What the heck is Veganuary? Veganuary is a trial month of the vegan diet. You can go to their website to set up your ‘Veganuary month’ and it’s completely free! They give you tips, cookbooks on the vegan diet and lots more. I thought I’d give it a go this month – read on for Why I’m Giving Veganuary a Try!
I can’t be doing ‘dead’ anymore
I think it’s important that I explain why I’m trying this out. I’ve decided to move away from an animal produce diet for a myriad of reasons, but let’s talk about animals and the environment: I’ve always had a fear of anything dead. I can’t look into the casket at funerals and I can only eat meat that’s fully cooked and doesn’t remotely look like an animal. So, when I was asked to do the turkey one Christmas, it totally freaked me out. I didn’t want to touch it – safe to say, I didn’t eat meat that Christmas.
My bad meat experiences
From there, my bad experiences with meat only continued. I remember biting into a chicken drumstick and seeing blood; for me, being reminded that it was an animal made me think of just biting into chicken.
Another big turn off was learning about the ill-treatment of the animals we eat – battery farms, where animals are packed together tightly for months at a time in unsanitary conditions, torn away from their mothers from very young (sometimes from birth). It’s all heart-wrenchingly too much to bear.
I love cows (seriously though, who doesn’t?)
I also see the impact the meat and dairy industry has on the environment. I love cows, they are my favourite animal – so docile, so cute. But bacteria in their digestive systems produce methane, which contributes towards climate change. It would also be a much better use of land to go vegan too – see The Economist’s video about it above.
Giving vegan (or at least more plant-based) a go
So what’s holding you back from trying veganism or at least a more plant-based diet? What did you hear that didn’t ‘sit right’ with you? Veganuary have a ‘myth checker’ on their site that you can use to search for knowledge on veganism and get more clued up. All I can say is, don’t knock it before you’ve tried it!
