Here at A Little Bit, our full range is proudly vegan & plant-based. With many looking to reduce or totally cut out their consumption of meat & animal derived products, we’ve pulled together a little bit more information on the benefits of a vegan or plant based diet below.
What is the difference between a vegan and plant-based diet?
A plant-based diet has the aim of reducing consumption of meat and other animal products and increasing the proportion of food derived directly from plants or fungi. A third of the UK population eat a meat-free or meat-reduced diet. (1)
A vegan diet avoids all animal foods, dairy, eggs and honey. Those that follow a vegan diet often follow a vegan lifestyle, avoiding animal-derived materials, products tested on animals and places that use animals for entertainment. (2)
What are the benefits?
There are lots of reasons why people choose a vegan or plant-based diet. The three main benefits are to improve health, protect the environment and prevent animal suffering. (3)
Research has found that replacing animal-sourced foods with plant-based products leads to overall positive health impacts. Switching to a vegan diet lowers cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease due to cutting meat out of your diet(4). You can still meet the recommended daily intake of protein for a healthy adult’s diet, without the need to gain protein from meat(5). Some people even find that energy levels increase with a vegan or plant-based diet.(6)
Choosing a plant-based or vegan diet has a positive impact on the environment. Meat and dairy production are responsible for about 60% of global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (7). Choosing to cut meat and dairy from your diet can reduce your individual footprint by up to 73% (8). In the UK, 57% of the population are willing to eat less meat to help the environment.(9)
Another benefit to a vegan diet is that cutting animal products has the potential to reduce the number of animals bred for food production, if the overall demand decreases. Individually, you can know that no animals were harmed for your diet.
How to get involved?
Whether you have challenged yourself for the whole month or simply want to challenge yourself to reduce your overall intake of animal products, Veganuary is a great time to start. There are lots of recipes and new products to inspire you.
Our entire range of condiments are vegan and plant-based. Try swapping out your normal mayo for our range of vegan mayos or marinade vegetables in one of our dressings before roasting!
1) Third of Britons have stopped or reduced eating meat - report | Food & drink industry | The Guardian From a Waitrose report
2) The Vegan Society’s stance on the ‘vegan’ vs. ‘plant-based’ debate | The Vegan Society
3) Veganuary 2022 | Home | The Go Vegan 31 Day Challenge
4) Cholesterol: How eating a vegan diet can lower your cholesterol levels (veganfoodandliving.com)
5) How a Plant-Based Diet Can Boost Energy Levels and Regulate Thyroid Hormones - One Green Planet
6) Greggs Vegan Sausage Roll Has More Protein Than Its Meat Version (plantbasednews.org)
Protein | The Vegetarian Society (vegsoc.org)
7) University of Oxford study in Veganism is 'single biggest way' to reduce our environmental impact on planet, study finds | The Independent | The Independent
9) Modular Classrooms 2019 in 57% of Brits Want to Ditch Meat to Save the Planet (livekindly.co)
