Hi Mark.

I was a tough, mostly McDougall-style vegan for 13
years. Felt the best in my life for the first 7 of
those years. Then my appendix blew to smithereens,
(that's not supposed to happen to healthy vegans, right?)
continued my diet as usual after the 15" ileum
ressection, and went down slowly over the next
5 years, ignoring chronic problems, until last
year when I dropped 25 lbs. of mostly
lean muscle and ended up a 95lb.
weakling. I'm type O, the flesh eater. I'd been
eating all whole grains and beans as my staple for
years. I can only
surmise that the damage I'd been doing to my guts
was accelerated by the peritonitis and probably
would have happened years later regardess. The diet
has helped me some in the last 6 mos., but it took so long for me to
get this way, I guess it's gonna be while for a
come-back. This doesn't make me an expert, but
I'd guess you'd be happy later in life if you
traded your soy in for one of you "beneficials"
or "neutrals". Best of luck.