Latest / UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell / UnchainedTV: VEGANUARY is in Full Swing! Why It's Your opportunity to transform!

Transcript

UnchainedTV: VEGANUARY is in Full Swing! Why It's Your opportunity to transform! · UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell

0:02
I have the vegan Marion Berry Oatmeal Cobbler
0:05
and it is delicious, look at this, oh
0:10
my god, this is so good.
0:14
Veganuary is a great way in restaurants and
0:17
shops like this ice cream shop to introduce
0:19
non-vegans to delicious vegan food.
0:22
I like Veganuary because the restaurants are really
0:24
going out of their way to come up
0:26
with some amazing vegan creations.
0:28
You get to try a lot of stuff
0:30
you would not normally try.
0:32
It's great and it's also a great way
0:34
for these restaurants and stores to see that
0:37
there is, people are interested in eating vegan
0:41
and it's a great way to welcome them
0:44
to be creative with their food because this
0:47
is vegan Marion Berry Oatmeal Cobbler.
0:51
I mean how creative can you be, it's
0:53
delicious.
0:54
Absolutely makes me so happy as a vegan,
0:56
always scrambling around trying to find vegan options.
0:59
During Veganuary it's everywhere.
1:03
I wish every month were Veganuary.
1:07
And we are so excited here at Unshained
1:10
TV to have the U.S. Director of
1:13
Veganuary with us today, a tremendous honour because
1:17
as you might imagine, this is one busy
1:20
lady.
1:21
We are in the midst of Veganuary.
1:24
So tell us Sarah Hungate, how big has
1:28
it gotten this year?
1:30
Hi Jane, thank you.
1:32
It's an honour for me to be on
1:33
your show.
1:33
I've been following and watching your show for
1:35
years.
1:35
So it continues to get bigger every year
1:39
and we don't know the participation numbers yet
1:42
obviously because we're still at the beginning of
1:44
the month, but in sizes of countries participating
1:47
we now have officially 20 countries that are
1:49
running a Veganuary campaign.
1:52
But we actually have participants from every country
1:54
in the world except as of yet North
1:57
Korea.
1:57
We have not yet had a participant there.
2:00
But in terms also of businesses participating, I
2:03
loved your video.
2:04
There's continuously new businesses joining and some of
2:07
our big hits this year in the U
2:09
.S. that we know so far is that
2:11
we have a record breaking number of restaurants
2:13
in New York participating.
2:15
There's over 50 in New York alone.
2:17
We also have more chains than ever before
2:20
in the U.S. participating.
2:22
So like you saw, you just showed Salt,
2:23
Salt and Straw, but we also have and
2:25
Pizza and Ike's and Crisp and Green.
2:28
We always also have Blue Sushi Saki, Mellow
2:32
Mushroom, Veggie Grill, Plant Burger and many, many
2:34
more.
2:35
And so we love to go and try
2:36
all these vegan options.
2:37
And there's even some fun surprises around the
2:40
country.
2:40
Like there's different cities and states that are
2:42
not always like the obvious vegan friendly ones.
2:45
So one big one that I loved or
2:47
like one one that is really special to
2:50
me and to us is that in St.
2:52
Louis, Missouri, there's a ice cream chain, Clementine's,
2:56
that is making their menu for this month
2:58
half vegan, like 50 percent of their flavours
3:01
is vegan.
3:01
So they added eight vegan options for this
3:04
month in St. Louis, which is super exciting.
3:07
So VeganU is everywhere.
3:08
To your point, you have people everywhere celebrating.
3:11
It is so absolutely extraordinary everywhere.
3:16
The reason I said Veganuary is everywhere, it's
3:19
literally every time I open my computer, another
3:22
email, Veganuary this, Veganuary that, I walk down
3:25
the street, Veganuary, Veganuary.
3:27
It's it's so extraordinary.
3:30
And to me, it is it gives me
3:33
inspiration because this began with two people just
3:37
sitting at a kitchen table in late 2013
3:41
saying, how do we wake people up to
3:43
the joys of the vegan lifestyle?
3:46
And they just decided to do this.
3:49
So anybody who has an idea and thinks,
3:51
well, I don't know, do it, because look
3:55
how this has transformed our world.
3:59
I mean, as I said on the tape,
4:01
I wish Veganuary was every single day of
4:04
the week.
