For a few years now, we have heard of Veganuary, a clumsy attempt to clear one’s conscience after the excesses of the Christmas holidays. But does it make sense? And what impact can it have on your health?

Veganuary, the vegan January, has become trendy recently, but does it really make sense? After the Christmas holidays, we feel the need to eat less and “detox” because we have all overindulged and eaten a little too much. And this is where vegans come in, proposing a January without animal-source foods to “purify” ourselves from the Christmas feast. By the way, the web is full of influencers, “nutritionists”, who go on Veganuary and show what to eat day by day. There is everything, from breakfast with vegan panettone and a whole range of processed fake foods to imitating meat, milk, eggs and fish.

THE DISADVANTAGES OF VEGAN FOOD

But if you read the long list of ingredients and additives that make up these plant-based products, they do everything but detoxify. They are hyper-processed foods that are harmful to your health. But even if you wanted to eat only vegetables, your body wouldn’t detoxify. Excluding all animal-source foods, which can deactivate the many anti-nutritional factors found in plants, strains the liver and digestive system in general, interfering with the normal absorption and use of nutrients. So, it’s just an illusion to purify yourself because it weakens your body. It even weakens the immune system, where the risk of illness is greatest. Seasonal illnesses are always around the corner at this time of year, so it’s not the ideal time to go on a deficient diet.

 HOW TO DETOX PROPERLY FROM FEASTS

So, what can you do to “detox” from the Christmas binge? Surely, returning to a regular and balanced diet is enough to get back on track. There is no point in fasting either because the body goes through a natural period of fasting when we sleep, which helps it to purify itself. So, prolonging it during the day can be counterproductive and even dangerous, especially in cold weather. Breakfast must remain rich, as it is the most important meal of the day, the only time we can indulge in something more without forgetting fruit. At lunchtime and for the rest of the day, limiting carbohydrates from bread, pasta, pizza, breadsticks, crackers, and similar things is better. Instead, use green light in vegetable soups, legumes, seasonal fruit, and herbal teas, and drink plenty of fluids.

When it comes to dinner, favour the high-quality proteins of meat and fish, but above all, the main dish you should never do without in winter is chicken broth. Chicken soup has been shown to help fight seasonal illnesses such as colds and flu and is the only way to stay hydrated, nourished, detoxified and with a strong immune system.

In short, there is no point in detoxing in Veganuary; it is just a useless sacrifice with the risk of getting sick. It is better never to abandon the complementarity and balance of animal and plant foods—the only way to stay healthy.