OH . . . IT’S ON PEOPLE (Sort of … Let’s just say It’s getting back on course people!)!

So . . . Here’s what it’s all about . . .

Eat REAL Food!

That’s the number one rule of this challenge.  Eat real food.  No more processed crap!  Fruits, veggies, meat, dairy, grains all in their original form.

That’s it.  Those are the basics.

I challenge anyone and everyone to join me on this life-long journey.  You are welcome to adopt one of my rules, all of my rules or make up your own!  You can join me for a meal, a week, a month, a year or the whole crazy ordeal.

So . . . why on earth am I doing this?

I’m completely and utterly addicted to sugar.  I have no doubt in my mind that it’s a full-on addiction like that of any other.  So I’m trying to live life without it . . . to varying degrees of success!

I would truly like to live life without sugar or processed food for at least a full year.  I figure I owe it to myself to see just how healthy I can get.  This also aligns with my current, and most likely future, career interests.  I’ve been an environmentalist for, well, practically ever.  Environmental Education is my job/passion/purpose/etc., etc.  You get the drift!  I have to admit, however, that like most people I only knew the basics when it came to our food . . . eat organic, choose products with less packaging, vegetarian is better for you and the planet (still haven’t and most likely won’t completely give up meat) and so on.

Little did I know just how bad our food system really is.  That is until I started my current job.  It’s opened up a whole new world of  . . . Oh holy crap, now what are we doing to our planet!? . . . for me.  Our current food system is bad . . . I mean really bad.  So this little challenge falls neatly in with my new interests at work as well.

That and challenges like this are all the rage with the kids these days   You can thank Julie and Julia, The 100 Mile Diet and so on for that!

So here we go . . .

Real Food Challenge – RSJ’s Rules (it’s early yet and I’m a procrastinator fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal so I’ll update this as I come across new levels of damn!  I forgot that!):

• At least 1 year of eating nothing but real food, nothing processed
• Food has to start in it’s original form and still be recognizable when eaten
• As much as humanly, financially possible should be local and organic
• No canned goods . . . often too much salt and BPA (Bisphenol A) lining the can.  There are only a few organic canned goods that don’t have BPA in their lining . . . and none of my local grocery stores carry them.  For more information on BPA check out this article and this article . . . why take the risk?
• No sugar or refined starches period! No matter what they’re called!  -  Hard and fast RSJ rule . . . feel free to figure out your limits on this one . . . Now if you think you might be addicted to sugar too . . . really think about it!

Processed food exceptions(because they’re only processed once from real ingredients):

1. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2. Milk - as local as possible, as organic as often as possible and skim darn it (I’m also addicted to cream and butter )
3. Cheese - local, organic (not sure if this will be a hard and fast rule)
4. Butter - This is a tough one cause I LOOOOOVE butter so I probably shouldn’t have it in the house, however, margarine is really processed . . .
5. Pasta - I’m waffling on this one . . . not sure . . . whole grain store bought, maybe, homemade with wholegrain flour – Yes!  Waffles in general – NOOOOOO (that’s for you Carmen   )!  The restaurant in the park I work at sells waffles with your choice of side – bacon and breakfasty things, deep-fried and battered shrimp, deep-fried and battered chicken breast, and deep-fried and battered holy crap it’s all just wrongness!  . . . .  Sorry I held off the tangent as long as I could!
6. Cereal . . . steal cut oats – yes . . . start rolling them and you move closer and closer to a simple starch, which might just as well be sugar.  Plain shredded wheat . . . for the moment yes . . . I think I’m going to try to wean myself off . . . again with the processing it down to something close to a simple starch . . . and again with the packaging . . . the paper is lined with BHT (are you ready for it?  Butylated hydroxytoluene . . . sounds appetizing right?  Apparently it essentially keeps your food from rusting . . . it attracts the oxygen atoms that would attach to your food and spoil it . . . it ends up attached to the BHT instead, keeping your food fresh longer . . . still a chemical and who knows what it’s doing to us!).  There are plenty of other grains that can be used as cereal including quinoa (Keen-wah)
7. Frozen Fruits and Veggies – this was a tough one for me.  It’s the lack of local and organic, the price, how are they processed, etc.  I think for sanity reasons I’ll have to keep these for now.  Real veggies and fruit in their real form no additives and no extra crap on them . . . steam in the package . . . no . . . sauce . . . no!  Again with the additives and sugar (half the time you read the ingredients and there’s sugar in the sauce).  I’m hoping that I might find a way to stuff a tiny freezer into my apartment and freeze my own stuff, that is if my whopping great number of fuses can handle it.  Fuses in my apartment = 2!  Let’s just say boiling the kettle and microwaving at the same time doesn’t happen, literally, it stops almost immediately.

As you can see the rules are extremely hard and fast   The one I personally am not willing to budge on . . . Sugar . . . just not going to happen (cause I told y’all about it and now I can’t get out of it )!