October Unprocessed... Thoughts and Revelations

So I did not do as well as I had hoped with October Unprocessed.  :(  I knew already that there would be a few cheat meals in the month (one weekend we had a wedding to go to).  And I was pretty impressed with myself that I went to the Renaissance Festival twice and packed lunch both times so that I didn't buy food there. So there is that.  But I really, really wanted to go 100% this month.

Before the challenge I would say that about 80% of my diet was unprocessed.  Tom and I made a switch last winter and have been pretty good about sticking with it.  This month I would say it was closer to 90% or 95%.  Other than the wedding, there were two days when I ate food at the bar after our football game (who can say no to a blue cheese chicken cheese steak).  There were a couple other things here and there too (cliff bar at work, cheddar cheese with some preservatives when I sent Tom to the grocery store...).  I will say that a  point in the win column is that I did not order Papa Johns or Chinese food at all this month.

So with all that being said... how do I feel about all of this?  Blah.  I was kind of hoping for some weight loss or feeling less tired or something.  But I think because most of my diet was already unprocessed I didn't see any big changes this month.  What I really struggled with was the guilt I felt every time I ate out this month.  I mean, I get that eating unprocessed foods is better for me.  BUT I also do not want to be that person that doesn't have any fun with my friends because I'm too concerned with what I'm eating.  Take yesterday for example, fire pit at my neighbors house.  I may have consumed my body weight in cheese curls, Halloween candy and Doritos.  Could I have eaten carrots instead?  ABSOLUTELY.  I definitely think I over did it yesterday.  I think my goal going forward is to make healthier options when I am at friends houses.  When I'm at a restaurant I have no problem ordering what I want.  But when I'm at a friends house, it should be easy to choose something healthy over cheese curls.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm not going to eat cheese curls.  But maybe one handful instead of five would be better.