Our Halfway Check-in, and Yesterday’s Hangout with Dr. Yoni Freedhoff
Oct 15, 2013, Updated Oct 15, 2014
Can you believe we’re already halfway through the month?
Incredibly, nearly 14,500 people have taken the pledge so far! If you found out about the challenge after October 1st, it’s not too late. (It’s never too late!) Please sign the pledge, and join us for the rest of the month (or for 30 days starting today).
I’d like to give a huge thanks to all the guest authors so far, and to the ones still to come. Please be sure to visit their websites, show your appreciation in the comments, and friend them on Facebook and Twitter.
Time to Touch Base!
I hope you’re all having a good time, learning a lot, feeling great, and — most importantly — enjoying lots of wonderful, unprocessed food!
The ongoing conversation in our Facebook Group has been uplifting and incredibly supportive – so if you haven’t joined the group yet, click on over and hit the “Join Group” link. (It’s free.) Â I also want everyone to check in here today. How’s it going for you? Please leave a comment below and share something — maybe it’s a cool kitchen trick that you’ve learned, or a new experience you had, or a particular challenge you faced… or even a new favorite recipe. When we share our stories, we all grow stronger. So leave a comment below, and let us know how it’s going!
Yesterday’s G+ Hangout
Yesterday we had our second Google Plus Hangout.  Suzanne and I were joined by a very special guest, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff.  He’s a family doctor, an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa, and the founder of Ottawa’s Bariatric Medical Institute, a multi-disciplinary, ethical, evidence-based nutrition and weight management center. Yoni writes Weighty Matters, an always-spot-on daily blog about weight loss and management, health, food politics, and everything in between.  Yesterday, he generously took time out of his day off to chat with us about all things unprocessed, sharing quite a few pearls of wisdom. If you missed the live broadcast yesterday, take a few minutes today to watch the re-play.  Enjoy!
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This is my third year, too. I’ve been really gratified that it seems to be easier each year. Other than some exceptions that I’ve had to carve out due to travel (particularly, a wedding where I wasn’t going to refuse the couple’s menus!), I’ve been virtually 100% this year. And these are changes that feel like they can stick beyond October, because of the habits of buying and cooking that really settle in comfortably.
I’m posting this mostly in hopes that any new participants out there will feel reassured that, even if it’s tough to be perfect, sticking with this effort really does pay off! It’s feeling great! Thanks, Andrew, for all your efforts. (The daily posts and multiple ideas are a big energizer, for sure.)
This is my third year doing October Unprocessed. Half way through October and have 2 new recipes. The banana ice cream. Thank you. And I made a rice with turkey meatballs (made by my 7 year old) and cabbage and tomatoes and herbs and spices, so good for us. We loved it. I used a recipe from here as a starting point. I always do that since I don’t follow instructions very well. Our family is 99% unprocessed which means we are still working on it and learning about stuff. Thank you for bringing all this wonderful information together for us. Hanna
Last year’s challange helped me a lot changing my eating and my thinking about it!
I effectively didn’t have to change anything for the october challange this year! I stopped cooking processed stuff when my son started to eat what i eat but had some sugary stuff at home and ate sugar etc when we where at somebodys Place.
But i quit sugar! For More than a month now! Im totally into raw food for half a Year now and that changed my view on food a lot.
In Germany its possible to let you deliver your fruits and vegtables. Directly from the farmer. All fresh and local (if you choose so). This would be my tip for you: order such a box! So you have to use the stuff and maybe they even send stuff you didn’t know before. I love it!
I have found it easier than I expected, considering my energy levels are not good at the moment. I think last year I semi gave up by this stage due to lack of energy to prepare meals. This year I’m not giving up 🙂
Yesterday, (the half-way check in day), we received an enormous gift basket filled with various forms of sugar and high fructose corn syrup (toffee, chocolates, etc.). We’ve been really good about telling people we espouse a healthier diet and that we prefer savory over sweet, which we do. So the basket was a bit startling and disappointing. However, we thoughtfully decided it was best to just acknowledge and be grateful for the gift and to subsequently toss the entire contents of the basket. After all, we are not human garbage disposers. Anyway, that is my half-way check in.
Love the tips on the FaceBook group. And some of the recipes as well. Also, the New Sonoma cookbook (Mediterranean diet/lifestyle) also has a lot of great whole-food recipes. One of my biggest successes was having my daughters (aged 2 and 3 and 1/2) help ‘make’ a few nights ago…since they helped make it, I think it helped them in actually trying it and eating it (poached cod in a white-bean-tomato-onion-garlic-chicken broth stew). So though I had to build in extra prep time as thye were ‘heloing’ me, it was so worth it!
Half way and feeling great. This is the first time I have returned from a two week road trip slightly lighter than before I left. That’s a big deal. So far, I am 100% unprocessed and hope to keep it that way for the duration.
In regard to the household, We are Thinking about practicing unprocessed for a much longer time frame. There is not much that we miss. Thank you for all of the great resources. Let’s keep it going.
The Challenge has finally gotten me and my pantry organized. I have been cooking and baking on the weekends, so that I have healthy options to eat all week. I started doing this to break my old bad habits (eating what’s easy) and making new positive habits.
I love this challenge and never want it to end!! i have been eating fairly clean for about 9 months but through this challenge I have learned even more things that I can be doing. A few things that have learned a) I don’t have to have something bad because i want sweets;I made amazing clean brownies (everyone at work devoured them…no complaints about the lack of refined sugar…thank you very much!!) b) I can now do without nasty bread and pasta; found great replacements with rice pasta and ezekiel english muffins. c) Having the support and the sharing in the facebook group really makes a difference. Its nice to talk to others that don’t look at me sideways because i dont want to eat things that are processed or with chemicals or gmo’s in them. We are all worth the time it takes to eat right but its awful… Read more »