Learn About the Veganuary Movement

I’m a big fan of Veganuary, which was launched in the UK in January 2014. Veganuary (pronounced vee-gan-uary) is a global charity that encourages people to try veganism on for size in January. Veganuary is dedicated to changing public attitudes, while providing all the information and practical support required to make the transition to veganism as easy and enjoyable as possible. Veganuary has had an incredible degree of success in a very short time and is changing lives all over the world. With expert advice and information, Veganuary provides all the answers to why go vegan, but it is the support offered to answer how to go vegan that truly sets Veganuary apart. It is so cool having Clea Grady, Marketing Manager of Veganuary, stop by the studio today to talk about Veganuary. Continue reading my interview with Clea to learn more!

Interview with Clea Grandy of Veganuary 

Sharon: What exactly is Veganuary?

Clea: Actually it’s a charity. Every year, we have an annual campaign designed to make as many people go vegan as possible. Globally, it began in the UK and we work all year round to provide support for people who want to try veganism. Matthew and Jane, the founders of Veganuary, were influenced by the Movember movement, which brings awareness for prostate cancer research during the month of November. They basically wanted to do something similar for veganism; to raise its profile in the mainstream and encourage people to give it a shot—those people who had never considered it. January is the natural month when people are used to making New Year’s resolutions—more often than not they are about health and well being improvements. It’s the best month for trying a vegan diet or making a vegan pledge. That’s how it started. First it was a not-for profit for two and a half years, then it was a charity. Veganuary came to be in late 2013, with the first one in 2014. Now we are going to do our fourth one. We launch the campaign on December 1, and lots of people sign up after Christmas, as people are thinking about their New Year’s resolution.

Sharon: Why should people give Veganuary a try?

Clea: We try to keep it fun, friendly and accessible, and easy as we can possibly make it. It’s completely free—there is no commitment whatsoever. You just sign a form on the website, and we send you out a package of information, which we improve each year based on our surveys. No one year is ever the same. Each year there is more support and more resources. We offer support through emails from December 26-31; we send bite size nuggets of information which take you through the transition process in the most simple, easy and understandable way. In late December, this sets you up to hit the ground running in January.

We start off with nutrition, such as where to get protein, vitamin B12, calcium, iron, and omega-3 so that you can be confident in what foods you need to eat and what you need to replace in your diet. Some of the common mistakes people make when they are transitioning to a vegan diet is not replacing what they removed in their diet. One of the things that we feel we specialize in is the “how” to be vegan, not the “why”. We show people how to do it.

We work with companies such as chain restaurants, so that they can help people find options they can purchase in places that they know and feel familiar with, which is really important. Our studies being done now based on our surveys show that the number one obstacle for a vegan diet is social pressure. We are really keen on this during this year. We started this in the UK, and have branched out internationally. We have six different chain restaurants offering discounts to our participants, so they can walk into their local city and town and find one.

 

Sharon: How did Veganuary get started?

Clea: The way it started was with Matthew Glover, who is a business man, and Jane Land, who is an English teacher. They met on a vegan dating website, fell in love, and wanted to do something to inspire people to go vegan. They were working full time, doing animal activities at night, and on their laptops they started the first Veganuary in 2014. They were hoping a few people would take part in it; they hoped for a thousand people. But 3,300 people took part in it.

I was one of those people. I had been in marketing my whole career, and I wanted to do something more meaningful. I tracked Matthew and Jane down on Facebook and sent them a message saying that I wanted to work with them, and it changed my life. I expected that they were based in London, San Francisco, or LA, but they ended up being based in the same city as me—York.  We lived three streets away from each other. I joined the team 2 months after they made me vegan, and the three of us started working together. Sally joined the team part time, and now we are taking on our second full time staff member, so we have a team of five now. This year we are hoping we get a minimum of 50,000 people to take part.

Sharon: Where is Veganuary most active?

Clea: It is starting to become more and more global. We are speaking to more countries, such as Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands. We translated it into Spanish this year. We are working with China, where a thousand people took part last year. In 2016, the UK, the United States, and Australia were our top 3 participants in Veganuary.

Sharon: Is Veganuary successful in helping people go vegan for good?

Clea: We have observed that it takes someone 2-3 Veganuaries to go vegan. We do know via social media that people will take part in one Veganuary, and then slowly make transitions across the next year, and then choose to take part the following year. This is something that I don’t think they expected would happen. This happens with a number of people who take part every year. They are hoping to make changes within their dietary habits. We’re trying to collect as much information as we can to show how those habits work and how people adapt.

In 2016, we asked them in February in our survey among the people who took part in it how many were intending to remain vegan. The results came back that 81% wanted to maintain their vegan diet. We surveyed them in August, and 63% said that they wanted to maintain their vegan diet, and 79% wanted to eat vegan in the future. This is an increase from the previous year of 2015, which found 51% wanted to maintain their vegan diet, and 49% wanted to eat vegan in the future.

Sharon: How does Veganuary work?

Clea: You sign up and get at least weekly emails throughout December. When you hit the evening of the 26^th, the package starts, you get an email every day until January 1. At that point on, we have monthly contact at a minimum. We have a role of encouraging people to stay vegan or maintain significant changes. We’re their community, and we don’t want to leave them hanging. At six months there is a survey, and then you get ongoing support, even if it’s at a basic level, you’ll be getting a minimum of five great recipes a month. We are there on social networks, an online community, and we effectively provide support through our fantastic volunteers. We have a friendly space, with zero tolerance for nastiness on the social media platform. We welcome anyone as long as they’re interested. We have gotten celebrities signing up, and we’re doing media coverage. We are doubling our participation every year.

Sharon: What tips do you have for getting started on a plant-based diet?

Clea: One of the biggest things that throws people off is that they think they don’t know what vegan food is. But we encourage them to take a moment to sit back and assess and look at what they’re eating. People are surprised to see how much of the food they’re eating is vegan; most people would be amazed at how much they have that is vegan in their kitchens. People have a standard to always have an animal protein on their plate, but there is a range of plant alternatives to protein that is amazing.

One of the things that people are not aware of is where their nutrition needs come from on a vegan diet. I think that the fear of the unknown stops people from trying it. It is not as unknown as people think it is. The best means of giving it a try is not to isolate yourself or be alone. Veganuary gives you a chance to dip your toe in without any big commitment. You just say I’m doing this thing, and that in itself takes that whole pressure away from what people might think. It’s a challenge, rather than a statement. We take away elements that are going to make you scared; it isn’t hard or terrifying, you are not starving, you are not falling over. The reaction is not as awful as you expect. We have had lots of conversations about how to deal with the inevitable questions. That’s why we have a myths section, broken down to the top 10 myths in our starter kit. It’s in a really quick, bite-size nugget, so hopefully people can retain the information.

We see ourselves as a starting point. People don’t just come into trying a vegan diet and end it in Veganuary.

For more information, please visit Veganuary and sign up today!

Image: Blood Orange Hazelnut Kale Salad, Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN

For more expert interviews, check out some of our favorites: 

Eating for IBS on a Plant-based Diet
Enjoying Alcohol in a Healthy Diet
How to Eat a Healthy, Plant-Based Mediterranean Diet
How to Fight Cancer with Your Fork

Check out my FREE Go Vegan Toolkit to kick start plant-based eating today!