Sun Butter, nuts, over eating approvable items

[Gia Trevisan]

On my whole 30 I've done really well so far and I'm on day 12.

I however sometimes get really bad cravings for nuts and sunbutter.

I ate A LOT of sun butter tonight because I was just craving it and then right after that I ate almond butter too...

Should I start my 30 days over?

[kb0426]

I don't think you need to start over, but I would look at why you are overeating those items. Are you eating enough at each meal? These clearly sound like food without brakes, and now that you know this, you may want to donate them to a friend!

[Taylor Herman]

I agree with kb0426. Anytime you find yourself eating something, then going back for more even though you aren't hungry, its time to consider giving it the ax. I've made this mistake many times, so I know its hard, but its worth it!

Don't start over, just give it away, throw it out, and continue on. Good luck!

[Susan W]

My feeling on this is that to get a handle on any (insert item such as nuts, sugar etc.) dragon, you need to starve it. This is how you effectively change your relationship with food.

I had a horrible late night snack dragon. The biggest problem is that my go to snacks were chocolate cake and ice cream or peanut butter sandwiches. I had to get rid of all temptation and really make sure I had adequate protein and fats for dinner. I can tell you my snack dragon rarely appears now and when it does, I smack it and send it away. Giving in to the urges just feeds it.

You can do this!

[Lisa@SwissPaleo]

Been there and done that!! When I did my first whole30 a few years ago, I way over did it on the nuts, nut butters and coconut chips. I didn't do it because I was hungry...I did it because they taste good and it took me awhile to get over the habit of hand to mouth snacking. I still (years later) struggle with eating too many nuts and will periodically just cut them out for a few weeks at a time until I feel like I have control again. When I decide to stop eating them, I actually have to make sure I don't have any in the house. If they are there, they will call to me and I will eat them sooner rather than later All that being said, I don't know how I would have gotten through my first whole30 without eating nuts. It was a lot to handle just getting sugar, grains and dairy out of my system. Once I had all of those cravings under control, I was better able to address my 'nut problem'.

[Life More Abundantly]

I made the same mistake during my first W30. I (used to! ) make my worst food choices between 3:00 and 5:00, thinking nuts = protein (they are actually more of a fat, and there are still better sources of fat...coconut, olives). So I would load up on nuts instead of preparing and eating real meals. Now I try to eat a palm-size serving of protein and 2 cups of vegetables as 3 meals a day, which has made it so much easier not to snack in the afternoon. I treat nuts as a condiment and use them sparingly in meals for texture, a hint of crunch. I won't eat them as a snack because they are so calorically dense, and it's easy to over-indulge. Now I turn to a handful of olives canned in sea salt and water, veggies and homemade mayo or guacamole if I need a snack.