I'm not a quitter, I was on hiatus

I haven't blogged in 6 days.  I haven't done the math, but I bet that's a significant percentage of my 30 day challenge.

Being on call in student affairs doesn't go well with daily blog commitments.

Anyway, I'm back... and blogging wasn't the only thing I took a hiatus from.  Yesterday when having dinner with a student group in between the 'end' of the work day and an evening meeting and a Halloween decorating program, I ate dining hall foods that most definitely had things I am striving not to eat.  Typically I eat salads for lunch, and get some sort of fresh produce from the dining hall, bring it home, and turn it into dinner with some tasty, filling grains.  There was no time for that yesterday, so I caved.  A hungry Stephanie is a grouchy Stephanie.   A sleepy Stephanie is also a grouchy Stephanie.  (Is 'Hungry' one of the seven dwarfs?  If not, it should've been).

I enjoyed less than a sip of butternut squash soup before I realized it tasted like it had a pound of salt in it.  Anna, one of my RAs and vocal supporter of my unprocessed challenge, encouraged me not to eat it if it tasted gross - a rational conclusion, but I don't like waste (if you need more evidence of my distaste for wasting stuff, ask any of my RAs about how I acquired an extra cell phone that has the same battery but not the same charger as my current phone, and how I charge the battery in the unused phone and swap it out with my other cell battery every day - rather than buy a working charge for my current phone).

So I pushed the should-be delicious butternut squash soup aside and gobbled up some cooked veggies and quinoa.  That seemed close enough to unprocessed - probably cooked in a bit of oil and salt (two things I'm not eating right now), but other than that legit.

Or so I thought, until I went home to quickly watch Ellen before another meeting, and began to feel like someone was karate chopping me in the stomach over and over again.   I'm not blaming the dining hall, because I actually don't think it makes since that a teeny bit of oil and salt cooked with veggies would make me sick after 2 weeks of eating mostly raw veggies, or ones cooked in water.  The only rational explanation is that someone secretly fed me meat which made me super sick and made for a very unpleasant morning of nausea and stomach pains (I feel great now, thanks for asking!).

In other news, I made vegan cupcakes for the RAs tonight and didn't even eat one (because they are processed - though vegan and delicious).  This is progress.  I don't remember ever not participating in desserts in my life, if it was an option.  My mom can back me up on that.