New York City, NY, Jan. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mid-January is notorious for abandoned resolutions, with Quitter's Day (January 12) and National Ditch Your Resolutions Day (January 17) looming. But for those embracing the global 31-day plant-based eating challenge, Veganuary, now is the perfect time to recommit to giving plant-based a try with inspiration from celebrities, experts, and past participants.
Benefits You Can Feel
As the new year begins, many of us are focused on making improvements to our health and wellness. Nearly half of Veganuary 2024 participants (48%) reported noticing improvements to their overall health after just one month of trying plant-based, including improvements to their mood (48%), improvements to their energy levels (47%), and improvements to their skin appearance (38%)*.
Take it from former Veganuary participant Lisa, 42, from Lancaster, PA: “A few days into Veganuary, I had boundless energy and felt so rested. It was like nothing I've ever experienced. I decided to go back to school at 40 to study nutrition because I was fascinated by how I felt so nourished by plants. [It] changed my whole life.”
Ultra-endurance athlete and host of The Rich Roll Podcast, Rich Roll, shared his advice with Veganuary participants in a touching video. “The first thing I noticed was that my skin cleared up, my sleep improved. My enthusiasm for life was restored," says Roll. “So, eating plant based didn't just save my life, it actually gave me an entirely new one. And you don't have to wait for a health scare to make that change. You can get started now. You owe it to yourself to feel your best.”
A Powerful Choice for the Planet
Switching to a plant-based diet isn’t just good for your health, it’s a powerful step toward protecting the environment. Dr. Marco Springmann, an Oxford researcher and a leading expert on the future of food systems, highlights the environmental and health impacts of animal agriculture: “The production and consumption of animal products are costly for the environment, our health, and our wallet. They are major drivers of climate change, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and increases in diet-related diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.”
Dr. Springmann’s research also underscores another hidden environmental cost of factory farming: air pollution. In a publication in the journal Nature Communications, Springmann and his colleague Toon Vandyck wrote: “Animal farming, in particular, is a major source of ammonia emissions. These emissions react with other pollutants to form fine particulate matter, which can cause health issues like cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and diabetes.” The study shows that a plant-based diet would improve air quality to such an extent that it could prevent by far the most premature deaths compared to other diets – up to 236,000 per year worldwide.**
Dr. Springmann recommends: “Choosing to do Veganuary and adopting a plant-based diet can help reduce your environmental footprint and improve dietary health whilst also being more affordable, especially if you go for a mix of minimally processed foods.”
Eating Plants, Not Animals
Veganuary’s provocative 2025 campaign encourages people to question the weird realities of our food system.
In an interview with Veganuary, Comedian Preacher Lawson shared a lightbulb moment with his dog, Tank, which shifted his perspective on eating animals. “I didn't think eating animals was weird until I got an animal,” said Lawson. “Every animal, including humans, have personalities.”
Decades of research on pigs has found that pigs are highly intelligent beings who are at least as intelligent as dogs, and in many cases even outperform dogs on tests of cognition, memory and other measures of intelligence. In clinical trials, they have been shown to have abstract thoughts, use tools, recognize their own names, dream, and follow commands.
WWE Hall of Fame Wrestler Amy Dumas shares her motivation for eating vegan: “I don’t believe I could kill or mistreat another living being. So, I don’t want anyone to do it on my behalf under the guise of it being food.”
Chickens are killed at just 6 weeks old and pigs at 6 months – a fraction of their potential lifespan. Selective breeding of chickens by the farming industry has produced breeds of birds that grow much bigger and much faster than they naturally would – reaching slaughter weight at only 5-6 weeks old – still just chicks with blue eyes and soft chirps.
“If there is less demand, less animals will suffer,” continues Dumas.
Getting Started is Easy
Whether you’ve been participating in Veganuary since January 1st or you’re just getting started now, joining the movement is simple. Visit Veganuary.com and register to receive 31 days of recipes, tips, and motivation, including Veganuary’s 2025 Celebrity Cookbook featuring a new recipe from Woody and Laura Harrelson.
Adding to the chorus of celebrities cheering on Veganuary 2025 participants is American Singer Mýa, long-time vegan and Veganuary supporter: "Adopting a vegan lifestyle and plant-based diet not only benefits our health but also plays a vital role in protecting animals and the planet. Together, we can create positive change, one meal at a time. Join the movement and take part in Veganuary this month!"
*According to the 2024 Veganuary participant survey
**Marco Springmann and Toon Vandyck: Switching to plant-based diets means cleaner air - and it could save more than 200,000 lives around the world, The Conversation, January 2nd, 2024.
Photos of these celebrities and their recipes can be downloaded here.
About Veganuary:
Veganuary is free to join, and people can take part at veganuary.com to receive our Celebrity eCookbook, the Official Veganuary Starter Kit and 31 daily emails packed with nutritional info, delicious recipes, meal plans, special offers, and helpful advice.
Since Veganuary launched its first pledge in January 2014 – millions of people, coming from almost every country in the world, have taken part. From humble beginnings on a kitchen table in Yorkshire, there are now official Veganuary campaigns in the UK, US, Germany, Chile, Argentina, India, Spain, Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and Canada. It has truly become a global phenomenon. Veganuary is grateful for the support of its official Veganuary 2025 US sponsors Vitacost, Field Roast, and Lightlife.
Attachments
