I've been a vegan for a good while, but I only started eating healthy during the COVID era, when I began moving away from ultra-processed vegetarian fare.

I agree with absolutely everything you say here, but it's worth noting for people just starting their plant-based journey that a diet of energy drinks, Little Debbie pastries, granola bars, Chinese fried tofu entrees with white rice, potato chips, and ultra-processed veggie burgers is not a viable alternative to a meat-based diet. let alone to a healthful plant-based whole-food diet When you go vegan, you have to be careful not only to avoid the bad stuff, but to incorporate high-quality proteins, natural vitamin and mineral sources, fiber, a variety of polyphenols, etc. Eating healthy requires a lot more work than downing an Impossible whopper and fries at Burger King, but the results will be almost immediately discernible.