Here’s a confession: I’m a total nut and seed addict. Hazelnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, peanuts (yes, I know that botanically they are legumes), sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, pecans, coconut… You name it. I have so much troubles with MODERATION when it comes to nuts and seeds. And don’t even get me started on nut butters!
If I open a packet of nuts, I will want to finish it because nuts to me are like addictive drugs (not that I have tried those, I haven’t and won’t!) or potato chips to other people… I just keep eating until I finish the packet. No matter if it is 50 grams of 500 grams. But that much nuts or seeds is way too much carbs and also pushing calories too high.
So how do you deal with this kind of problem?
Solution #1. Don’t buy nuts or seeds.
The “if you have good food in your fridge, you will eat only good food” rule applies here as well. If you don’t have nuts or seeds at home/office, you can’t overeat on them. As simple as that. That solution obviously works the best. Then, occasionally if you feel like eating them, go buy a 50 or 100 grams packet and enjoy it all at once if you feel like it. It for sure is a passive solution because it actually doesn’t fix your overeating problem. But hey: it works.
Solution #2. Buy nuts but divide them into reasonable servings immediately.
This actually works for me. I buy nuts and then divide them into 10/20/30 gram packages. Now if I take that packet and finish it, it’s OK because it’s nicely moderated. 30 grams of nuts isn’t overeating in my case. No guilt feelings or too much carbs or energy. Problem: fixed!
Solution #3. Buy nuts and seeds but only in minipackages.
Kind of the same point as the last one. I unfortunately have failed to find really small packages like 30 gram ones they have in some other countries in Estonia. And the price per kilogram with 50 gram packages is just ridicolously high.
Solution #4. Grow some character/fortitude/self control.
I’m still working on that (giggles). Sometimes I even succeed. For example: some months ago when I had a jar of nut butter at my house, it wouldn’t survive more than 3 days; now it lasts me about a week. That’s improvement but I still can’t only take one teaspoon at a time, I eat more. Also, having nut or seed butter at my house makes me want to snack on it constantly. Not good! I need to grow more character.
If you want more nutrition information about nuts and seeds, check this post I posted some time ago.
Nourish, Train & Flourish 
I used to be addicted to peanut butter (I ate it with apples). I think that at the end I’d eat 100-150 grams every day. To break the habit I stopped eating it for a while. No moderating, just stayed away. After about one month, I didn’t crave for it any more and now I can have an occasional spoonful or an apple and I don’t have the same problem of overeating it any more. I can even have an open jar laying around for a month. This may sound like a radical approach, but it has worked for me also in cases of other foods. Sometimes my brain just gets used to some routine and keeps asking for things without knowing why. In these cases I just cut the problem food/habit down to zero for a while and that seems to delete the routine from my brain.I guess in a broader view not eating the same stuff every single day should help avoid the brain getting used to stuff and thus the smaller portions should be sufficiently satisfactory. No science though, just my own observations 🙂
MeeldibMeeldib
Wow, great success with peanut butter 🙂
MeeldibMeeldib
Omg! finally someone that know hows to be nuts for nuts, i dont really understand why nuts make me feel so good, i love them. I see a burger and a box of cashews or mix nuts, and i totally dismiss the burger. For me nuts are the most incredible food. I try not buying them but after 15 days i went crazy lol and i had to buy them again. Then, i decide to make small bags 30grs and eat a bag everyday but still is not enough, im surviving like this nowadays, but as soon as im in a social event or a supermarket and i have access to a big bowl or box of nuts, game over i will eat everything, even before paying them… nuts are my drug, i cant live without them, i wish there was like a vitamin or sth that will help me to curv this craving but havent find anything.
MeeldibMeeldib
I am addicted to pecans. I absolutely love the way they taste and the crunchiness. Unfortunately, I have eaten so many that I have gained a few pounds. I have to stop buying them. But my body is craving them.
MeeldibMeeldib