Some Canadians are switching to a plant-based diet in the new year. Here’s why – National

Growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. with a father working as a butcher, Toni Vernelli loved eating meat. But it wasn’t long before she noticed that the food she was eating was coming from the farm animals she loved. When Vernelli was 18, she made the switch to veganism.

More than 30 years of animal activism later, Vernelli is now the head of communications for Veganuary, a 31-day pledge that challenges participants to go vegan for the month of January.

The challenge gives people a chance to “dip their toes” in the lifestyle, Vernelli said.

Vegans abstain from consuming any animal products. That means eating no meat, dairy or eggs and for some, extends to not wearing leather or fur or using products tested on animals.

People love a challenge, she said, pointing to Dry January, a month dedicated to giving up alcohol, or Stoptober, when people quit smoking for October.

Previously, promoting a plant-based diet was awareness-based, promoting cold-turkey vegetarianism or veganism.

“That’s not the way humans operate,” Vernelli said.

The challenge started in 2014 in the U.K. and when Veganuary co-founders Jane Land and Matthew Glover decide to…