A month without processed foods?

Could you go one month without eating processed foods?  That is the challenge that Andrew Wilder over at Eating Rules is asking people to undertake!  For the month of October, he is asking people to pledge to avoid processed foods.  You can sign up over at his site.

What an awesome idea!  Processed foods fill the diets of so many people.  Taking time to stop, read labels, question your food choices, choose better ingredients and eat more whole foods will be wonderful for your mind and your health.  Take the time to retrain your taste buds, get creative in the kitchen or simply choose better quality snacks.

Deciding how unprocessed to go could be tricky for a lot of people.  Processing is really doing anything to the food after it has been grown.  Cutting an apple is technically processing.  For Andrew's challenge, he defines unprocessed foods as:

Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with whole-food ingredients.

That's pretty legit in my book.  He is encouraging people to choose foods with better ingredients and to eat more whole food.  He does say people can come up with their own interpretation of unprocessed, whatever works for them.  Some people are more real food purists, who will want to make everything themselves.  That's great!  Some people may find a month overwhelming and just do the pledge for a week.  That's great too!  This is something that sounds right up Oh Lardy's alley!  We want to encourage you to make better food choices at whatever level you are ready for.

I, personally, signed up for his pledge.  We follow this kind of eating on a regular basis, of course, eating Real Food but we do ‘cheat' occasionally (and usually feel so gross afterwards it is easy to eat clean again).  I plan to follow his definition of processed for myself and my daughter.  My husband will participate in the meals he eats at home (since I provide those meals, he sort of has no choice…hahaha!).  We do go out with friends once in awhile, so while at a restaurant, I will do my best to order good quality food, but there may be a little slipping there.  And, we will probably end the pledge on October 30…in time for Halloween! 😉  (Ugh…I hate the whole Halloween candy-palooza…)

If this is something that interests you, head on over Eating Rules and check out the October Unprocessed 2012 pledge!