Should You Go Vegan This Veganuary?

From psychologytoday.com

By Janina Steinmetz Ph.D.

Veganuary can help you reset your habits, even if you don’t plan to become vegan

Veganuary—going vegan for the month of January—is everywhere these days. From social media to your local burger joint, apparently everyone is talking about going vegan for January. But most people don’t intend to become vegans and commit to a life without animal products, maybe because they would miss their grilled cheese sandwiches or because they would find meals with non-vegan family members too challenging to coordinate. Does it make sense to go vegan for a month, just to return to your normal diet afterward?

Psychologists have long studied the power that habit has over our daily choices. Mundane actions that we do frequently are especially driven by habits, so we don’t consciously have to think about how to brush our teeth, how we drink our coffee, or how we get to work. Because habits help us get through our day without taking up mental space and energy, they can be powerful drivers of our behavior. This is why Veganuary could provide a great opportunity to reset some habits that might not actually serve us well anymore.

Veganuary might seem a bit daunting at first because people will have to rethink some of their most basic food choices: They might need to change the milk in their coffee to a plant-based alternative or their usual meat burger to a veggie alternative. However, economics research shows that such a rethink can lead to better choices in the long run. Commuters who were forced to rethink their route to work during a public transit strike sometimes ended up with better routes that their habitual choice of route had prevented them from discovering. Forced to temporarily give up on the habitual route, they discovered a better alternative.

Even for those who make it through Veganuary only to devour a meat-and-cheese pizza on February 1, the month of vegan choices can provide a powerful habit rethink. Maybe the plant-based milk is actually tastier than the whole milk you’ve bought for ages. Maybe you realize the veggie sausage is healthier than its meat-based alternative. Maybe lentil soup is just as good but easier to make than chicken soup. Veganuary can highlight for us which types of dairy or meat we actually crave and miss, and which we opted for out of mindless habit and can now replace with better choices.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-social-consumer/202501/should-you-go-vegan-this-veganuary