Hi Vanessa, you're certainly not clueless, and have a real talent for asking good questions, I've noticed that

Vegetarians eat no meat and sometimes no fish. (Never understood that, fish are animals too, right?)
Vegans eat no animals of any kind, plus no animal by-products, so no eggs or milk products. That means no cheese or yoghurt, no fish-oil, no lots of things...

Rosie is being very sensible in finding out about it first, a vegan diet excludes a lot of things we need; you lose a lot of protein by cutting out so much. And you've got to be careful to get *high-quality* protein into your diet, not just any old protein. The soy and tofu proteins are the best, providing amino acids that quickly and easily convert to muscle and body-building.

But by being careful not only about what you eat, but how you eat it and how you cook it, a balanced diet can be achieved. To do it well you do need a fair understanding of "kitchen chemistry" - but there's lots out there on the net, and I noticed some pretty interesting recipes.

I try to take as many of the extra vitamins, anti-oxidants and anti-infammatories as I can in food form rather than tablet form. These things are fearfully expensive in bottle form and since I've got to eat I reckoned I may as well eat smart. Luckily I love walnuts (I eat them as a snack) and avocados, and Hong Kong is a great place to get fresh (and weird) veggies...the local markets here are marvellous and dirt cheap.

Oh yes, Rosie, another great addition is Chinese green tea, oolong (best) and pouchong - superb antioxidant, masses of free radical scavengers - the Chinese swear by it for health and long life.
Good eating!
all the best.