January is a popular month to cleanse or recommit to nutrition. From achieving your weight loss resolutions to losing the few pounds you gained while indulging over the holidays. One way an increasing number of Americans clean up their diet is by going vegan short-term. You can adopt full or part-time veganism any time of the year, but it’s the perfect way to start the New Year. Below are the top Veganuary benefits, tips for success, and a few precautions.
What is Veganuary?
A combination of “vegan” and “January”, Veganuary is a global movement founded by the Veganuary non-profit, that began in the UK in 2014. It’s a 1-month pledge that individuals (and businesses) take to go vegan for a full month. In 2024, over 25 million people from around the world accepted the challenge.
For many, the movement goes beyond eating plant-based foods, to removing all animal byproducts for 1 month. For others, it’s a nutritional reset and commitment to whole-body health.
What Is The Downside of Veganuary?
The biggest challenge of going vegan short or long-term is ensuring proper micronutrient and macronutrient balance. Eating plant-based requires you to do more than swap meat, eggs, and dairy for salads. In fact, you will likely need to invest more time in meal planning than you do now.
- Without a strategic meal plan, you may fall short on calories, protein, iodine, vitamin D, vitamin B12, calcium, and other essential nutrients. If you feel brain fog, lethargic, or have low endurance—you need to rethink your vegan meal plan.
- If you have an active lifestyle, your portion sizes may be significantly larger, and eating 2 snacks a day may be required.
- Diet culture gives carbs a bad rap, but carbs are a source of protein and energy. So, you may need to consume more carbs (in the form of beans and whole grains) to adequately fuel your mind and body.
- Veganuary benefits may include losing weight, reducing cholesterol, decreasing saturated fat, and improving biomarkers. However, you can gain weight depending on what you eat.
- Not all vegan meats, snacks, and processed food products are “healthy” or nutritious. Many are high in calories, sugar, and fat and low in nutrients. Some even contain processed ingredients.
- Some “healthy” vegan foods must be eaten in moderation. For example, cashews are an excellent protein source, but they contain 157 calories and 9 grams of fat per ounce.
Here are some Veganuary tips, Veganuary recipes, and a list of Veganuary restaurants to help with meal planning.
What Are The Benefits of Short-Term Vegan Diets?
Wondering if you will see or feel the difference of going vegan for 1 month? If you commit to a tailored meat and dairy-free meal plan you may feel rapid benefits, such as increased energy or improved digestion. However, you are more likely to achieve measurable results closer to the 2-month mark.
You Are What You Eat: A Twin Study
A Stanford study of 21 twins, detailed in the Netflix documentary “You Are What You Eat: A Twin Study”, highlighted the measurable benefits of going vegan for 8 weeks. Twins were selected for the study because they have the same DNA. In the study, 1 twin was assigned a nutrient-dense omnivore diet and the second twin was assigned a nutrient-dense vegan diet.
Both groups who adhered to their diet lost weight and improved their health metrics. Those who adhered to the vegan diet saw significantly better results than those on the omnivore diet.
This includes improvement or reduction of:
- Visceral/abdominal fat
- Epigenetic/biological age
- Internal inflammatory markers
- LDL cholesterol
- Mood regulation markers
- Metabolic markers
Is Detoxing One of the Veganuary Health Benefits?
Of the potential Veganuary benefits, detoxing is at the top of the list for many. The New Year is the second most popular time to detox, followed by spring. After indulging for the holiday season, many kick their health up a notch in January. Maybe eliminating alcohol for the month too. Whether detoxing and cleanses are effective remains up for debate.
What Is a Detox?
Detoxes and cleanses are marketed as a method of cleansing toxins from the body. From juice cleanses to herbal cleansing kits that claim to detox different organs, detox teas, eating plant-based, fasting, detox diets, and a variety of alternative therapies.
Does Cleansing Work?
Regimented detoxes and cleanses aren’t scientifically proven to be effective. There are some studies, but not enough for definitive results or guidelines. In fact, some can be dangerous, particularly if not used as directed, but even if used as directed.
If your digestion regulates, you have more energy, or your health markers improve post-cleanse, it may have more to do with the fact that you’ve improved your nutrition—which you can achieve without cleansing or detoxing.
Do Vegan Diets Cleanse Your Body?
