If you've been paying attention for any length of time you may remember that I did a fast back in June to kick start a new approach to eating and health. As I shared previously it was a great success. I have continued on to lose nearly 25 pounds, which I am thrilled about. It's especially noteworthy for me, as I did not slip back into old habits despite tremendous stress over the past couple of months. There were times when I did allow myself to sway from my plan of no wheat and no sugar. Fortunately, the times were few and far between, and one time of eating a sandwich on wheat bread instead of lettuce did not result in me throwing the baby out with the bathwater and just diving back into consuming bread on a regular basis. I was able to have a sandwich, be okay with it, and continue on my journey. If you know me at all you know this is totally awesome since my normal M.O. is to completely disregard diet in times of extreme stress and pressure. I guess I must be serious since it didn't happen this time. I'm attributing most of my success to my constant pleas to God to help me stay on track and keep me focused on the end goal; a healthy lifestyle.
The other day I was tooling around online and happened upon this challenge. Apparently the challenge began back in 2009 with an idea. It has grown in success, participation, and coverage over the past couple years. I read through the website, and thought to myself, "Why not? I've already made such drastic changes in my diet. How hard could it be?" Well, I guess we'll find out. I signed up for the challenge yesterday. The commitment is to eat no processed foods for the entire month of October. What is unprocessed food, you might ask. Well, the simple definition from Eating Rules is this:
"Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person
with reasonable skill in a home kitchen
with readily available, whole-food ingredients"
If you'd like a more elaborate example of what exactly is considered 'readily available' or 'whole-food' then you can read about it in much greater detail on their website under Defining Unprocessed. To me it seems quite simple. If it doesn't come in a package with a label full of unrecognizable ingredients than odds are its suitable for a month of eating only unprocessed foods. In my line of thinking a bag of frozen corn would work, as would a container of fresh peanut butter that only contains ground peanuts or a jar of pure honey. If there are flavorings or additives on the ingredient list, then it's a no go. So, I guess there will be some label reading going on if anything other than fresh produce is to be consumed.
So? What do you think? Are you up for the challenge?
2 comments:
Oh Tina, I don't know if I can do that, but as of now, I am trying not to buy too much processed food. It would be hard to make it purely unprocessed though, because my little buddy here is a grilled cheese addict (of course that's an overstatement, lol). But I am very motivated to make my own bread, rolls, etc.
But hey, Im cheering on you. Update me on what you are planning to do to achieve your goal:-)
xoxo,
pearl
My latest adventure is to learn how to bake wheat free. I'll be sharing as I go. (Finally getting back at it after nearly a year!)
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