The beginning of the year is always a great time to kick off new habits. Some people make New Years resolutions, others try month-long challenges like Dry January. This year I’m giving it a try by participating in Veganuary!

As the wordplay would suggest, Veganuary is a challenge to eat vegan for the month of January. As someone who has been primarily plant-based for a while, this seemed like a great opportunity to see if going full vegan was right for me.

Some observations from my first week:

• Vegan food is hard to come by! Just when you think you’ve found a tasty snack at the farmers market you learn they have used egg whites or honey.
• Getting enough protein is challenging. Unless I use a vegan protein powder or consume basically beans all day, it’s hard to get the protein I need to stay satisfied in between meals. Nuts and nut butters are an easy go-to but with their high fat content I’m left feeling heavy and gross.
• Vegan != healthy (like my Java syntax there?). A big bowl of pasta, a large handful of nuts, and a head or romaine lettuce are all vegan, but they aren’t complete meals. Like with all things, it’s all about portion sizes and nutrient balance, but vegan food is often billed as healthy when that isn’t always the whole story.

I’m excited to be giving Veganuary a try and hope you join me if you are interested. I’ll continue providing Saturday updates throughout the month, so be sure to check back for more!