Veganuary: the Results

So it is now February which means that the month of Veganuary is over. As I started late, I still have a few more days to go, but I thought I would do a summary post in conduction with the challenge's official end.

So, how have I found it? Surprisingly, making vegan meals for a month really wasn't that difficult. For breakfasts, I only had to omit yoghurt and I recently discovered that my local health food shop sells coconut yoghurt, which makes a nice occasional treat. I have been avoiding using soy substitutes, so have been getting my protein this month from nuts, seeds and dark leafy veggies. Many of my staple dinners are vegan anyway, so I only had to switch the kind of pesto that I used, and hold the cheesy topping. I did find the few times that I ate out difficult as only having one option on the menu was a bit disappointing. There is a vegetarian cafe near me though and another local cafe caters for lots of different diets, so I do have those for future eating choices. I have also branched out on my snack options -who knew that you could buy lentil or quinoa crisps? I'll confess, I haven't actually said no to any offers of chocolate, but when buying for myself, I have become much more familiar with which dark chocolate brands to go for. Some are completely vegan; some are technically dairy free but may have milk traces and some have milk as an ingredient. So it was worth looking at and deciding where my boundaries of strictness were.

I am pretty pleased that I've managed to stay off the cheese when my chocolate avoidance somewhat failed! I did have cheesy pizza the one time as a friend bought a few boxes as a thank you for a group of us helping her to move. This means I did cheat, but I reduced my animal products an awful lot and only bought vegan food for myself. So although it was tempting to beat myself up about this, I have stepped back from that and still think I have made some really good progress.

I guess the next question is what is in store for my diet from now on. I'm really proud of what I have done this month, and as I really want to keep my carbon and ethical footprint right down, I will definitely continue to eat as little animal products as possible, especially from those linked to cattle. After next week I will start to have eggs again, as I buy locally sourced ones. To me, the unfertilised egg is a waste product from a chicken and so to take an egg from a chicken living in good, outdoor conditions is fine to me. Honey from sustainable sources I am also fine with as bee keeping is an important method to protecting the declining bee populations. Everything else I plan to reduce as much as possible, whilst still accepting that I am human and imperfect!

Source

Whether animal rights, environmental impact or health is your concern, moving to a more plant based diet will bring great benefits. I have been so inspired by the hosts of vegans out there, providing recipes, motivation and positivity so thank you to them! I am looking forward to living increasingly sustainably and my food basket has been such a good place to have a kickstart.

Have you changed your diet recently, or got involved with Veganuary? Let me know below!

Lush Soapbox Campaigns

Anyone interested in earth-friendly campaigns, cruelty free products or delicious smelling toiletries will have made their way to a Lush shop to stock up on products. I love how they provide a voice for organisations, and whilst looking at their website this week, I came across a petition by Protect Our Heritage on their Soapbox that rang strongly with me.

As a marine biology student, and environmental supporter, one of my greatest concerns is the health of our oceans. So reading an article potentially giving us the power to ban deep sea trawling was exciting, if humbling at the same time. Trawling is one of the most destructive forms of fishing; it rips up delicate sea beds, destroying the habitats to create underwater wastelands... which in turn, makes the area unsuitable for the marine life that is fished to survive. Stupid, right? Protect Our Heritage explains the current situation much better than I could:

The European Commission has proposed a ban on deep-sea bottom trawling, a practice described by scientists as the most destructive in History: huge weighted nets scrape the seabed at up to 1800 meters of depth and devastate in seconds ecosystems that are thousands of years old, while catching vulnerable species, some of which are endangered, in the process.

While UK fishing vessels do not target deep-sea species with bottom trawlers, foreign ships come and destroy the UK’s exceptionally rich marine biodiversity and clear-cut ecosystems that have taken thousands of years to form.
Industrial fishing lobbies put pressure on Member States of the European Union to avoid the prohibition of this fishing method, whose underperforming and subsidy-dependent business model belongs to the past. Currently, the UK government does not support the ban on deep-sea bottom trawling! This is unacceptable. Waters of England and Scotland should not be theater to the short-sighted massacre of 4000 year-old corals that are the equivalent of pyramids to Britain!

If this article has caught your interest, if you want to protect our seas and marine life, or even if you simply want to ensure the stability of fish stocks, please add your name to the petition. Every person makes a difference.

For further information, click here.