Here’s your food challenge for this month – Veganuary 2022. To start with, a brief overview of what is Veganuary is much needed. On and off, we tend to contrive a vegan diet for ourselves. The challenge is not to have a savory diet chart at hand, but to be able to remain firm on the resolution!

What is Veganuary?

Originally, the name of a UK-based non-profit team – 'Veganuary' – was a mission to coax people into consuming plant-based food for an entire month! Now, going vegan for a month is easier said than done!

If you are used to gobbling up vegan foods now and then, if not regularly, the one-month resolution wouldn't be much of a challenge for you. But if you aren't so, it could be a perturbing thing for your health!

You need to consider a lot before diving in!

Vegan Snacks

You don’t necessarily need to be a part of Veganuary to hunt for vegan snacks. Even non-vegetarians and/or flexitarians love munching vegan chips, roasted chickpeas, some frozen grapes, or baked veggies (made from slices of colorful vegetables that are dehydrated and baked).

Is pasta vegan? You should always check the food label, however, most pasta contains no animal-derived ingredients. You could also add stir-fried veggies to make it super nutritious as well.

Did you know that a dehydrated carrot is loaded with vitamin A and the beet chips are rich in potassium?

How Veganuary changes your life?

There’s a list of queries that should strike you when you are settling on going vegan for one whole month.

  • Will my body receive all the nutrients from everything vegan?
  • Will this vegan diet help me lose weight?
  • Do I need supplements to make for the animal protein deficiencies?

What is vegan food?

Before you can find an apt answer to all of the above, you need to have a clearer picture of what is vegan food? In a word, foods that come from animals are strictly excluded from vegan foods. The same applies to dairy products too.

Vegans are, therefore, strictly on a plant-based diet. It could be fruits, canned vegetables, other leafy greens, nuts, grains, and even the consumable roots and seeds of plants.

Coming down to getting your ‘right’ nutrients from a vegetarian diet – you need to prepare a balanced vegan diet for yourself. Check out this list of essential nutrients that a vegan diet could give you…

Calcium and Vitamin D from vegan foods

What are the main sources of calcium in your body? They are – cheese, milk, and yogurt. So, clearly, vegans do not receive the much-needed calcium from these sources. Here are a few important vegan calcium sources – sesame seeds, pulses, leafy green vegetables, white and brown bread, raisins, and dry fruits.

Well, this is commonly known that for a good amount of calcium absorption, your body needs Vitamin D. If you do not have the scope of sufficient exposure to sunlight (or even if you do, and your body lacks in vitamin D) go for Vitamin D supplements.

You only need to check the label of the supplement bottle – the product shouldn’t be derived from any animal extract!

Sources of Vitamin B12 and iron

Vitamin B12 is needed for blood health and a healthy nervous system as well. For Vitamin B12, vegans can depend upon cereals that are fortified with B12, unsweetened soya drinks, or yeast extracts.

Blood health, precisely, the production of red blood cells heavily relies on the iron content in your body. Plant diet is rich in iron, especially from its color! The beetroot, dark green vegetables, broccoli, dry fruits like apricots, and some pulses are rich sources of iron.

Your vegan sources of omega-3 fatty acids

Non-vegans get their omega-3 fatty acid supply from oily fishes. It helps maintain good heart health and diminishes the risk of heart diseases. Walnuts, flaxseed oil, rapeseed oil, soya oil, etc. are good sources of this nutrient for the vegan and vegetarians.

 

Differences between vegan and vegetarian

Quite often these two terms are used interchangeably, but that is a grave mistake! A vegan is a vegetarian, but the converse is not true. Let us begin with the similarities first – both the vegan and vegetarian diets are plant-based.

The difference lies here – besides plant foods, a vegetarian takes dairy products like milk, cheese, etc. Even, eggs and fish may be consumed. Only meat is to be strictly avoided.

Vegans do not consume any of these apart from plant-based foods! So, milk, yogurt, cheese, eggs, and fish remain out of the list!

 

Will you be a part of Veganuary this 2022? Just a reminder, plant-based diets cause fewer stomach issues!