For those who are curious, life without processed foods is not horrible. It's wonderful, actually, I'm still buzzing. During my week on a whole foods/plant based diet, I learned a few things that may be worth sharing with the general public:

1. It's much cheaper.

When you’re just buying fresh, whole foods, it doesn’t cost you much. Instead of opting for the $6 bag of granola, you’re buying steel cut oats at $1.50/lb. It’s quite the deal, I must say.

2. I can actually cook.

This experience gave me a confidence boost I didn’t realize I needed. After living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and maybe a pasta dish on occasion, it felt good to prepare a real meal. I also discovered that I’m really good at roasting potatoes, so that's fun.

3. Salads are a lot cooler than I thought.

There’s only one rule when it comes to making a salad: there are no rules.

I’m telling you, lay anything in your fridge that might go bad soon on a bed of lettuce and voila, you’ve got yourself a Grade A salad.

4. It doesn't take much to fill me up.

I could eat fries until I'm sick, but I can only eat so much plain brown rice. When your body craves the abundance of salt, oil and sugar that's found in processed foods, it disregards how much food you actually need to survive. Consuming whole foods gives you the mentality that "food is fuel," which keeps you from overeating.

5. My body is really happy when it isn't loaded with chemicals.

Even if you don’t realize how good you feel without processed foods in the moment, you’ll definitely be able to tell once you start eating them again. You feel lighter, more active and generally more motivated on a whole foods, plant based diet.