October Unprocessed is Complete!!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay away from the Halloween candy as I was hoping to do.  This is what I ate during the final 2 days of the challenge:

Day 30:  Thursday, October 30

For breakfast, I had homemade granola, a hard-boiled egg, and freshly juiced apple juice.

For lunch, I had leftover haddock and mashed potatoes.

I had a Grain-Free Pumpkin Spice Muffin for a snack.  It was a recipe I had been wanting to try for a while.  I finally got all the ingredients, but unfortunately they tasted too plain for my taste.  One of my daughters enjoyed them, but the others did not like them at all, so I most likely will not be making them again.

Day 31:  Friday, October 31 (Halloween)

For breakfast, I had homemade granola with yogurt, freshly juiced apple juice, and a slice of turkey.

For lunch, I had the rest of the leftover haddock and mashed potatoes.

For dinner, I made homemade pizza dough topped with homemade tomato sauce (using yellow tomatoes) and freshly shredded mozzarella cheese.

Friday night, I went with my daughters trick-or-treating.  Unfortunately I couldn’t resist all the chocolate, so I had to have a few pieces.

Results and Thoughts

Unfortunately, this year I wasn’t into the challenge as much as I was last year.  I didn’t take it as seriously, so it felt like I cheated more often than I should have.

Last year, reading labels was all new to me.  I had a lot to learn and a lot of new, healthy foods and recipes to try.  I feel like I gained a lot of knowledge regarding foods and nutrition over the past year and it changed the way my family eats.  This year during the challenge, I feel like I just ate normal (which is MUCH healthier than we used to eat.)

While weight loss was NOT a goal for me during this challenge, last year I lost 7 pounds in October.  This year, I didn’t lose any.

Going Forward

October Unprocessed 2014 may be over, but I intend to continue to eat healthy and unprocessed foods whenever possible.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t been easy to do lately.  We have buckets of Halloween candy laying around the house, and it’s just not easy to ignore all that chocolate that is so readily available.  And since sugar is so addictive, I can’t just stop at one piece.  My daughter also just had a birthday 2 days ago, so we have ice cream cake readily available as well.  Chocolate and ice cream are 2 things I cannot resist!

Aside from the temptation of chocolate and ice cream, I continue to eat healthy.  I try not to buy anything that is packaged, I try to have an ample supply of fruits, vegetables, and nuts at all times, and my drink of choice is always water.

I do plan to join the challenge again next year, and I hope you will join with me!

In the meantime, feel free to join me in my November challenge:  30 Days of Thankful!