Timely post.
Last week I watched every documentary I could find on food, from the angles of how people have literally stopped taking all their meds after going vegan, to the amount of land that is needed to grow food to feed the animals we eat, and that if we eliminated that intermediate step, we could not only feed the entire planet, but it would also do wonders to help the growing CO2 problem, to how the commercial fishing industry tears the shit out of the ocean bottoms the way they drag nets longer than the height of the Empire State building, and also showing how utterly inhumane our food-source animals are treated, and on and on.
I've been convinced for some time now that our bodies are not at their best, even not designed to eat meat, from anything living. I've done a lot of research on this. So after I got off work Monday, and feeling that extra 25 lbs. I put on while recovering from my broken heel, I went straight to the grocery store, and bought enough veggies for 8 salads, and every day since then, I've eaten 2 each day. I'm fucking doing this.
I need to lose the weight, I DON'T want to rely on pills to maintain a decent quality-of-life (hell, most western medicine is based on a model of NOT curing you, but instead getting you on meds that you then need for the rest of your life- fuck that!), and I've heard enough evidence to make me believe that a whole-food, plant-based diet is the best thing you can do for your overall health. I'm DOING this!
I'll give you the quick 'what I wish I knew before I went plant-based' rundown-
Consider a multi-vitamin for vegans. Maintaining proper levels of B12 and Iron are important and it can take a while to find a consistent menu of food that gives you everything you need. I've been taking this for about 8 years-
https://a.co/d/eWKipg6
It might be a better idea to start with a vegetarian diet before going all in on a vegan on. Finding new favorite foods takes a long time, you've had your whole life to find the ones you've got now. Every new thing you find and love, you'll be sick of in about 6 weeks due to relying on it too much. If you can keep an open mind it'll go a long way. Not every recipe you find will be awesome and if you strike out a few times in a short amount of time it can be off putting from it all.
Do your best to ditch processed vegan/vegetarian shit from the freezer section. Consider that shit comfort/cheat food. If you're doing it for health reasons, it's entirely pointless to utilize Gardein chicken fingers and Impossible sausages. In few cases is that stuff healthier than the real thing, they're better served for people who have an ethical stake in it and don't mind having terrible skin, greasy hair and fucked up social skills. (Sorry, spent a lot of time with vegan activist back then)
The first 2-3 weeks you eliminate animal products/processed food from your diet entirely, you'll feel
great. You're going to be stoked you're following through with it, your energy level will be up, food starts tasting different/better, it's all rainbows and toothless unicorns with 8" tongues. Then week 3-4 hits and you'll start feeling shitty for an undertermined amount of time. Usually a week, some people two. I think it's dependent on how much processed/shitty food they ate prior and their mental attachment to food they used to eat. You'll be telling yourself "If I just eat a cheeseburger or a steak I'll be good to go" It's like fighting off a flu/cold, low energy and just a genreal 'yuck'. Push through it and you'll be feeling great again, which is your new normal.
Sometime after my first year I really changed my perspective on food. My whole life it was 100% taste/experience, after that first year of struggling to find a consistent menu it turned to 70% health/sustenence and 30% taste/experience, but I was content with what I ate. I just no longer loved food like I did previously.
All that sounds shitty, but no one tells ya that in any vegan documentary or pamphlet and it's what gets most people to throw in the towel. It's absolutely worth the effort it takes, you feel it mentally and physically and if you have a good run of being really healthy, like a few months, then eat a burger or a pizza, you'll wonder how the fuck you ever ate it before. I know my body doesn't respond like that if I go a long time without eating brocolli.
Also, shitting on a 100% whole food/plant based diet is remarkably efficient. It's as close as humans will get to shitting deer pellets and it's done and over in about 5 minutes without breaking a sweat, you barely even need TP. Pretty sure some of those vegan twats consider it optional.