4:04
Now, let me ask you about some of
4:07
the exciting aspects, the cookbook, the cookbook.
4:12
So now you can get a free celebrity
4:15
cookbook.
4:16
Tell us about that.
4:18
Yes.
4:18
So every time or every year we have
4:21
a new updated version of the celebrity cookbook.
4:23
So it continues to grow in pages.
4:25
We're around 70 pages now.
4:26
And this year we have a new edition
4:28
from Woody Harrelson and Laura, his wife.
4:32
And then we also have Bethany Antonia from
4:34
the House of Dragons TV show.
4:36
And yeah, just a lot of also international
4:39
celebrities that joined in.
4:41
And this is just one piece of the
4:43
free resources people receive when they register on
4:45
our website.
4:46
So the other pieces are that they receive
4:48
a starter kit that answers all the questions
4:50
about what is plant based eating?
4:52
How do I deal with these kinds of
4:54
challenges or questions from my family?
4:55
I could cover everything so you can be
4:57
ready and you can overcome any challenge that
5:00
might come in your way during the month.
5:03
And then we also give them meal plans,
5:05
a daily dozen nutrition lists to make sure
5:08
that they check all the boxes.
5:10
And then every day at their starting date,
5:12
which is up to them, they can select
5:14
any date of the year.
5:15
They don't even have to do it in
5:17
January.
5:17
Then they receive 31 daily emails that are
5:20
short and sweet, talking about the three pillars
5:22
of our programme.
5:23
So it's the animals, it's health and sustainability.
5:26
And then every day, these emails also include
5:29
a few more recipes and just encouragement and
5:32
links to dive into certain topics, to documentaries,
5:35
joining our official Facebook group to talk with
5:38
other participants and much more support.
5:40
So we want to make sure that it's
5:42
always fun, welcoming and encouraging.
5:45
Well, I want to ask you about this
5:47
because this is so extraordinary.
5:49
I just looked at one area.
5:51
This is the District of Columbia.
5:54
And I'd like you to break it down
5:56
for us because this is just one tiny
6:00
area of the United States.
6:03
And take a look at all the different
6:06
things happening vis-a-vis January.
6:09
Break it down for us.
6:11
Yeah, so we have dozens of participating businesses
6:14
in D.C. this year, but we also
6:16
have events that are booming in D.C.
6:19
like we have our friends at Veg Society
6:21
of D.C. are organising eight events.
6:23
And then there's also Rosie's Sanctuary that is
6:26
having a family event so people can go
6:28
and meet animals.
6:29
There are hikes, there are potlucks.
6:32
We also have from VSDC, there's an event
6:35
with a council member of the Maryland County
6:37
that's just neighbouring D.C. who is also
6:40
supportive of Vegan Year.
6:41
So there's a lot of different ways that
6:42
people are celebrating in their capital.
6:46
And yeah, this is just one of the
6:47
main target cities that we contact, like we
6:49
contact businesses as much as possible in New
6:52
York, D.C. and in the LA area.
6:54
But we also reach out to nationwide chains,
6:57
regional chains, retailers, as many food companies as
7:01
possible.
7:01
However much we can do in our small
7:03
team, we reach out to however many people
7:05
we can so that they can participate.
7:07
And there's so many also who participate just
7:09
because they know of it.
7:10
And we just find out throughout the month
7:12
of January.
7:13
It's like a fun surprise every day for
7:15
the team.
7:15
We find out this business or this city
7:18
is participating.
7:19
These celebrities want to take part.
7:21
Like it's just fun, fun little gifts every
7:24
day.
7:25
Well, all I have to say is bless
7:27
you and bless Veganuary, because as some people
7:31
may know, veganism is under attack.
7:34
The incumbent industry, the meat and dairy industry,
7:38
has really declared a PR war against veganism,
7:42
trying to characterise everything is processed.
7:45
When in truth, we all know that we've
7:47
always had fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and legumes.
7:50
OK, I had a kale smoothie this morning
7:54
that was packed with nutrients.
7:57
And you could say it was processed because
7:59
I put it in a blender.
8:00
You put a mango in a blender, it
8:02
becomes processed.
8:03
But they've used that as a weapon, never
8:06
mentioning that processed meat is officially cancer causing,
8:11
according to the World Health Organisation.
