My Vegan Story – Veganuary

Today is an exciting day, and not just because it’s January 1st. It is also the first day of Veganuary: a global, month-long challenge for people to change their eating habits by following a vegan diet. This means that a person’s food consumption is plant-based, and doesn’t include meat, fish, dairy, eggs or honey. That can sound extremely daunting to a lot of people, because ‘what am I going to eat?!’ and ‘how can I possibly be healthy?’.

But you shouldn’t worry, many vegans now living happy and healthy lives also experienced concern when facing these questions, amongst a catalogue of others, yet still managed to make the change. And if this is something you want to do, it is totally possible and plausible, it just takes a little education, experience and support.

If you’ve read some of my posts before, you might know that I’ve been vegan for a while. As I’ve already made this transition, I’m obviously not going to be taking part in Veganuary by challenging myself to cut out animal products, however I really wanted to get involved to help out anyone who’s thinking about making a switch. Over the next month in particular, I will be writing several vegan-related posts to try and support anyone on this journey.

I thought I’d kick the month off with my vegan story, a short summary of how I got to the point of making this lifestyle change.

I was brought up as a vegetarian, which was fairly unusual at the time, and led to a few criticisms directed at my parents, which I like to think were borne out of concern for my welfare and not just ad hominem attacks. I was an extremely fussy eater as a child, steadfast in my decision to live off marmite toast and pasta, but as the years progressed, so did my taste range.

I don’t remember life as a vegetarian child being much of an issue, after all, the most important foods at birthday parties, pizza and cake, were normally fine for me to eat. There were always options for me at gatherings, events and on school trips, and I don’t have any memories of feeling excluded because of my family’s dietary choices. There was that one time I ate a chicken nugget at a kid’s party when I was age seven because of a slight mix up of meals, but apart from that one confusion, and a few fish fingers at friend’s houses along the way, I never experienced what it was like to be a meat-eater.

This is perhaps why, when I delved into the plethora of vegan documentaries and articles online in April 2015, it was easier for me to contemplate a life without cheese on top of every meal and a plate of scrambled eggs every weekend. Now, I’m not saying it was a complete walk in the park, and to start off with I only committed to a week of eating plant-based foods. Once those seven days were up, I was surprised by how much I had enjoyed it and how much better I felt, and since then I’ve never switched back.

As you can see, becoming vegan wasn’t such a hard process for me – I was already halfway there, had a supportive family around me (who went vegan at the same time as me) and felt really motivated to make it work. I know it isn’t like that for a lot of people though, which is why I want to write these posts: to spread awareness and help others out.

So what can you expect from my blog during Veganuary?

• Information about the impacts of veganism on yourself, others and the planet
• Lists of my favourite vegan resources/where to find extra information
• Ideas about budgeting
• My favourite alternatives to non-vegan foods
• How to make veganism easy and deal with negative attitudes
• My everyday and special occasion recipes
• Tips for eating out
• And lots more!

If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see me cover, from nutrition to opinion, just let me know at any point and I’ll try to incorporate those ideas!

To take part in Veganuary yourself (for free!), or to find out more information about the challenge and veganism in general, head on over to the official website.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all have a great start to 2018 ❤

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If you enjoyed this post, you may like:

Homemade Vegan Gingerbread House

Homemade Vegan Biscotti

Why Okja is a Must-See: What We Can Learn From Fiction

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