I’m on Week 3 of the Whole Living Challenge in which the following are considered off-limits; processed foods and beverages, added sugar, dairy, gluten, caffeine, and alcohol. I thought I was doing a fairly good job at avoiding these items, but a post on Dusty’s Facebook page made me see that I’m more liberal with what I consider processed food.
I realize that technically anything I do not make myself is in fact processed, but honestly, if I followed that way of thinking, this challenge would not be attainable for me. For that matter, something such as almond milk, which is called for in the challenge approved recipe Cardamom Quinoa Porridge, could also be considered processed.
Instead, I’ve become much more conscious about reading food labels. During this challenge, a majority of what I have purchased have been “whole” foods, but in the instances when I have added “processed” food to my shopping cart, they only contained basic ingredients. No preservatives, no words I can’t pronounce.
For example, in my Week 2 recap you may have noticed I had peanut butter. All legumes were allowed back into my diet and I was excited to have another source of protein. I checked out a few different brands of peanut butter and many contained hydrogenated oils and added sugar. As a result, I avoided those and went with Stop & Shop brand All Natural Creamy Peanut Butter in which the only ingredients were peanut and salt. In my eyes, it is something I could have made myself but another person did the leg work for me.
I am curious where my other Whole Living Challengers stand with regards to this topic. What have you considered processed?
