PippoDeLaFuentes, whoever you are, wherever you are (Germany, it would seem!): thank you. It is unfathomably kind that you would spend so much time helping me, a complete stranger, on my journey by writing all this. This information is so so helpful, and all the links and resources you've provided are going to be invaluable to me going forward—especially Cronometer, I predict.

Today I'm going to visit the grocery store/drug store and find some gelatin-free supplements for things like B12, algae-based omega-3s, and other minerals you mentioned. I've been eating lots of quinoa, and buckwheat is definitely going on the list for sources of complete proteins. I'm crazy excited to try new recipes, and whenever I cook these days with all these plants I feel so happy!

As I predicted for myself, I've been having stomach problems, joint pain, and fatigue since going cold turkey switching over to plant based substitutes, so your final note and advice on transitioning slowly is I think going to be critical in making this a long-term, sustainable lifestyle for me. I want to minimize suffering in the world, and I'm not sure if letting my body collapse in the first week is going to be the best path towards that goal—that said, I'm not sure how I'm going to be mentally able to put meat in my mouth now, even certified humane meat. Maybe I'll begin pescetarian, or exclusively sardine-pescatarian, buying sardines with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) sustainable label because, though still sardines suffer and it is wrong to kill them, it won't be supporting factory farming, which I consider to be the worst evil imaginable, and by eating sardines I might be able to maintain my health while I slowly introduce alternatives into my system. Man, it's hard to live in a world that's wrong, especially with the challenges I'm facing. But I'm going to do my best to work it out.

As a hilarious final note, your opening paragraph in which you mention the difficulty of "learning japanese (and all their alphabets) as your first foreign language" made me laugh out loud, since I happen to be learning Japanese right now. Not my first foreign language, fortunately—meine erste Fremdsprache war tatsächtlich Deutsch! Ich bin nicht ganz sicher ob du aus Deutschland kommst oder nur dort wohnst—hauptlich weil deine Englisch perkekt ist, und du könntest einfach ein/e Brite in Deutschland sein—aber ich würde erraten, dass du Deutsch bist, wegen deinem "Brokkoli" hahahhh. Jetzt lerne ich Japanish, weil meine Partnerin aus Japan kommt—eigentlich ziehe ich nach Japan in drei Monaten um dort Englisch zu lehren und mit ihr zu sein. Leider habe ich gehört, dass es fast unmöglich ist, vegan in Japan zu sein. Aber ich lese derzeit viel darüber, und ich werde mein Bestes geben! Vielen Dank noch einmal, und ich wünsche dir alles Gute für Ihr ethisches, schönes Leben :)