Apples and Peanut Butter

Five years ago, I developed an allergy to nuts, except cashews. It really gets to me in the fall with all the apples fresh off the orchard trees. My favorite snack on my last weight loss journey was honeycrisp apples with PB Loco white chocolate raspberry peanut butter, with either coco-banana or banana PB Loco running a tie for second.

There is a saving grace, apparently PB Loco is no more. Okay, it is a saving grace for ME, but not the general public. Some days, I want to pull into the ER parking lot with a cooler of PB&J sammies, scotcheroos, some of those PB cookies with those chocolate stars in the middle, Do-Biz Garbage or Monster cookie dough, Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch and the new Peanut Butter Cheerios and CHOW DOWN! I miss Puppy Chow, too.

I've tried using Sunbutter as a PB replacement, but I can tell the difference. I have made cashew butter, which was good, but not the same. I have even bought cashew butter, but wanted to gargle with gasoline because it was that bad. Maybe a bad brand? I don't know, not brave enough to try another.

What I have not found yet is a good replacement for nuts. I am open to suggestions. Many meal plans include almonds or peanut butter. Obviously, that rules out quite a few different things. So, I am constantly on the hunt for satisfying snacks that are low in calories and fat.

My latest love is hummus and pita chips. It is a bulkier snack and keeps me satisfied. I am going to attempt making my own hummus sometime soon, just need to get a good idea of what I want it to taste like.

I love food. Which is a shame. Sometimes, my love for food blinds me and makes it easy for me to lose sight of my goals. In that case, I start looking at food as strictly fuel for my body that doesn't necessarily need to taste like the best thing I have ever eaten. That usually curbs the appetite. Earth colored beans on a bed of lovely spinach. Raw. Yum.

I keep only healthy snacks at my desk EXCEPT for a bowl with Dove Milk Chocolates. Why, you ask? Well, because when I have some of the things I crave and love at my disposal, I am less likely to eat it. Sounds odd. I know. But I've never claimed to be anything but odd. If I don't have those tasty chocolates at my desk, I crave, over think and daydream to the point of not being productive about the smooth melty morsels. So, I walk to the store at break and I don't buy A candy bar or A bag of chocolates. I buy FOUR candybars and proceed to eat them one after the other until I am so sick of them, almost 600 calories later, feel sick that I want someone to call Poison Control and induce vomiting. The streamlined version of what I just said: I overindulge. Badly. So, I keep accessible and just knowing that I can have some at any given point Monday through Friday, keeps me on track. Then, with the healthy snacks and meals I keep at work, even though less appetizing than getting a slice of Great Plains pizza or some fried rice from The Spice, I will eat them if I am truly hungry enough. I always seem to have room in my belly for the things that aren't as healthy. Oddly enough. Again, I am odd.

Signing off for now. To all of you near and far and those of you who are eating a snack while reading this, until next time...