I Tried the Whole30 Diet—Here Are My Honest Thoughts

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If you're on Whole30, you can say goodbye to your social life. Okay, not really, but it does make things a bit more tricky. No alcohol means no more happy hours. Ordering something to eat at a restaurant is, if not impossible, completely embarrassing (just try asking what kind of oils they cook their vegetables in and asking for every dressing to be on the side on a date and you'll know what I mean).

The few times I cheated on Whole30 (don't judge; nearly every person I know who tried it admitted to one or two slipups) was because I decided that spending quality time with my friends was much more beneficial to my health than opting out of a glass of wine. Just be prepared to say no to a lot of invitations—and perhaps choose a month where you don't have too many social obligations like weddings and birthdays on your plate.

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Not a big cook? You might want to rethink this one. Eliminating processed foods and avoiding such a high volume of ingredients means you're going to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen—unless, of course, you're able to find and afford Whole30-approved options elsewhere—which trust me, isn't easy (although this handy guide is super helpful!).

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My suggestion? Meal-prep everything. Load up on whole foods and ingredients over the weekend; then plan and prep several lunch and dinner options for during the week. I made it a personal goal to try at least one new recipe a week, and it really helped keep the boredom at bay.

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Honestly, I assumed my downfall for this diet was inevitable given the number of temptations I'm surrounded by on a daily basis. How was I going to be able to resist all the office snacks, birthday cupcakes, happy hour cocktails, and more? Strangely enough, this was actually the least difficult part of Whole30.

Once you've adjusted, you really lose any cravings for off-limit foods (at least in my experience). I guess science is true: Sugar (and other processed foods) really is an addiction. Not being tempted to eat foods that weren't diet-friendly made Whole30 a lot easier—and more enjoyable—for me. I really started to crave fresh, whole vegetables and fruits, and found myself less interested in grabbing a bag of chips or cookies.

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As we've talked about, the purpose of Whole30 is not to lose weight (and since I don't own a scale, I can't report on whether I dropped a few pounfd or not). I did, however, feel lighter and more energized on a daily basis. One of the biggest differences I noticed, however, was in my skin. I mentioned that I've struggled with cystic acne nearly my entire life. Interestingly enough, the first two weeks on Whole30, I was breaking out more than usual. Perhaps my skin was detoxing? Who knows. But after week three, it was the clearest it ever had been.

Even more interesting was after a night out (sans alcohol, sigh), I had a few bites of pizza. It was late, I was hungry, and was definitely in no mood to whip up a salad. I'm not exaggerating when I say that hours later, a huge pimple came to surface on my skin. I'm no doctor, so I can't say with 100% certainty that the pizza was the culprit, but I can imagine that after eating so healthily for weeks, the teensiest tiniest bit of dairy put my skin completely out of whack. Lesson learned!