8:13
So a lot of nasty articles are being
8:15
written.
8:16
Thank God we have Veganuary there to counteract
8:20
that terrible narrative that is motivated by greed.
8:23
And also because these very, very multibillion dollar
8:28
industries have started to see veganism as a
8:30
very real threat and they are fighting back.
8:33
They reportedly, according to The Guardian, have a
8:35
war room the size of Fox News and
8:37
issue things like Masters in Beef Advocacy to
8:40
thousands and thousands of people who go on
8:42
social media and push that agenda.
8:45
So you are counteracting that.
8:48
And I want to go over these stats
8:49
a little bit because I think they're very,
8:52
very important.
8:55
Eighty two percent of respondents to your survey
9:00
who were not already vegan when they took
9:03
part intended to permanently change their diet.
9:07
Seventy three percent of those who aren't committed
9:09
to staying vegan are likely to try vegan
9:12
again in the future.
9:14
Almost half of respondents to the survey that
9:17
Veganuary did saw some improvement in their overall
9:20
health after just 31 days.
9:25
Tell us about this.
9:26
Yeah, and actually the numbers are even higher
9:28
from the latest 2024 survey.
9:31
The last number is 48 percent saw improvements
9:34
in their health within a month, which is
9:36
almost half.
9:37
It's really, really amazing.
9:39
And then we had this time around 92
9:42
percent of the people who are not staying
9:44
vegan after.
9:45
Sorry.
9:46
Yeah, there's there's about a quarter who stay
9:48
vegan after Veganuary.
9:49
We check a month after the Veganuary month
9:52
that they participated and then six months later.
9:54
And usually it's about a quarter who say
9:56
they're going to stay vegan.
9:57
And after six months this past year, 2024,
10:01
27 percent said that they stayed vegan, which
10:04
is a little bit of more than the
10:06
years before, like by two points.
10:07
But then from the ones who said they
10:10
didn't stay vegan, 92 percent said that they're
10:13
likely to try vegan again in the future.
10:15
So the numbers are even better than than
10:17
the previous years.
10:18
As of 2024, we also have a 98
10:22
percent recommendation rates.
10:23
People around half of the participants usually also
10:27
bring a friend into it or their roommate
10:30
or family member.
10:31
Right.
10:31
Because it's more fun if you do it
10:32
with somebody else.
10:33
So the numbers really look really great.
10:35
We're very happy that it's not just for
10:37
the month that a lot of people just
10:39
really find that it aligns with their values
10:42
and they stick to it.
10:43
Now, one of the things that I love
10:45
about the Veganuary website, Veganuary.com, is that
10:50
it seems like thousands of incredible recipes.
10:55
These are some of the photos from the
10:57
Veganuary website showing just a smidge of the
11:02
recipes, truly extraordinary amount of recipes.
11:07
So how do people avail themselves of that?
11:13
I'm sorry, how do they what?
11:15
How do they how do they actualise that?
11:17
How do they take that?
11:18
How do they get involved?
11:19
Somebody's watching this and said, you know, this
11:21
sounds like a great idea.
11:22
Like a lot of people, January is the
11:25
time, myself included, that I make the vow.
11:27
I'm going to get in shape, better shape.
11:30
I'm going to change my life.
11:33
That's why I'm doing those green smoothies, by
11:35
the way.
11:36
It's a Veganuary vow, Veganuary vows.
11:40
That's a good one.
11:41
But if they decide, OK, yeah, I'm in.
11:45
Like, what's the process for them to really
11:48
maximise the benefits of being Veganuary?
11:52
You go to the website, you sign up.
11:54
Give us the process.
11:56
Yeah, so they go to the website.
11:57
There's a button that says participate, take part.
12:00
And then they just put their name, email
12:02
address, what country they're in to make sure
12:04
they get the content for the country they're
12:06
in.
12:07
And then they select the start date.
12:09
As mentioned before, it can be any time
12:10
in the year.
12:11
And then we encourage them throughout the email
12:14
content to make sure to follow our social
12:16
media platform, because we also share a lot
12:19
of content on especially Instagram, but also most
12:22
of the other major social media.
12:25
And then that group that I was mentioning,
12:26
the Facebook group is a great place also
12:28
to find recipes and ask questions to other
12:30
participants.
