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Every day more and more people are deciding to try out a plant-based diet or vegan lifestyle. Statistics show that people are spending more money on vegan products and vegan recipes are dominating the cock shows. As years passing by more and more people understand that veganism is not just a trend that is created by hipsters, it is a lifestyle where you consciously choose not to use any animal products or products tested on animals. It is a healthy lifestyle that is gaining a huge popularity and more people are learning about it each year.
Veganuary is a month-long event where people are challenged to try out to eat as many days as possible on the plant-based diet and compare how they are feeling after one month.
How did it start?
The movement began as a way of protecting the environment, preventing animal suffering, and improving the health of millions of people. Get into the habit of checking the ingredients list to make sure there are no animal-derived ingredients. The campaign originally started in 2014 in the UK. Since 2014 participation has been doubling each ear for people who join the movement. Estimated that in 2019 there were 1.3 million globally taking part in it.
Up until now for 2021 on the veganuary.com website there are over 500.000 people who signed officially to go for 31 days completely vegan. 150.000 of these are coming from Latin America, at least 80.000 from the US and more than 50.000 from Germany.
Benefits of joining Veganuary
There are thousands of examples online showing what benefits you can get by consuming a healthy well balanced plant-based diet. Here just to name a couple:
1) It can help you with your sleep patterns: consuming plant-based food instead of animal products your digestion is working better. It is easier to process all day’s food. That’s why your stomach is not busy in the evening trying to process the meat thus you can fall asleep easier.
2) Weight loss: plant-based foods tend to be lower in calories, especially the ones that you cook and make yourself. For example a full plate of steak with fries and salads with mayonnaise is about 900 cal where is wholesome plate of plant-based food (for example a Buddha Bowl) is 650 cal.
3) Energizing you: Well planned vegan-diets follow healthy eating guidelines and contain all nutrients our bodies need. A plant-based diet can lower the blood pressure and cholesterol levels, a risk of having a heart attack and type 2 diabetes etc.
It benefits your skin: dairy is known for contributing to acne, eczema and other skin problems which by going vegan, might help you reduce or get rid of the issue. By eating plant-based you typically consume more fruit and vegetables which have more antioxidants and vitamins that contribute to the glowing skin.
4) Environmentally friendly: going vegan the production of food uses less water and energy rather than animal farming.
There are way more benefits for going plant-based but these are just a couple I named.
I am definitely doing veganuary, in fact I have been eating vegan foods for more than half a year now. I will have my first "vegaversary" in April 2021. If you have seen other videos on my channel and saw my recipes on this this website, you probably know the story that I have become vegan after my weight was around 98kg last year and did a water fast to cleanse my body and recover, after that I haven’t purposely consumed animal products.
Veganism is so hard!
Not exactly! These days, striving for the vegan diet is easy. We can find fruit, vegetables, legumes, seeds, berries, tofu, tempeh in every supermarket. There are loads of different brands that offer a huge variety of pre-made food such as veggie meatballs, hamburgers, veggie chicken nuggets you name it! Not always the healthiest options but if you are somebody who struggles to find their ways in the kitchen, it is a great way to start.
The benefits of going plant-based are enormous. And I have to make a confession here, I might be vegan but I definitely know for sure that over the last 6 months it happened to be situations where I probably eat a cookie or something else accidentally that contained a derivative of an animal product. And that is O.K., because it is not about being perfect. It is about having great intentions and choosing non abusive food whenever we can.
If you would like to give it a try on Veganuary, I encourage you to check out Practical-Wellness website or Youtube channel where I put out loads of recipes with video explanations showing how to make some vegan dishes.
I also do Veganuary challenges. I post a video on Practical-Wellness Instagram every single day with a new recipe that you guys can try it and copy as well. It is so nice to receive some of your messages that I am doing the right thing and encouragement to continue. Let me know in the comments if you guys are going to try to challenge yourself in 2021 to consume more plant-based products in your diet. Let’s make 2021 the year of changing habits!