I didn’t have difficulty going vegan though I had been vegetarian already, that wasn’t difficult either. Then the healthiest way with whole foods was easy. Just having other food that will always be enjoyed makes any change possible. There are certainly the good reasons for this.
I’m glad you found your way to being vegan! I have a pretty different background (I was never a vegetarian) and I just want to share as well:
I definitely agree that if you’re doing whole foods, you’re gonna have a great time being vegan. I am what I’d call a junk food vegan (because I was a junk food carnist for all my life previously), and have been for ~5 years, but I met someone wonderful that’s showing me how to enjoy eating good whole foods and I’m really enjoying it!
I went from carnist to vegan immediately in an area that is considered a food desert. It’s very easy once you internalize the ethics and understand that the exploitation we do to other beings that can suffer is wrong. I will never go back to excusing and paying for the rape, murder, or torture of anyone ever again.
Stories like yours and mine are why it’s so great that vegan food is just regular food. Even carnists and vegetarians eat it because it’s normal food (lentils, beans, oats, leafy greens, etc.), and if they don’t, they will simply malnourish themselves or perish. Most people, aside from some very unfortunate cases, are already used to eating “vegan” food. They just need to understand why consuming animal products when it is possible for them to avoid them is wrong and harmful.
I was eating very little before being vegan (around 1.5k calories maybe) and it’s helped me eat more actually. Mix of whole foods and occasionally fake meats