Why not give Veganuary a go?

Alright lads! Today’s article is mostly for the readers out there – hello, hi! – who are meat-eaters, or vegetarians, or pescatarians, or flexitarians, or reducetarians, or anything in between. It’s for people who say “I could NEVER be vegan. Ever. NOPE.” which is something I used to say quite a bit. And I really meant it. But you never really know until you give it a try and that’s where Veganuary come in!

Veganuary is a global charity that encourages people to try veganism for January. And I’m telling you about it now, so you have time to prepare. I’m nice like that! If you live in London you’re about to see a lot more about them as they’re about to launch a very exciting new campaign on the Underground but wherever you are they are here to help you.

I had a conversation with Clea Grady, the Marketing Manager at Veganuary to find out more:

                      

What is Veganuary?

Veganuary is dedicated to changing public attitudes, while providing all the information and practical support required to make the transition to veganism as easy and enjoyable as possible.

How does it work?

Veganuary provides people with a tailored support package. It offers practical skills, recipes, guides to eating vegan meals on the high street, nutritional advice, support and local vegan social groups. We use the feedback we receive from people who take part each year to improve the structured support package we offer so that every year it’s bigger and better.

For example, people who took part in Veganuary in 2015 told us that they enjoyed our weekly support emails, our social media and facebook group but would like more support so now we offer a full vegan starter kit – with daily emails and much more hand-holding.

If you sign up now we’ll get in touch before January to help you prepare – giving you help with your shopping, kitchen cupboards and nutritional advice so you have information on protein, calcium, B12 and can feel confident.

How many people took part last year?

Last year, January 2016, over 23,000 people signed up to https://veganuary.com/ and we think that, informally, lots more people tried veganism for the whole of January.

How many people do you expect to take part this time?

Every year we’ve doubled the number of participants. We’re aiming for around 50,000 people this year and we’re hoping we’ll beat that as the excitement we’re hearing about Veganuary has started already.

Do you have any advice for people thinking of trying Veganuary?

Sign up to Veganuary – the support you’ll receive is written for you. It’s totally free and always will be. We’ll make sure you’re not on your own. We know that veganism can seem daunting but can help you give it a shot. We’ll show you that you’re part of a fun community and it’s a great way to start the New Year.

Why should people try Veganuary?

Every year we’re overwhelmed with people saying how much better they feel as a result of trying Veganuary. People tell us about their better recovery times when exercising, how their hair and skin looks better, how they feel lighter, sleep really well and so on.

68% of last year’s participants said they felt significantly better after one month of veganism. After six months that rose to 75%.

As a result of Veganuary in 2016 81% of people who took part told us they intend to maintain the changes they made in their lifestyle.

People who sign up to Veganuary continue to hear from us throughout the year and there’s plenty of helpful resources on our facebook community and online too.

Veganuary offers you 31 days of free recipes and access to over 600 vegan recipes – including our Celebrity Cookbook which – you can only access if you sign up and – has amazing recipes from celebrities. There are plenty of recipes for vegan-versions of food you probably like so you won’t feel like you’re giving up on your favourite meals.

 

What can Londoners Expect from the Tube campaign?

Our new Veganuary London Underground campaign launches on 19 December. We undertook a massive amount of research and are confident that the tube offers us the greatest bang for the buck based on the huge footfall and social media potential. Every day the London Underground plays host to 3 million passenger journeys, with 150,000 people entering the network every hour. This gives our campaign enormous reach.

We’ve crowd funded the campaign and been totally overwhelmed with the support from the vegan community. As a result there will be a minimum of 2,000 adverts across the London Underground. It’s the biggest vegan campaign to be advertised on the tube network and any more donations we receive will go towards even more posters.

One very kind and generous donor has pledged to match all donations (from this point on) up to the value of £5,000! There has never been a better time to support this campaign, as your donation will be doubled!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And because I’m nosy and always like to ask this question, I asked Clea who she’d most like to see go vegan:

Personally, as an auntie, seeing my nieces and nephews, the people I love the most and who are really passionate about animals try veganism would be wonderful as they’re the next generation. Celebrity-wise I think Mel and Sue trying Veganuary would be great and sports people challenge perceptions of veganism so that would also be great.

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Adding to Clea’s ‘who would you like to see go vegan’ I would like to say why not YOU lovely reader? Why not sign up to Veganuary and give it a go. If it doesn’t work for you then no bother, but you never know, this could be the start of an exciting new adventure. It will almost certainly make you feel better, is one of the key actions you can do to combat climate change, can save you money and can reduce the suffering of animals.

Veganuary have all the support you need if you’re trying veganism, and their Facebook group is a safe and nurturing space for everyone – but the vegan community, whether online or in real life, I’ve found to be inspiring and helpful. Check out #VeganFoodShare on Instagram for recipe ideas that will knock your socks off or some of my favourite blogs and Instagram accounts. You can also always feel free to get in touch with me – I’ll be adding more recipes and reviews to All Good All Vegan all the time but I’m always happy to help – no question to big (probably!), too small or too weird (again, probably!).