Who’s up for Veganuary?

I know, I know, it’s January and everyone is full of promising resolutions that usually only last a couple of weeks and then start to feel old and get binned but I’ve got a really good one to tell you about…..

We have taken the plunge and jumped on the vegan bandwagon or I think in hipper terms we are ‘plant based’. When I say we, that’s me and my whole family; husband and three teenage sons. It’s month four. We started last October, so maybe it’s not exactly a resolution but you could’t get much more radical than this. Feeding a family of five a plant based diet is no mean feat – it’s a lot of cooking.

I love it. I had been wanting a change; something big and joining the gym or taking up a hobby wasn’t going to cut it. It needed to be something very different and I was at the point where I just didn’t feel I could cook another chicken. Enter the two eldest teenage boys who demand I watch What the Health on Netflix. Well, that was it, light bulb moment. At the end of the show we downed tools, they emptied the fridge, went through the cupboards and we made the change – overnight.

I’m not going to lie, the beginning bit was tricky. It was like rewiring the brain. Obviously I didn’t know how to cook plant based and if felt like something was constantly missing but little by little this feeling has dissipated. We enjoyed a vegan Christmas day and stayed on course through the holidays. There is no meat, fish or dairy of any description in our house and I can honestly say that I don’t think what we are eating has ever been better.

So, here we are, four months later and I love it. Totally love it. Actually, I couldn’t say better things. I feel amazing and it’s getting easier and easier. My skin, my hair, my weight; it’s all changing. It does feel new and very different though. I am now the proud owner of many vegan cookbooks – quite a few having been Christmas presents. These have been indispensable as I have navigated my way though new ingredients and essentially how to put dishes together. One of my favourite books is Oh She Glows by Angela Liddon which is a very nice all rounder and there is also a great blog called The Minimalist Baker.