To Vegan or not to Vegan

I have not eaten a piece of meat or fish in almost three years.   It has been two plus years since I bought and cooked an egg.   I am sure that somewhere I ate eggs in baking products not of my making but for the most part,   I have been keeping a vegetarian diet.    There have been challenges with it,  (Asia was not easy and surprisingly more difficult than my many trips to Kansas City last year) but generally making the transition has been very easy.

Now I am considering going vegan.   It is not an easy decision as going veggie.  

The first question is why vegan.    The main answer is that it eliminates all of the the items in my diet that are directly tied to the exploitation of animals.      I spent a week in a Swiss dairy farm.   The cows are somewhat  happy except when they are tied up in the barn or their 1 day old is taken away so we can use the milk,  the one bull is tied up by his nose ring and while the baby girls join the herd,  the baby boys are not so lucky and end up as veal or steer.   So,  dairy is not guilt free from the exploitation side.   Secondly,  there is a lot of fat in cheese and cream products and removing these would be a good thing.   I would need to replace the protein from them,  however. 

A while back, I switched to soy milk from regular milk and I never noticed the difference so a large part of my dairy intake was reduced.    I have been hesitant to remove cheese and yogurt  (Greek) from my diet because I like cheese and yogurt but also because it provides protein in my diet.

Also, with my travel schedule due to work,  sometimes the only thing to eat has cheese in it.  It is very hard to be a vegan and eat lots of meal outside of the home.  You have to look for places that know what Vegans are and this could be a challenge to say the least.    For example,    I ate Pizza two times  during the six days I was in  Japan  and  brought a cheese sandwich to work one day because the cafeteria was a little too veggie unfriendly for my liking.

Giving up dairy would mean no ice cream  (which I have rarely but I do have),  no cheese,  no Greek yogurt, skipping out on some cakes  (not that I eat many).  Not missing too much there I guess with the exception of the cheese, Greek Yogurt,  ice cream and some cakes.   

I think that I will eventually get there but it will be a gradual step by step process.     I know I should,  but I also know it is not very easy.