October Unprocessed: Update

It's been 12 days since I decided to join in the October Unprocessed challenge. My goal for myself with this challenge was awareness- what do I really eat? How often do I crave certain foods (sugar especially)? How much do I pay attention to food I eat at work, other people's houses and at restaurants?

whole wheat bread at home.

It's been interesting. The biggest challenge I'm facing is flour. I make about 90% of the food I eat, so I can make things whole wheat and I did just that- I made whole wheat bread, pizza and spice donuts in the past 11 days. They were all delicious. But.. when someone else makes something, even family and friends, I have no clue what type of flour they are using. Fantastically, there is a great article on flour on the eating rules blog that has helped me wrap my head around it. I had some amazing cookies last week and my sister made these seriously delicious apple butter hand pies and I'm not sure if these things totally pass the test of unprocessed, but they came so close and looked so good I just had to give them a try.

 The other 'whoa' moment, other than realizing white flour is everything once I leave my house, was when I went a week without refined sugar and then ate 4 cookies. Holy. Moly. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but that night I had horrible restless legs . I usually get this urge to wiggle a few times a week, but it had kind of gone away. Maybe it was switching to whole grains? Maybe it was my decrease in sugar? I'm not a doctor, and it sounds like there are a whole heap of things that can cause it, but my legs had been calm for days. Then, I ate those cookies and that night was bad. Baaaaad. I streched, I ran around the house, I was frustrated. I haven't had that much sugar + white flour since and it hasn't happened again.. hm. Just a coincidence?

On the sugar note, I also ate something sugary for breakfast one day and I became an emotional crash test dummy. Up and down and up and all around. Luckily it was a weekend day. But, whoa again. I feel like when I eat sugar, weird things are happening. I'm enjoying noticing it and I'm going to start really reading up on it and becoming more aware.

Other things I've learned so far: 

•   Sometimes cornmeal is not just cornmeal (also known as: Read those ingredients!)

What? Where's the corn?

Ah, much better.

•  Maple syrup is for more than just pancakes 

My new go-to sweet treat: simmer berries with a bit of maple syrup (about 1/2 tablespoon or so). I put it in on the stove while I cook dinner, then let it cool and serve up about 3 tablespoons worth in a little mug. I splash some cold milk on the top, it just sounded good and I like the bit of creaminess. I got the idea from this delicious blog post.

• I actually like salad dressing 
• My big fears with going unprocessed- that this whole thing would be more time consuming than my normal cooking routine and be more expensive- have not come true. I'm staying on budget and with some prep, the same amount of time I used to spend bagging up crackers and snacks, I feel like it's not consuming all my time. Fantastic!

Are you doing October Unprocessed? How is it going? Are you flirting with the idea?  I think it is a crazy good learning experience. Give it a try! What have you got to lose?

Enjoy!
-m