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How much good does going vegan for ‘Veganuary’ actually do?

Apparently it could even improve your sex life


Twelve months is a long time, too long to spend trying to change an aspect of your flawed self under the premise of a new year's resolution.

But how much good does going vegan for an entire month actually do? Especially, if you just go straight back to your beloved nuggets on February 1st?

The Tab spoke to Jo Travers, a registered dietician and author of The Low-Fad Diet, in order to find out the truth behind your mate who says they feel sooo much better since going vegan.

Following a vegan diet properly will do wonders for your mood, work life and sex life

As long as you're following a well-balanced vegan diet you find that people generally feel better. Shock.

Instead of feeling tired, bored or finding it difficult to concentrate, by making sure they're maintaining their vegan diet it ends up improving everything.

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Hugging cattle is not a requirement of most mainstream vegan diets

The main benefit of Veganuary is you will actually start thinking about what your shoving in your mouth

Aside from the fact you'll finally be eating enough fibre, which none of us do apparently, half the battle of eating healthily is thinking about what you're eating. Who knew.

If you're not vegan you just kind of eat whatever is available. But when you are following a particular diet it makes you more aware of things you're putting into your body because you have to really think about where you're going to get your food from. So it does make you more aware of the kind of things you're eating.

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Even if you don't carry it through to February, you'll still have done your body a world of good

Even small changes to your diet can take effect straight away so you don't have to follow it for any set length of time for it to have an effect.

But obviously the longer you follow something the better it is in the long run. Sorted!

However, just because you're following a vegan diet doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be healthy. You still need to get the balance of nutrients right. If you just go vegan by cutting out meat protein but don't replace it with something else that's going to be a real problem. It's really important you figure out how to do it properly.

B12 is an essential vitamin which you can only get from animal products, if you don't get enough of it it can effect your nervous system. So if you follow a vegan diet you must take a B12 supplement.

Make sure you eat the right protein, especially if you're a woman

One thing I have found with some people is if you don't eat lots of things like lentils and chickpeas and focus more on things like Quorn and tofu to get your protein, it can lead to a drop in iron levels, particularly for women.

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It's more likely than ever you'll be able to stick to your Vegan diet in 2018

As has already been discussed, the longer you go vegan for the greater the positive impact it will have on your health. Duh.

Now is the best time to be vegan, even two years ago it was hard, even in London, to be vegan, because you had to prepare a lot of the food yourself. Now you can go into any number of cafes or sandwich places and find something that fits in with a vegan diet.

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Veganuary also makes it more likely you'll eat healthier after the month is over

In my experience, people don't just go back to the previous diet, they incorporate bits of their vegan diet into their everyday eating, so it actually does a great deal of good. You experience new ways of eating, new recipes, and recognise you don't actually have to eat meat, eggs and dairy every day.

Although at first it is quite difficult, it takes some effort, but actually after the initial effort it's easier to incorporate that behaviour into your everyday life.