I am not a person who snacks. I never really was, but during the holidays, I developed a pretty bad habit: I’d go to where Sherry had cookies and brownies stacked up in boxes, and I’d eat some whenever I felt like it. Why? Because she made them, and it was the holidays.

The end result was I developed a bit of a sugar craving problem that I am taking care of with this Whole30. The other side effect is that I had to deal with some cravings between meals. Most of these, I can get rid of by taking my mind off of eating by drinking some coffee, tea, or water, or making my mind busy by writing another blog post, doing some work, or reading an article or book. Anything that engages my mind normally takes my mind off food.

But for the times that the aforementioned strategies don’t work, I have some tricks up my sleeve to sate the cravings: nuts. I particularly like almonds or cashews. Raw, unsalted, nuts. I grab a handful (6-8 nuts) at a time and I eat them one at a time. I completely eat one nut before eating the next, and continue until they’re gone. I find that typically by the time I’m through the handful of nuts, my cravings are gone for at least another hour or more.

I also like freeze-dried blueberries, and I’ll eat about 3-5 of these. For whatever reason, the small amount of these little freeze-dried blueberries typically does the trick for me. I’ve also been known to grab a cooked slice of bacon and eat it slowly. That little bit of protein and fat goes a long way to making the cravings go away.