Okay, that's good to hear, mate. Lots of young blokes are very much "she'll be right!" which is why they crash cars all the time and stuff. Excuse the similar rant in your training journal thread
Basically, people who can't or won't have dairy products turn to soy. But you don't actually need protein powder, there's nothing magical about it, it's just another form of food. People consume protein and carb powder for two reasons.
The first is that people who want to bulk up will sometimes find it physically hard to eat enough to do it, or don't have enough time to prepare all the food, so if you can whack some stuff in a drink, that makes it easier. It's easier to make and consume a litre of soy milk than steak and vegies.
The second is that it's good to have some food in your just before and just after your workout, to fuel your workout and help you recover from it. But if you have a big meal just before then with a hard workout you may leave it on the gym floor, and immediately after a workout you usually won't feel hungry. So a protein and carb drink gives you something you can digest quickly and have even if you're not hungry.
You could just have some soy milk or fruit juice with a few raw eggs blended up in it, it'd do the same thing - give you that pre and post workout fuel.
But if you have got the time and can get enough food down you, you don't need protein/carb powders at all. Protein powder wasn't even invented until 1950, but we still got guys like Steve Reeves and Reg Park, strong and muscular guys.
