Keep things interesting

A vegan lifestyle can easily become boring if your meals are lacking in texture and color. It’s important to keep things interesting by adding ingredients that provide that extra bite or crunch, such as throwing some cashew nuts into your salad or toasted chickpeas into your vegetable stir-fry. Remember, we eat with our eyes first, so playing with bold colours is always going to give dishes more of a wow factor. Try adding raw turmeric, which is packed full of anti-inflammatory properties or beetroot, which is rich in vitamins and great for your heart, to your meals for a powerful pop of colour.

Taste the rainbow

Speaking of pops of colour, make sure you don’t fall into the trap of going plant-based and living on a diet of vegan nuggets and pasta. Instead, fill your plate with dark greens, rich reds, deep purples, bright yellows and punchy oranges. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing you have fuelled your body with food that is packed full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and anti-inflammatories.

Remember to supplement

Despite the fact you may be consuming an abundance of healthy food rich in fibre and packed full of goodness, your body will naturally become deficient in other vital vitamins and minerals. This may cause you to start craving animal products, but this can easily be fixed with supplements. Important ones to consider taking are: B12, iron, calcium, zinc, Omega-3 and vitamin D.

Track your progress

Ask yourself why you are doing this. Have you set out on this journey to do your bit for the planet? Perhaps it’s for the love of animals or maybe it’s for the many health benefits that come with a vegan lifestyle. Whatever your reason, it’s important to continuously reflect on why you set out on this mission and what changes you have noticed in your body, mind and soul. Keep a journal of your progress, the highs and the lows, so that you can see how far you have come.

Mix it up

Often the main reason people fall off the plant-based wagon is that they are not including enough variety in their meal choices. Preparation is key for a successful Veganuary and planning can be the difference between making it through the month and falling at the first hurdle. Try to keep your options varied. Batch-make dishes that you can freeze, such as vegan chilli, ginger and butternut squash soup, lentil dhal, or beetroot and garlic pasta sauce to make for speedy, varied mid-week mealtimes.

Get influenced

Follow, follow, follow! Get your Instagram feed flooded with vegan meal inspiration, helpful hacks and motivating content. The more you immerse yourself into the vegan community, the more you will learn about the many benefits of adopting a plant-based diet.

Holly Parnell is the manager of Bounty Beets at Le Meridien Mina Seyahi and was a Masterchef UK finalist in 2022. Follow @hollyparnell on Instagram for more tips and recipes.