Each January, people traditionally set resolutions and look to make positive life choices. But have you heard of Veganuary? No, that’s not a typo. We break down what it is and why you should take part in this awesome challenge.
What Is Veganuary?
Over 620,000 people participated last year.
Since 2013, Veganuary has become an annual tradition, challenging people to switch to a vegan diet for the month of January each year. Founded by Matthew Glover and Jane Land, the first campaign occurred in 2014 and saw 3,000 people take part in the challenge. Fast forward to today, and that number has exploded, with over 620,000 participating last year and an estimated millions who have taken part since it first launched.
Beyond just the name of a popular and successful campaign, Veganuary is also a non-profit organisation which encourages people to support vegan businesses, sharing useful resources and guides not just in January but throughout the whole year. Their efforts have made an impact, with over 1,540 new vegan products and added menu options recorded in countries where the campaign runs during 2022.
At its core, the campaign aims to increase awareness of the benefits of a vegan diet, inspiring people to participate each year through effective media engagement, creative marketing, celebrity ambassadors, collaboration with a network of trusted partners and a dedicated team powering everything behind the scenes.
Benefits Of A Plant-Based Diet
So why should you give Veganuary a go? Well, there are several reasons that might help you commit to the challenge of adopting a plant-based diet for at least a few weeks. Most obvious are the positive health benefits from ditching dairy and saying goodbye to meat, including a greater intake of essential nutrients due to a broader spectrum of wholefoods. Then there’s lower cholesterol, increased prevention of diabetes, heart attack and stroke, higher dietary fibre and lower risk of bowl cancer, just to name a few.
The environment also benefits when opting to choose a plant-based diet. It will help to limit the damage done to the planet by factory farming which currently sees an estimated 70 billion land animals farmed for human consumption each year. All those animals require space, water and food. Factory farming also results in deforestation, loss of biodiversity in natural ecosystems and it also contributes to air and water pollution, much of which is attributed to animal waste and industrial emissions.
Then there is the direct impact on animals themselves. Each time you choose not to consume meat, eggs or dairy, you are helping to end the suffering of animals. It might seem like the furthest thing from your mind when eating animal products, but that ‘food’ was not only sourced without consent, but its production also results in the abuse (and often death) of a sentient being. A diet free of animals is the most humane diet, one that lets our fellow earthlings live their lives in peace, and not end up next to the peas.
Resources
As with any significant change, planning is the key to success. So, to help those new to the vegan game, here are some handy resources which should hopefully make it even easier to adopt a healthy, plant-based lifestyle this January (and beyond).
Here’s a few of our favourites:
- Veganuary
- Minimalist Baker
- Vegan.com
- Pick Up Limes
- VegNews
- World of Vegan
- NutritionFacts.org
- Cooking With Parita
- Live Kindly
There’s still time to take part in this year’s Veganuary event. Why not give it a try for the rest of the month and have some fun exploring exciting new foods, recipes and products. Your body, the planet and our animal friends will all thank you! ∎
