Moving to Vegan

First a disclaimer; I grew up in a vegetarian household. My mother has always been a vegetarian so once my parents got divorced my brother and I went vegetarian too. That lasted until I met my husband who drew me away from vegetarianism with bacon. Oooh bacon. That spiraled over the years into the standard American diet. I even followed the healthy eating guide when I was pregnant and gained 50 pounds! I knew then that something was off. How could the government/doctors promote a healthy eating guide that made you gain weight? Isn't that counterproductive? Turns out public health isn't the goal of promoting the healthy food guide, it's monetary gain.
It turns out we've all been lied to by not only the government, special interest groups (like dairy farmers and pharmaceutical companies) and charities which would all rather have our dollars than have a cure for what ails us. It's common sense, of course they give us addictive food and drugs, because they want us to continue to spend more money on them! Executives have families they need to feed too, right?
Okay? Caught up?
So, after much thought and research I've decided to go vegan. That means cutting out fish and dairy too. Now, given the amount of chemicals in our oceans and the drugs fed to fish in pens, making the choice not to eat fish isn't exactly difficult. Cheese has been a bit harder since it seems like its sprinkled on everything, but reminding myself that it contains pus certainly helps. Eggs have also been hard since I used to eat them daily, but the saturated fat in a single egg equals the damage of 5 cigarettes, so it isn't a very hard choice either.
Okay. So I've been vegan for 3 whole days now. I find it tough but I'm hoping that after my next grocery trip it might get a bit easier, especially at lunch time. I've noticed a mental clarity I haven't had before, better energy first thing in the morning and less inflammation...everywhere. My knee and leg muscles feel pretty darn amazing. Funny how, when you remove the source of ongoing inflammation, that your OA feels like its cured!
I'm not exactly promoting that I'm doing this either. There's still that weird vegan stereotype. I'm not militant about this vegan thing and I'm not going to get into a debate with anyone about it. If you can't see the benefits from a plant based diet, then too bad, enjoy your early heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The research is out there, free, for anyone to educate themselves on. At some point, as individuals we need to grow up and take control over what we stick in our mouths.
But what about the protein?! Thankfully, food has come a long way since the 1980s. There are pea and other vegetable based protein powders out there, and if you look at the nutrition profile of a lot of vegetables, you'll find they contain small amounts of protein. It really clicked for me when I read that the only protein the largest animals in the whole world eat, are from vegetables. DUH! You don't need meat to grow muscle or repair it!
So, here we go. I'm thinking about starting an instagram page for my recipes..once I have some to share.