredient I'm actually craving. Potato chips are high in fat (oil), sodium (salt), and carbohydrates (potatoes). Next, consider healthier alternatives. Actually, you came pretty close, as nuts are also good sources of these nutrients.