How going vegan for a month could help your heart health

Ease into it

Going cold turkey on animal products could mean you give up veganism before you’ve really started on your vegan diet, says Lockie. For the best chance of sticking to it, start gradually, suggests Lockie, who was a meat fanatic before going plant-based for health reasons 12 years ago. 

“I grew up in Zimbabwe and meat was like breathing the air,” he says. He started by cutting out dairy. “Occasionally I’d sneak in bits of cheese,” he admits, “but then I slowly started to swap things out and found vegan replacements for all the food I love.” 

Katy Beskow is author of 11 vegan cookbooks. She recommends taking “little steps” along the plant-based road. “You could start with one meal a day, maybe breakfast, and veganise it by replacing your normal yoghurt for soya yoghurt,” she says. 

Dr Toni Vernelli, international head of policy and communications at Veganuary, suggests veganising dishes you really love. “Family favourites such as cottage pie, lasagne, chilli and spaghetti bolognaise can easily be veganised by swapping meat for lentils, mashed tofu or ready-made vegan mince,” she says. Dishes like mashed potatoes and creamy sauces can easily be adapted with plant milk and vegan butter or olive oil. 

How to shop before you start

The first step is ensuring you have the right food to hand before you start your vegan adventure. Beskow suggests looking for ‘accidentally vegan’ products – ie, they’re not deliberately manufactured to be plant-based; they just happen to be. In fact, you probably already have many of them in your cupboard. 

These include dried pasta (mostly made without egg), most bread, crumpets and bagels. Rice noodles are vegan, so ask for the latter instead of egg noodles when ordering takeaways. Pot noodles – even the chicken and beef flavoured ones – are, surprisingly, vegan. Spreads including nut butters, Marmite and jam are typically made without gelatine. Baked beans (the original recipe) are vegan, as is Bisto gravy (Original, Reduced Salt, Vegetable, and Onion versions).

You can also eat Bird’s custard; Jus-Rol puff and shortcrust pastry, as well as dark chocolate. (See www.veganuary.com for a full list of accidentally vegan products.) Be sure to check the label first, though, as recipe formulas regularly change.

When it comes to vegan substitutes for basics like milk, butter, cream and cheese, the quality has improved dramatically in recent years, but some products are definitely better than others. 

“It’s important to try a variety of plant-based products to find one you like,” Dr Vernelli says. “People often try one type of plant milk, for example, and if they don’t like it, write off the whole category. But there are so many different variations and they all taste and act very differently.”

Finally, instead of focusing on what you have to exclude from your diet as a vegan, celebrate what you can eat and discover the possibilities. Philip Khoury, head pastry chef at Harrods, has revolutionised vegan baking in his book aimed at home cooks, A New Way To Bake. 

Khoury used his knowledge of the chemistry of baking along with his pastry skills to reformulate cake, biscuit, tart and pudding recipes so that eggs and butter are unnecessary. Instead of swapping these baking staples for manufactured vegan substitutes, he deploys olive oil, baking powder, cornflour and even sweet potato in recipes for bakes and desserts, from fudge cake and pastries through to gelato and pies.

He says vegan bakes can taste even better than non-vegan versions. “You can have bolder, cleaner and more vibrant flavours.” he says. “Within our pantries, we have so many plant-based ingredients with incredible functionality, that we’re just not fully using.”

If you don’t fancy making vegan sweet treats from scratch, though, you don’t have to miss out. Most high street bakeries and cafés have sweet vegan options these days. To find them, use the Happy Cow app or visit www.happycow.net/mobile. It’s an amazing resource that lists all restaurants, cafes and shops around the world that have vegan options. 

Make sure you get the nutrients you need

Vegans need to be careful to cover their nutritional bases, as well as bear in mind that plant-based doesn’t always mean healthy. “Including a lot of products that are high in saturated fat, salt or sugar will affect the healthiness of your diet, so it’s important to check labels when you’re choosing processed vegan foods,” Benelam says. 

Generally, vitamin B12 is only found in foods from animal sources, so you need to make sure you’re getting enough. “This can be through supplements or fortified foods, such as breakfast cereals or yeast extract,” she says. 

Iron, calcium and iodine can also be tricky to get from a plant-only diet. These can be provided by a balanced vegan diet, including fortified foods, but supplements might be a good choice to make sure you don’t become deficient.

Once you’ve ticked the important health boxes, it’s vital not to let perfectionism be the enemy of the good, says Dr Vernelli. “If you give in to temptation or accidentally eat something non-vegan, don’t sweat it,” she says. “Chalk it up to experience and carry on. After all, you’re making these changes to feel better, not beat yourself up for being human.”