12:31
We also have a team that moderates that
12:33
group to make sure we can answer the
12:34
questions that people have.
12:36
And we even encourage people to check out
12:38
some apps, to connect with others, to go
12:41
to these events that we were talking about,
12:43
like in D.C., to connect with others,
12:45
because, yeah, it's really helpful when you have
12:46
others who also do the programme with you.
12:49
And like you said, there's over a thousand
12:51
recipes on our website.
12:52
We also had one contribution this year from
12:55
Pamela Anderson, which we're super, super happy.
12:58
And she was also part of my vegan
13:00
journey.
13:01
Like she back then was the main person
13:02
in those ads that I was seeing back
13:04
then as a vegetarian.
13:06
She was vegetarian, I think, or at least
13:07
that was the message back then.
13:09
Vegetarian with PETA.
13:11
And so, yeah, I was super, super thrilled
13:12
that she was sending us a recipe for
13:18
the website.
13:19
And then to your point earlier, too, because
13:21
the meat industry and lots of things are
13:25
talking about whether or not veganism is over
13:27
processed foods.
13:28
So we also talk about that in our
13:30
content and we really explain what is a
13:33
processed food and what is healthy, what is
13:36
not healthy.
13:37
And we explain how people can really make
13:40
their whole meal with just whole foods, foods
13:43
like whole grains and legumes and things like
13:45
that.
13:46
And our latest campaign also talks about the
13:49
animal aspect, the health aspect and sustainability.
13:52
And one of my favourite messages is one
13:55
of the ads and it says we kill
13:56
billions of animals, but then eating that food
14:00
from these animals kills us, like in a
14:02
nutshell, right?
14:03
It's not it makes no sense the way
14:06
that that we are eating these animals and
14:08
then it's not healthy for us.
14:09
So it's really a big part of our
14:11
message.
14:12
Yeah.
14:12
And we here at Unchained TV show some
14:16
of that.
14:16
We cover some of that.
14:18
This happens to be a DXC investigation into
14:21
a chicken factory farm.
14:25
And, you know, yes, it's it's important that
14:30
people see the truth.
14:31
But sometimes I get the sensation that people
14:34
don't want to see the truth.
14:35
And the real way to get to people
14:37
and to change their hearts and minds is
14:40
by offering them a good, healthy, delicious alternative.
14:47
And that's what Veganuary does.
14:49
So it's kind of a philosophy.
14:51
And what I read was you don't even
14:53
say go vegan.
14:55
You say try vegan and that that sort
14:59
of takes the onus off of people who
15:02
might otherwise feel stressed out or resentful or
15:07
I can't do this for the rest of
15:09
their lives.
15:09
It's like 12 step programmes.
15:11
You do it one day at a time.
15:13
All we have is today.
15:16
And so I'd like to hear a little
15:17
bit more about the psychology, because maybe folks
15:21
who are vegan watching might say, hmm, OK,
15:23
that's good.
15:24
I might try that myself.
15:26
Tell us about the the philosophy of the
15:28
psychology of try vegan.
15:30
Yes.
15:31
So in my work specifically, like I can
15:34
share some stories when I present Veganuary to
15:37
companies or potential businesses who would participate.
15:41
And I mentioned the programme when I talk
15:43
about the fact that there's no vegan police,
15:46
they sometimes physically you can see that they're
15:49
relaxed because we want to make sure that
15:52
people don't think I have if I do
15:54
this, if I register on Veganuary, that means
15:56
I'm all or nothing like it's 100 percent.
15:58
I have to stick to it.
16:00
We don't want them to have that pressure.
16:01
We want them to be able to to
16:03
try it.
16:03
We want everybody to try it.
16:05
And so that's why we make it non
16:07
-judgemental and as welcoming and as approachable as
16:10
possible.
16:11
And we really encourage them to take it
16:12
at their own pace.
16:14
You know, some people will try Veganuary maybe
16:16
on certain days of the week.
16:18
Even though the companies that we would talk
16:20
about workplace challenges later, I know, but they
16:24
they also in their message tell people that.
16:26
So that message continues to get trickled down.
16:29
And that really helps for everybody to feel
16:31
like, oh, I can participate even if I
16:33
just do it for one day, even if
16:34
I just try one recipe.
