So, you resolved to eat more healthily in the New Year? And failed by 2 January with all the leftover Christmas chocolate? Yeah, we know! We’ve all been there. But maybe it would help to try something a bit more specific than just “eating healthily”. And Veganuary is the perfect time to try.

Last year, more than half a million people from over 200 countries signed up for Veganuary – an annual campaign to encourage people to try including more vegan food in their diets. There are numerous benefits to veganism. Done properly, it can help with weight loss, heart health and kidney function, as well as reducing your carbon footprint and being better for the environment. More importantly, it can be very entertaining. Remember when this happened on Twitter in 2019 after Piers Morgan complained about Greggs’ vegan sausage roll?

You don’t have to cut out all animal products for the entire month to participate. But why not use the opportunity to explore vegan food with some meals that you might not otherwise have tried?

We should all eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day, and this spinach, sweet potato and lentil dahl provides three of them. It’s an easy, one-pot recipe that takes ten minutes to prepare and about half an hour to cook. Or maybe a mushroom and cauliflower shepherd’s pie if you’re looking for some comfort food. If only something meaty will do in this midwinter chill, there are plenty of recipes for vegan beef stew – try this one. Tip: soy sauce or yeast extract, like Marmite, can help with getting a meaty flavour to a vegetarian or vegan dish. French onion soup, for example, is traditionally made with beef stock. If you’re making it with vegetable stock instead, a teaspoon of Marmite will help to give it that meaty, smoky taste.

In fact, Marmite, Vegemite or other yeast extracts are good for a vegan diet, because they contain B12. This is necessary for healthy blood and nerve cells, but it isn’t found in fruit and vegetables, so vegans need to be careful about it. If you don’t like Marmite, though (and if not, why not???), you can get B12 from fortified foods such as cereals and margarine (read the labels) or in supplements.

Happy new year, and happy, healthy Veganuary! Don't forget to share pictures of your new plant-based recipes on Workplace. We want to see them!