You may not have heard of Veganuary, but you might have heard of the term vegan. Vegan is a style of eating that eliminates all animal foods and products. While some may choose a Vegan lifestyle for animal welfare, others might choose to eat Vegan for their health or the planet.
Veganuary started in 2014 in the UK to promote the exploration of following a Vegan diet during the month of January. In 2021, more than half a million people signed up to the challenge.
While the thought of giving up all animal foods for an entire month can be scary, perhaps akin to the popular Dry January (avoiding all alcohol for the month), having an opportunity to begin to explore what plant-based foods you enjoy might calm some of those fears.
The goal of Plant-Strong is to empower exploration and find enjoyment in the foods that you fuel your body with. Remember food should help, not hurt.
Here are a few tips to help put a Plant-Strong Nutrition spin on your January:
- Start out with a Meatless Monday
- This doesn’t mean having to buy high priced “meatless” patties or un-chicken nuggets
- Meatless Monday can mean that at dinner, you add beans such as chickpeas to your vegetable curry in place of chicken or you add lentils to your tomato sauce instead of ground beef
- Checkout what’s in season
- For some in colder climates, the lack of abundance from the summer months can be a little intimidating but many local markets are now highlighting hardy green leafy vegetables such as kale, chard or collards. Other winter vegetables include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, turnips and a Plant-Strong Nutrition favorite, kohlrabi
- Try a new recipe
- Recipes abound online now-a-days but many can be time consuming or costly to obtain specialty ingredients
- Check out the Plant-Strong Nutrition recipe section for frequent updates and recipes for tasty and cost-effective meals and snacks
- Don’t get tripped up by all-or-nothings
- “I could never give up X, Y, Z”, often means that we are perhaps not quite ready to make a change but know that plant-based eating can benefit our health
- Know that you are not alone and that a plant-based journey is just the beginning towards improved health
- Phone a friend aka Ask your Plant-Based Dietitian for help
- Contact us today to set up a virtual or in-person consult with a Plant-Based Registered Dietitian
- Your Plant-Based Dietitian can support you with guidance in the form of a full assessment, eating plan, recipes, guided grocery tours, cooking demos, pantry purges and panty re-stocking
