Vegan update - one month eval complete

A month ago Susan posted this note about eating vegan as a way of improving our health and lowering our chances of getting cancer. After a month of eating vegan, here are some thoughts on the experience:

• In general, we both like it. Neither of us were ever huge meat eaters so going without meat hasn't been a big change. The biggest adjustment for us has been cutting dairy out of our diet. I'm still eating a bit of cheese but by and large we've cut out all dairy and have substituted in various rice and soy products.
• Our sense of taste (and smell) has definitely become more sensitive. I'm really enjoying foods that in the past didn't seem to have much taste. The flavor from dark green vegetables seem more intense, nuts seem richer and sweeter.
• Susan's suspecting that she may have a bit of an issue with soy. We've been eating a lot of soy and she's had a few  mild reactions that might indicate an allergy. We'll have to check this out as it will obviously affect how we plan our meals.
• It's been a bit of an education to learn new recipes that are vegan. Susan's done a great job of this and I've pretty much just been along for the ride. We're eating more nuts, legumes and different kinds of soy, rice and wheat products. 
• Grocery bills seem to be a bit lower. This is a bit hard to characterize since we frequently buy health and personal care items at the same time we buy groceries and those costs tend to mask differences between grocery costs. But our general sense is that our grocery bills have gone down 10-15%.
• Eating out is definitely a change. Many of the menu items that don't have meat will have a bunch of cheese so trying to find a reasonable menu that is vegan is a bit of a challenge.

So I would say that our vote so far has been that this is A Good Thing. We may end up being mostly vegan with a bit of dairy thrown in when we eat out. I certainly like the way I've been feeling on the vegan diet and if it helps our immune systems get stronger, so much the better.