When speaking of a well-rounded low-processed vegan diet, the increase in fiber and essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients promotes whole-body health. Veganuary benefits may include, feeling more energized and measurable improvements in your lab work. However, this may not be because your body is “cleansing”, it’s because you have personalized and improved the quality of your nutrition.
Types of Plant-Based and Alternative Diets
If cleansing, health, and nutrition are your top priorities you may opt for another meatless or meat-light dietary plan. If going full-on vegan isn’t the right fit, one of the alternatives below may be right for you.
- Vegan: 100% plant-based, no meat, seafood, or dairy. High in whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits, and vegetables.
- Vegetarian: Many vegetarians remove meat and seafood from their diets but continue to eat eggs (ovo-vegetarian) or eggs and dairy (lacto-vegetarian).
- Pescatarian: Doesn’t eat poultry, beef, pork, or other meats, but does eat fish and seafood.
- Flexitarian: A fast-growing dietary pattern that eats significantly less meat, dairy, fish, and seafood but isn’t 100% plant-based.
What is the Difference Between Flexitarians and Omnivores?
Omnivores eat meat, dairy, and eggs daily, or almost every day. For example, they may not eat meat with breakfast, but often with lunch and dinner. They may incorporate some meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free meals into their diet, but they aren’t super restrictive. Flexitarians typically eat meat a day or two a week, often eating eggs and dairy several days a week. They are almost entirely plant-based in their food choices. Many flexitarians stop cooking meat at home, only eating meat when they order in or dine out in restaurants.
What Are The Ethical Benefits of Veganuary?
Veganuary’s mission is to inspire vegan living to improve health and minimize the pollution and deforestation that often accompanies animal farming. This includes farming animal products for clothing, skin care products, beauty products, and other saleable products. However, their ethical and environmental benefits may not be a primary motivator for you.
Is Going Vegan Sustainable?
Veganuary benefits may include reducing your carbon footprint. Vegans typically (but not always) have a significantly lower carbon, water, and ecological footprint. This is due to the minimized environmental impact of farming. Those who have their own garden, cook from scratch, and purchase produce from farmer’s markets, local farms, and farm shares further reduce their footprint. As vegan food, snacks, and meat, dairy, and cheese alternative options continue to expand, sustainability can take a bit of a dive.
Omnivores, and those who choose other non-vegan dietary patterns, can improve their dietary carbon footprint by gardening and buying from local farmer’s markets, farms, and farm shares.
Tips For a Successful Veganuary
- Stock Up: Take some time in December to stock up on vegan essentials. This will make it faster and easier to stay on track. It’s an excellent time to try new grains and find new ways to cook foods you already enjoy.
- Personalize: The recipes we link to below are generally well-balanced. However, for full Veganuary benefits, you must ensure that you consume the calories, macronutrients, and micronutrients required to fuel your body.
- Try New Recipes: Meal planning is a must, especially if you’ll be cooking from scratch. You can download a free vegan cookbook from Veganuary with recipes from Venus Williams, Mayim Bialik, Eric Adams, and other celebrities.
- Quick Vegan Meals: We provided a link to nationwide restaurants earlier in the blog, but here’s a list of Phoenix-area vegan restaurants. Also, be sure to stock your freezer and pantry with vegan pizza, soups, and warm and serve options such as Kitchens of India.
- Pack Snacks: Minimize temptation and ensure you always have something nutrient-dense by bringing snacks with you. From nuts to trail mix, mushroom jerky, fruits, and veggies.
- Don’t Go It Alone: Ask your family to join in, but if they don’t want to, ask a friend. If not a friend, join a Facebook group or online community to help you stay motivated.
Beyond Veganuary Benefits: Improve Your Nutrition Year Round
If you live in Phoenix, Tempe, or Glendale and you are looking for a way to improve your nutrition year-round—Valley Medical Weight Loss and Med Spa can help. We offer a variety of scientifically proven medical weight loss options.
This includes:
- Semaglutide
- Vitamin injections
- Meal replacement shakes
- Monthly weight loss programs
The meal plans in our weekly and monthly weight loss programs are tailored to your individual needs. Unlike fad diets, our meal plans reduce calories without leaving you feeling hungry, irritable, and low on energy. They also have a range of recipes, so you don’t feel like you’re eating the same thing on repeat.
If you’re ready to make this year the year you shed your excess weight and optimize your health—we’re here to guide and personalize your weight loss journey.
