Hello,
  I'm new to this whole vegan life style, I gave up eating meat a month ago but still eat dairy. I love my milk, yogurt and cheese and find that it makes me feel full. I grew up in a house hold drinking a glass of milk with every meal (some friends thought it was weird) and still continue to do so. Lately I have been experiencing lack off energy and I feel tired all the time. I wake up in the morning and eat breakfast, but find myself going back to bed a little later to take a nap. Could this all be from eating dairy products? If so, is anyone else having the same struggle? I want to be vegan, but don't want to completely shock my body and mind by doing it all at once, I'm taking baby steps.

I totally understand your struggle with Dairy.  I too, drank glasses of milk with EVERYTHING, I loved it.  I switched to Almond milk most of the time and soy milk.  It actually is satisfying!! I havent drank milk in months.  As for yogurt I think Soy Yogurt is just as good, or better. Its smoother.  Cheese is the hardest because the vegan cheeses are a huge difference and harder to get use to.  I still havent cut cheese completely! But dont give up....just try one step at a time...switch your yougurt...then milk...and just keep working on the cheese! Dairy does make me feel slugish too!

Thanks Erica,
    I finished up the last of my milk and switched to Almond Breeze, I also bought some soy yogurt in a variety of flavors. I guess I have to be patient and allow myself some time to get use to the change in taste. Next step will be the cheese...................but until then I'm gonna enjoy the last of it. :)

I'm with you Lynn80. I grew up drinking milk with my breakfast, lunch and dinner. I thought dairy would be the hardest to give up, but I've found that the longer I have gone with out it (went totally vegan 1/1/10) the better I feel. I noticed right away that I didn't feel as bloated and my face thinned out a little. I wasn't having stomach problems, like gas, after meals. There are great alternatives if you feel like you have to have something that looks and tastes close to cheese or dairy. I eat "veggie slices" cheese with my sandwiches and even use it to melt on my vegan taco salad. Tofutti makes great cream cheese, and EcoBalance butter melts and tastes just like butter.  Erica is right, try to cut out certain types of dairy gradually, or you can go cold turkey like me and you might notice some drastic changes (for the better!). Make sure you get calcium from other sources like fruits, veggies, or almond/soy milks that are calcium enriched. Good luck!

I agree that dairy is harder to give up than meat. I would say that I am still flirting and have given in more often with dairy than anything else. My biggest problem is that I have always loved the taste of butter. I never have used a lot of it but when I wanted to make something that called for butter, I would never use margarine always butter. I will say that the Earth Balance butter is really good. I have been buying the one that is soy free (red container). I also just purchased the sticks of Earth balance that are specifically for cooking and baking.
One thing I have to say though is that today I decided to reread the chapter on dairy in Alicia's book. I say if you feel tempted then reread or read that chapter and you will definitely be reminded of why you are trying to make this change. I have even convinced my husband and kids to try switching to rice milk for cereal because of bringing up points in the book.

Unsweetened almond milk is so good on cereal.

http://www.thekindlife.com/video/view/12339/5367/1

Check out my short video on the Classical Chinese approach to Dairy. It might help with the motivation.
Justin