Veganuary is Coming and I wanted to let you know we will be celebrating and hosting a cook-along in January.

Up until last year, I never thought much about Veganuary since I already eat plant-based year-round. Upon further reflection, however, it’s a great way to introduce plant-based eating.  

What is Veganuary? Veganuary is an organization that encourages people to try vegan for January and beyond. Their website has a ton of information and recipes galore. 

If the idea of eating plant-based for a whole month sounds hard, here’s a reframe: 

Don’t think of it as what you are giving up. Rather, think of it as what you are gaining: 

🌿 A whole new repertoire of foods to try,

🌿 Recipes to learn to cook,

🌿 An exploration into how living a healthy plant-based lifestyle can do wonders for your health,

🌿 Feeling empowered that you are contributing to healing, not harming, the earth via food you consume.

🌿 And of course, the ability to sleep at night knowing you didn’t harm an animal for your food.

There’s more, but that’s a good place to start. 

Plus, it’s only one month and if at the end you decide it’s not for you, then you can go back to eating whatever animal products you were eating before. 

BUT, you might also decide that it’s not as hard as you thought. Or, you might see some improvements in your health and want to stick with team plant-based. Or you might learn about the atrocities of the animal food industry and decide you no longer wish to participate. Or, or, or… 

Yes, there is a lot of wacky information out there about what is healthy. And yes, there is a lot of misinformation about the animal agriculture industry (such as how we are lead to believe that it’s humane). 

Yet, I hear over and over from people who are now 100% plant-based or vegan that their biggest regret is that they didn’t do it sooner. I’m one of those people. 

2024 can be the year you learn to cook and eat more plant-based. Or, at least January 2024 can be if you participate in our Veganuary celebration with us. 

We will be hosting a “cook-along” this Veganuary. Kind of an informal cooking class- super relaxed, fun and helpful. 

For more information about the cook-along, click here.

The theme of resilience has been front and center for me lately. I’ve noticed mental, physical and emotional resilience in many areas of my life. 

Resilience came into my purview while both of my kids were dealing with challenges. We discussed how when we deal with challenges, we build mental resilience.

Winnie the Pig

I saw resilience again when something that was said in our vegan community was met with negativity. OK, we vegans are criticized regularly- it happens every day.  Yet we move forward anyway, believing in our hearts that what we are doing is right. We are resilient when taking the flack yet continue down the compassionate path.  

What helps us be resilient? Community, love and support and having a deep resolve. Where are you resilient? Do you notice others being resilient? It’s a wonderful quality to notice in yourself and others.

I was tasked with creating a theme for our recent Vegan Toastmasters meeting. Given the state of the world, particularly the recent Hamas attack on Israel, the theme that jumped out at me was PEACE.

Peace feels so elusive, especially in the Middle East. Despite the complicated nature of the conflict, most of us are horrified by the brutality inflicted on innocent humans- no matter what your beliefs are about who is right. Violence toward humans happens all over the world for myriad reasons. 

Tangentially (but not unrelated) many of us are horrified by violence inflicted upon non-human animals. Humans massacre millions of innocent beings every day. Needlessly. While many readers will say “but an animal’s life is not equal to a human life,” I beg to differ. Perhaps animals don’t have the cognitive abilities that humans have. But they are sentient beings and feel pain. They have families and communicate and love their offspring. Not too dissimilar from us humans. 

Cows, pigs, chickens, fish (and any animals we consume, perform tests on, trophy hunt) deserve better than the horrible existence to which they are subjected. (Yes, even the ones who are “humanely raised.”)

The topic of animal slaughter and consumption is also complicated.  Our agriculture and food systems are enmeshed with major corporations and governments. Eating animals is normalized in most cultures and it’s how most of us grew up. 

We don’t have an easy solution for peace in the Middle East.  I will leave that to more learned minds than mine. BUT we do have an answer to animal slaughter and torture. It’s called being vegan. 

Will the world go vegan overnight? No. Billions of human beings are not ready to embrace a more compassionate way of eating. But could it happen for you? Yes. The number of vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians or reducetarians is growing all the time. And there’s more support than ever. One by one, over time, we make a difference. 

Peace starts within our own hearts. And choosing what we eat every day can help bring peace to our planet on so many levels. By not actively participating in acts of violence toward animals we become aligned with our inner values of peace and not harming others. This can map over to our compassion toward humans. 

Maybe someday there will be peace for all the animals: human and non-human. We can start by being vegan ourselves, then spread peace through our personal actions and advocacy. 

Even if you are not yet ready to be completely vegan or plant-based, every step you take toward consuming more plants and fewer animal products makes a difference. To you, the animals and the planet. Please reach out if you would like more information or support in eating more plant-based. 

And don’t forget to Give Peas a Chance!

If you, like many of us, are feeling helpless, and wish to contribute toward aid in embattled regions, Doctors Without Borders is an excellent organization.