It’s the start of a new year and another Veganuary challenge is upon us!
If you haven’t heard of Veganuary before, it is a campaign to encourage people to try being vegan for the month of January. Veganuary 2021 has exceeded half a million sign ups! A record breaking 500,000 people have signed up this year making it the highest since the pledge began in 2014.
What a better new year's goal than reducing your harm to animals and becoming more eco conscious along the way.
There are so many options when it comes to food choices especially when Veganuary hits as the supermarkets take full advantage of the hype and push their plant based products.
The most simple way of transitioning to a vegan diet is by swapping out the foods you eat daily for plant based alternatives such as the milk in your hot drinks and the cheese and ham on your sandwiches. Pick your favourite meals and make them vegan! Whether it be swapping the beef in your spag bol to a plant based mince, using plant based cream and cheese in your carbonara or swapping that chicken burger for a plant based fried ‘chicken’ burger.There are so many amazing plant based meats and dairy products on the market and due to the plant based food industry becoming more popular every year and more competition from producers to excel their products, the expensive price tag that vegan food has been labelled with in the past is dropping.
Being more conscious about the products we put in our shopping trolley every week when it comes to toiletries and non edible products can seem overwhelming to start with but try not to complicate it too much, find the brands that are vegan and cruelty free so you don’t need to spend hours in the isles reading the labels!
Brands such as Dove and Superdrug's own branded products are all cruelty free and vegan so they are great for an inexpensive shopping trip. Lots of make up brands also carry the same ethics when it comes to their products, such as Elf, Illamasqua and Dermablend.
Whether your motivation for doing Veganuary is for animal welfare, the planet or for health reasons, there are plenty of films and documentaries to give you inspiration on Netflix and YouTube.
Earthlings, The Game Changers, What The Health and Cowspiracy are all great documentaries showing the effects of eating meat and dairy on your health and the planet.
Land of Hope and Glory is a documentary on YouTube from 2017 and is a great insight into animal farming practices in the UK. It shows shocking and never-before-seen undercover footage from one hundred farms all over the UK. The narrative dispels the myth of ‘humane’ slaughter and gives us an unprecedented glimpse into the lives of farm animals in this country showing how misleading the terms free-range and free-roaming really are.
By considering to take part in Veganuary you are doing an amazing thing! Do not beat yourself up or feel disheartened if you slip up! Veganism isn’t about perfection, there are no rules, it’s about doing what you can, no matter how big or small, to reduce the harm we cause. The animals and the planet will thank you for it!
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