Happy Veganuary!

The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental organization Resilient Palisades to deliver a weekly “green tip” to our readers. This week’s tip was written by Alicia Albek, a member of the Resilient Palisades Vegan Solutions team.

Here is a New Years’ resolution you might want to try that not only betters your life, but also the whole planet—win, win!

Veganuary started in the UK in 2014 to promote a vegan diet in the month of January. Each year, the nonprofit has increased participation. In 2020, 400,000 people signed up at veganuary.com, and this year, it’s over 600,000.

Veganuary helps increase vegan options with a 31-day vegan challenge, through a guided plan of recipes, support and information.

Our vegan vision is simple: We want a vegan world, a world without animal farms and slaughterhouses, a world where food production doesn’t decimate forests, pollute rivers and oceans, exacerbate climate change, and drive animal populations to extinction.

Our mission is to inspire and support people to try going vegan, or to become more vegan. In so doing, we will drive corporate change and create a global movement championing compassionate food choices with the aim of ending animal farming, protecting the planet and improving human health.

There are four distinct reasons one might want to give the vegan challenge a try. Ethical vegans want to make sure every being is treated with dignity and respect; they focus on finding the most moral way to live. Environmental vegans understand animal agriculture’s damage to our soil, oceans, water and air quality.

Health vegans know that eating more plants is the best defense against things like heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancers. And religious vegans refrain from eating animal products due to beliefs and limitations.

Types of vegan diets include the following:

Raw veganism: Where all plants, grains, seeds, nuts and fruits are eaten raw and/or sprouted.

Gluten-free: A diet that mainly consists of plants, fruits and gluten-free grains.

Fruitarian: Only fruits and vegetables under the fruit category like tomatoes and avocados.

Whole food: Strictly unprocessed, fresh and natural plant-based foods.

Junk food: Processed, cooked, fried and packaged foods.

Raw until 4 p.m.: Only fresh, raw and natural produce until 4 p.m. and cooked foods thereafter.

Paleo veganism: High-protein diet that avoids grains and high-sugar foods. Proteins like seeds, nuts, tofu, lentils, legumes and low-carb foods make up the bulk of this diet.

There are many websites and groups that are here to assist in transitioning to a healthy and fun vegan lifestyle. Visit forksoverknives.com, livekindly.com, switch4good.org, jewishveg.org/plant-pathways and, of course, follow us at resilientpalisades.org.