Is Veganism Hard? Is it Expensive? And Other Questions…

It’s that time of year again – Veganuary has rolled around, and with more people signing up than ever before, I want to chip in a little. Help out, in whatever way I can. I’ve been vegan for nearly four years now (you can read my full vegan story here) and so I think I have a wise word or two to spill on the topic.

In this post, I thought I’d answer some common questions asked when people first hear about veganism and want to give it a go. This is all based on my personal experience, being vegan in the UK, so my situation may be different to other people’s. I wanted to focus on subjective questions here, so you won’t find health and environment stats in this post. There are plenty of wonderful sources to learn about these things, so I will highlight some of my favourites at the end of the post – if you want to know more about the facts then I advise you give those a browse!

You Are What You Eat: Considering Going Vegan?

A friend from America once told me about a slogan that exists over there for a popular supermarket that describes itself as ‘at the corner of happy and healthy’, and although the cringe factor of that is eye-roll-worthy, there is an important concept in there. What we eat isn’t just a matter of giving our bodies some kind of energy, it’s about giving them good quality energy; energy that is compatible with us. In this way, we’re much like cars in need of gas. I’m no mechanic but I’m pretty certain that if you filled up a vehicle with the wrong kind of petrol it wouldn’t run at all, let alone at its best.

We’ve all experienced this ourselves, I’m sure. You know, that day you ate fast food twice, an extra piece of cake and somehow forgot fruit existed? Yep, we’ve all been there. And most of us can feel the impact of that either straight away or the day after: the tiredness, the sluggishness, the mood swings, the irritability… Even if you never linked these things to what you were eating, it is likely that the food you choose to fuel your body with is leaving its mark on you through how you feel physically and mentally – whether that’s positive or negative.

What I Eat in a Week as a Vegan – Veganuary

‘What I Eat in a Day/Week as a Vegan’ kind of content is very popular in the YouTube community, and to a slightly lesser extent the blogging community, and I can see why. When you first go vegan, even if you only have to make a small change, you’re going to need some inspiration. For me, having been a lifelong vegetarian, perhaps it should’ve been easy to come up with meal plans. That wasn’t always the case though; I still felt a little lost for the first month or two as I tentatively stepped into veganism.

How would I make delicious food without cheese? Or create nice cakes without eggs? These were probably two of the concerns most relevant to my diet at the time, but every person making some kind of dietary transition will experience different worries and come up against different barriers.

Ice Cream For Breakfast? – Veganuary

The best moment about becoming a vegan has to be the day you first hear about banana ice cream, aka nicecream. For a lot of people, this will be in the early stages of veganism, in which scrolling through Instagram or trawling sites for food inspiration is a common activity. For some reason this phenomenon doesn’t seem to have spread much outside the vegan community, but I think this makes a brilliant breakfast, regardless of your diet choices.

Either way, once you’ve discovered nicecream there’s no way to not see it on social media; it seems to pop up everywhere. And once you’ve tasted it yourself, there is no way to go back: ice cream really is the best breakfast, and now that childhood dream can be fulfilled in a healthy way!

Comparing Plant-Based Milks: Which Is The Best? – Veganuary

If you’re attempting veganism this year, or focussing on cutting down on dairy, then great news – there’s a huge, and I mean HUGE, variety of milk alternatives out there. But here comes the bad news: switching from a taken-for-granted singular option of cow’s milk to a baffling array of new options which all seem equally unusual/weird/exciting/*insert your own adjective here*, can be overwhelming to say the least.

Staying a Healthy Weight: Can Veganism Help? – Veganuary

People often talk about three main reasons for going vegan, two of which are ethics and the environment. Today, however, I’m going to be discussing the other point on the ‘why go vegan’ triangle: health. We all know our physical health is extremely important, it is one of the top categories for resolutions in the new year (quitting smoking, losing weight, doing more exercise, eating better, drinking less…) and something a lot of us, including me, know we could do better at.

Most of us, even if we don’t follow them, know the basics of how to keep our bodies healthy. Or at least, we know what we’ve been told are the most impactful things we can do to live longer and healthier lives: drinking more water, exercising regularly and maintaining a balanced diet.

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.