A plant-based way of life: going vegan this Veganuary

The start of a new year and with it brings ‘Veganuary’. Bigger and better than ever, 2019 saw the rise of the vegan with more than a quarter of a million people taking the pledge to try a vegan diet according to Veganuary.  Major brand names and high street stores are increasing their vegan offering, which is great news! So if you’re just starting out, revisiting vegan living or just want to increase your plant-based intake – read on for our top tips for going vegan…

1. Research is key!

Prepare yourself and find out what kind of foods you should be eating. Ensure you are getting a balanced diet and including the likes of protein and calcium from other sources. Keeping your body healthy and happy is important too. The Vegan Society  has a useful resource list.

Educate yourself with which foods are actually vegan-friendly – did you know not all wine is vegan friendly? Watch our video to find out why.

2. Start with ingredients you know and love.

I bet you’ve already been eating some vegan meals or at least cooking with vegan-friendly ingredients. Lentil soups, vegetable curries, peanut butter, baked beans, dried pasta, rice, tomatoes all sound familiar? It will be easier to start introducing more vegan products, for example swapping cows milk for plant based alternatives such as oat milk. There are many alternatives on the supermarket shelves; vegan cheese, yogurts and mayonnaise, which you can easily pickup for a quick switch. Check out some amazingly delicious recipes on the Veganuary website. Or try some quick and easy 5 ingredient meals from Katy Beskow .

3. Make little changes.

How about going meat free on Monday? Or swapping your wine to a 100% vegan friendly one like Proudly Vegan. You can then build up to increasing your vegan lifestyle.

4. Helpful sites.

If in doubt you can check products with the Vegan Society, or BevVeg and if eating out the Veganuary website has a list of some suitable places.

No matter your reason for switching to a vegan lifestyle, whether it be environmental, or health and well-being, we hope you enjoy discovering new food and drink!

Follow us @proudlyveganwines and share your vegan journey.