Vegan January

For the past three years, I’ve converted to veganism for a stifling 31 days, challenging myself to seek out dairy alternatives and egg surrogates through a cold, wintery month.

Though cheese, as you can imagine, is the hardest thing to give up, I’ve hit other roadblocks: Greek yogurt, cream for my coffee and oh god, the ranch dressing. Giving up animal products is hard — near masochistic — when you’re going through a season that craves so many comfort foods such as hot chocolate and baked desserts.

So why, do you ask, has “Vegan January” become a small epidemic amongst kids these days?

Because afterward, you feel like a rock star.

Veganism, when done right, leaves your body detoxed of unwanted entities. If during the winter, you find yourself loading up on post-Christmas treats, “Vegan January” is a self-disciplinary action you can take to trying something new.

The word “vegan” can easily dissuade you. Associations of pretension, superiority or general weirdness has put veganism a far ways back, but a challenge like this, where ordinary omnivores like you or me can do a free trial, keeps from stigmatizing the diet.

This isn’t a vendetta against winter weight, nor is it a shot at trying to get you to convert to vegetarianism, but in the spirit of New Year’s resolutions and in trying to boost your immune system as best you can, take a stab at this veggie-friendly victory.
 
I cannot talk highly enough of something that more and more people are doing. And it’s not too late to start.