Justaveggie,
No, I'm not vegan, don't have the desire to be. My ventures into soy, like JMTANK, from an intolerance from lactose, though i'm young...drinking a glass of milk doesn't treat me very well! So I drink soy milk now...and love soy products. I don't even consider myself vegetarian. I just hate to cook meat. I eat it sometimes if I go out to eat, usually I choose fish though.
Most people, I think, who choose to become vegan/veggie, do it for the animals, or some other strong conviction, not really for weight loss, but it can be done as long as you want to live that way for the rest of your life. If you go back to eating meat, you might end up gaining because your diet up until then didn't include that.
Technically, being vegan means that you have cut out as many animal products as you possibly can out of your life...it's more of a lifestyle than a diet. I just tell you that because most vegans would get upset if you call yourself vegan and still have leather shoes, etc. I am a part of a board for veggies/vegans and a few omnis are on there too, I think you should check it out..
www.veggieboards.com
and go to the forum.
Jmtank,
You kinda sound like me, in that sounds like you're not a big fan of meat, but you eat it, and want to cut out most dairy. If you are planning to go full-blown vegan, I think you should start out slowly. Quitting meat for good is a big commitment, especially if you actually like some meat. I have no big conviction against eating it, so I don't strive to become vegetarian, just eat a lot of vegetarian foods. I do love fish though, and will never stop that!
The only dairy-free foods that I haven't tried is vegan cheese. I still us the fat free lactose free slices. I do love soy milk though. There are dairy-free chocolate bars too....just beware that a lot of these have even more fat than a conventional candy bar..I'm not sure why. Not all soy and rice milk products are fat free.
Anyway, I love to hunt for vegetarian foods and quick recipies, so I think it would be a great idea to keep the thread going if anyone is interested.
Girlie