16:35
But then they see the information and they
16:38
then continue to learn.
16:40
And then that's often how people stay in
16:43
the programme and stay vegan afterwards.
16:44
A lot of people also in our survey
16:47
said a 40 percent that the reason the
16:50
motivation is animals.
16:52
Wow, that is extraordinary.
16:55
You really know your stuff and it's very
17:00
impressive.
17:01
What I'd like to ask is about the
17:04
stats regarding the results.
17:06
And here they are.
17:07
We talked about that, but let's talk about
17:11
the corporate aspect again.
17:14
I mentioned that veganism is under attack and
17:17
one of the reasons it's under attack by
17:18
the meat, dairy and pharmaceutical industry, because they're
17:21
all one in the same.
17:22
I mean, let's face it, people would need
17:23
all those erectile dysfunction pills and cholesterol lowering
17:27
pills and obesity pills if they followed a
17:30
vegan diet.
17:34
But they can't really stop veganism because there's
17:37
no way to stop an idea whose time
17:39
has come.
17:40
So off of the Veganuary website, it says
17:43
ninety one billion dollars is the estimated worth
17:47
of the global vegan food industry by the
17:51
year 2027.
17:54
Tell us about that.
17:56
Yeah, so that's a statistic from another organisation.
17:59
I believe it's either GFI or Plant Based
18:01
Food Association.
18:02
And yeah, they measure the markets and how
18:04
it increases.
18:05
And it just yeah, it's very successful.
18:07
I remember there were some stats throughout COVID
18:10
where they were showing how the growth of
18:12
the different categories were comparing and plant based
18:14
was growing faster than than the others.
18:17
So there's definitely the data showing that there
18:19
is growth.
18:20
And then on the on the other side
18:22
of your page to write over 10,000
18:26
media stories.
18:27
So that was our record last year.
18:29
We went over the 10,000 mark.
18:31
There were over a thousand alone in the
18:32
US media hits.
18:34
So, yeah, it continues to be talked about.
18:36
And we just yeah, like you said, I
18:38
guess it is it is unstoppable because it's
18:40
everywhere now, whether or not we even are
18:43
the ones that are triggering those media hits.
18:45
It's just a word of mouth kind of
18:46
effect.
18:47
And and if businesses and people and everybody's
18:51
participating, they kind of encourage each other.
18:53
So it's like that snowball effect.
18:55
We call it the Veganuary effect.
18:57
Oh, yeah.
18:57
Let's talk a little bit about the Veganuary
18:59
effect and some people who are in the
19:02
midst of it.
19:03
They've they're drinking the Kool-Aid and love
19:05
it.
19:05
Our best advice for people trying vegan for
19:07
the first time is to stay open and
19:11
have fun with it because you just can't
19:14
do anything in life without having fun.
19:15
See who else is willing to do it
19:17
with you.
19:18
You're trying out vegan for the first time.
19:19
Try new foods.
19:20
We've really expanded our palette.
19:22
If you live with people, be like, hey,
19:23
I want to try a vegan meal.
19:25
Let's make a cool beet burger.
19:29
And then just see how it goes.
19:32
Love how our bodies felt as we transitioned
19:34
out of dairy and meat into all plants,
19:38
whole food plants.
19:39
And we're just never going to go back.
19:41
We love it so much.
19:42
And it's changed our lives completely.
19:44
Make it as easy as possible.
19:45
Don't try to build the whole boat at
19:48
once.
19:48
Be convenient about it.
19:50
Maybe go to a restaurant, go to a
19:51
vegan restaurant or some takeout.
19:54
Wow, very good advice.
19:56
So what are we've talked about?
20:01
I mean, you make it seem so easy,
20:03
but if it were that easy, the entire
20:05
planet, all 8.1 billion humans would be
20:08
vegan at this point because it makes perfect
20:11
sense.
20:11
You know, I've been reading a lot about
20:13
the 80-20 rule, which is a new
20:16
thing.
20:17
It's kind of a fad where they try
20:18
to explain all sorts of problems with the
20:21
80-20 rule.
20:21
And I was like, that is exactly the
20:25
dynamic of the meat industry.
20:30
Meat is creating 80 percent of the problems.
20:33
In other words, it's the 20 percent that's
20:36
creating the 80 percent of the problems.
