Get Started With Veganuary

Here’s my guide to Veganuary in 2021, and how to make it work for you.

A delicious balanced soup, full of nutrients.

Why did I go Vegan?

I went full time Vegan in 2020, and have had ALOT of fun finding creative ways to eat and avoid cravings for meat. To verify my credentials, I used to love a good medium cooked steak with peppercorn sauce, so I do feel like I can confidently advise you. That said, I had been eating Vegan for a few years on a weekly basic, or as it’s officially called Flexitarian. This means you eat Vegan mainly but also eat meat when you fancy it. Anyway, let’s not digress, and get down to business.

Get used to chopping onions, or buy handy ready cut packs at the store

Vegan chefs will be your new heroes

Get yourself a good selection of Vegan Cooking books or follow their social media accounts for recipes. I can highly recommend, BOSH!, Deliciously Ella, Rachel Ama, and River Cottage VEG. These will give you a really good choice of recipes, and allow your palate some excitement. A lot of vegan recipes are based around spices, and making sure your spice cupboard is well stocked is vital. No-one wants to eat samey foods, not even vegans!

Part of my kitchen cookbook selection. Messy, well loved and always used!

Get some vital vitamins

It’s worth adding in vitamin supplements, as you can get seriously ill if you do not balance your vegan diet. Supplement with Vitamin B, and Omega 3/6’s. Unless you’re following advice from a nutritionist or doing the research yourself, you are best to er on the side of caution. Being vegan is definitely healthy, but you have lots of foods nutrients to get everyday and they could easily be missed.

Don’t go supermarket crazy

Be wary of processed foods stocking up the supermarket aisles, and seemingly making it easy for you to be a new vegan. Often, these have little to no nutrients, despite taking up a large portion of your diet. I genuinely think the fun of being vegan is eliminating convenient foods and processed foods from your diet. For me it has been a journey in home cooking, batch cooking, and being prepared. Also thinking about what I eat and why I am eating it. Also, these foods are not going to make you feel great!

Eat the rainbow and beyond

Make sure you eat the rainbow! Stock up at your local market, or fruit and veg aisles. You can happily use the freezer section for vegetables, and fruits for smoothies or chai puddings, or raw cakes. It’s okay, don’t get scared. When I think of rainbows, I think of fun and excitement of a little elf waiting at the end with a pot of gold, and childhood days spent searching for the elusive end. So when I say eat the rainbow, I do mean eat lots of colours, but I also mean have fun and play with your food. I can guarantee you will find lots of vegan food that you will love.

Why are you going vegan?

Going Vegan for me was for health reasons and I quickly noticed changes in my body. Like anything you do for health reasons, you need to give your body time to adjust. If your reasons are health ones, and you’re not seeing any immediate results, (although I think you will) my best advice is to give it time and be patient.

While you might be feeling great initially, as your Gut Flora changes you might need a few more weeks to really feel the benefits. Be patient and try different recipes. I would definitely say give dairy and gluten a few months to really be cleared from your body.

Overall, enjoy your time being vegan! It can be a lot of fun especially if you are sharing this experience, and as we are in another lockdown, what better time to try!