Unprocess This: October's A Big Month!

With October rapidly approaching, I'm doing something a little different for the month; a personal challenge, if you will.  I, along with countless other bloggers, foodies, and just those generally interested in this, have signed on to a month-long commitment of unprocessed food.  

And to think it all started with a Tweet.  

In August, I traveled out to Seattle for the International Food Bloggers Conference.  There, I networked with some pretty amazing people, sat in on fascinating seminars and ate some pretty tasty food.  Simply put, it was awesome.  While at the conference, I was surprised to find that one of my favorite speakers was the author of the blog, Gluten Free Girl and the Chef.  She spoke about how changing her diet, just a little bit, changed her life.  It made her happier.  Full of energy.  Sick less often.  She then encouraged us to eat less "crap" (for lack of a better term) and start paying more attention to what gets in our belly.  I was moved by her argument.  It just made sense.

Being so moved, I sent out a Tweet, "So is every blogger in the room planning a month/week/day of specialty diets?  I'm intrigued by the challenge".  Withing minutes, I got an energetic response from Andrew, the author of the blog Eating Rules, "Let's do it! I'm thinking October would be perfect, right before the holidays".  Without even thinking, I quickly responded with a "I'm in!".  And that was that.  I'm in and up for the challenge.  Not that I think I eat particularly terribly to begin with but now seems like as great of an opportunity as any to spend some time paying some close attention to what I'm eating and how it affects my overall well being.  


So first thing first.  What is a processed food and what will this month look like to me?  By definition, processed food is food that has been altered in some way, either to make it last longer by adding additional preservatives or making it "taste better" by adding additional sugars and flavors.  Essentially, if I'm reading the label on something and I can't pronounce it or have no idea what it is, I'm not eating it.  I'm not planning on altering my lifestyle too much, for example, I'll still be going out to eat and will try to select choices that are more natural and less processed than others.  Of course, I'll be blogging about this whole little experiment along the way.  So hang with and lets see what happens!


If talking about all of this struck a chord with you, you can join the party and participate as well by signing the Unprocessed Pledge.  Does the thought of a whole month without Doritos frighten you?  No worries and no pressure.  You can pledge to try it out for a week, a day, heck even an hour.  It's really all about taking the time to think about and care for yourself via food am I'm psyched about my little endeavor.  


Happy Eating!