Potato Chips, my greatest enemy, oh worthy foe, you are my cryptonite!

I have monster-sized cravings for salty, fried, starchy foods like french fries from Wendy's, fresh made hashbrowns from Denny's, and potato chips.

On my foods to avoid list is: salty, fried, starchy.
How they make me feel: my body feels sluggish for hours later, and this affects my mood too.

Everytime I eat these foods, I spend hours later regretting that I gave in to this craving.

I need to prevent myself from driving to the nearest Payless and then gorging myself on a bag of Salt and Vinegar kettle cooked potato chips. I can then avoid needing to hide the evidence of my own shame to my healthy partner who is also a doctor (we keep each other in check, when he fails, I fail and vice versa) by stuffing the used bag on the bottom of the trash.

As a result, I created this easy easy recipe that is a good substitute for salty, fried, and starchy that is NOT fried or starchy.

In fact it's probably pretty healthy, except for the fact that I douse it in salt. You can adjust the salt or skip it altogther for a yummy afternoon treat to avoid feeling sleepy in the late afternoon. It tastes just as good as those mini cans of flavored diamond brand nuts, you know the ones you can get everywhere on island with flavors like wasabi or maui onion. It's just as delicious and way healthier for you.

Ingredients:

• raw almonds
• flax oil*
• nutritional yeast flakes
• salt

Mix a small amount of oil in a bowl with raw almonds.
Less is more, you just need a little to get the salt and yeast to stick.
Then add yeast and salt to taste.

Notes:

1. *You can use any oil, preferable to use one that is good for you, like flax (keep in the refrigerator and consume within 3 months), sunflower, safflower, olive oil which has omega-3 fatty acids (good fats necessary for cellular functions). I avoid soybean, canola, and corn oil.
2. I use a more flavorful salt such as sea salt, hawaiian salt, or kosher. I avoid using iodized salt.
3. Nutritional yeast has a cheesy flavor and can be used on pop corn or to make mac-n-'cheese', but I like it most because it is loaded with B vitamins, which vegetarians lack in their diets. Great way to suplement the body and tastebuds at the same time!

You can find all of these ingredients at the Payless in Micronesian Mall, which has the biggest health food section, or at Simply Foods.