20:38
We right now in Los Angeles are experiencing
20:41
horrific fires.
20:42
I'm being inundated even as I speak.
20:44
Are you OK?
20:45
Are you OK?
20:46
Are you?
20:46
Yes, I'm fine.
20:47
But not a lot of people are not.
20:50
Many have lost their homes.
20:53
They've they've some people have lost their pets.
20:56
Think about the wildlife as well.
20:58
How devastating to the wildlife.
21:00
And I always think about that.
21:03
And climate change is the reason why we're
21:06
just in the early stages.
21:07
I hate to say it, but it's going
21:08
to get worse.
21:10
OK, we've got approximately nine boundaries and we're
21:13
crashing through six of them in terms of,
21:16
you know, glacier evaporation, wildlife extinction, ocean dead
21:23
zones.
21:23
There's another person trying to find out if
21:25
I'm OK.
21:26
But it is that the answer is to
21:29
end animal agriculture, transition to a plant based
21:32
society, reforest all the huge percentage of the
21:38
earth's usable land that is used for either
21:40
cattle grazing or to grow crops to feed
21:43
92 billion animals.
21:45
Just land animals were killing every year.
21:47
We would have also end world hunger because
21:50
we would have an abundance of food.
21:52
We would also radically reduce health care costs
21:55
because people would be healthier.
21:57
And now there's a whole move.
21:58
Make America healthy again.
21:59
I've been saying that for years.
22:01
I was like, wait a second.
22:02
I said that first.
22:04
So when you look at all the problems
22:07
it solves, disease prevention and not to mention,
22:12
yes, compassionate animals, all these animals are suffering.
22:15
The Guardian just recently had a story where
22:18
the headline was the culturally acceptable genocide.
22:24
And I agree, culturally accepted genocide.
22:27
Ninety two billion animals, many, many, many millions
22:30
of animals that have died horrible deaths since
22:32
we started talking.
22:34
So there it is.
22:36
And now people are losing their homes.
22:38
But somehow it doesn't seem possible to wake
22:42
everybody up.
22:44
What are your thoughts?
22:44
What are your insights?
22:46
Because we're at a pivotal juncture when it
22:49
comes to climate change.
22:51
Yeah, I have a few answers also to
22:53
the parts that the first one, the 80
22:55
20 rule.
22:56
There's also the land use.
22:57
You probably know that one, too.
22:59
We use 80 percent of our land to
23:01
create only 20 percent of the global calories
23:03
with animal agriculture.
23:05
But the other 20 percent of the land
23:07
that is used currently for crops to feed
23:09
people is actually 80 percent of the calories
23:11
supplied for the whole world.
23:13
So it is it is like there's so
23:15
much data that proves what you were talking
23:16
about.
23:17
And I love using that example because of
23:18
the 80 20.
23:20
It's easy to understand for people when I
23:23
make those presentations.
23:25
And then also all these animals, we never
23:26
see them.
23:27
Right.
23:27
So in our campaign, we're also raising the
23:29
question.
23:30
Isn't it weird that there's millions, billions of
23:32
animals that are raised for food?
23:35
There are many, many more animals that there
23:37
than there are humans.
23:38
And the farm animals are the ones that
23:40
are the most in the whole world.
23:42
And we don't really see them.
23:43
Isn't that weird?
23:45
So, yes, it's very interesting.
23:47
And animal ag is, yeah, it's proven to
23:50
be the most contributor to greenhouse emissions.
23:53
So there are all these facts.
23:55
And then there's also the cognitive dissonance or
23:58
the psychological effect of of people defending things
24:01
because eating has is cultural.
24:05
We are since we're little told what to
24:07
eat, what not to eat.
24:08
And so we're really trying in our current
24:11
message to to raise the question, isn't it
24:13
weird that we are eating these animals?
24:15
Isn't it weird that we are eating animals
24:18
that are smarter than our own dogs like
24:20
pigs?
24:21
And and hopefully, you know, we've been creating
24:24
that conversation that there's always people who who
24:28
are like kind of trolling and and they
24:30
will respond with a comment that says bacon.
24:33
And so it's just that that that seed
24:35
that is planted.
24:36
And I consider every response, no matter if
24:39
it's positive or negative, that person saw the
24:41
message and they will maybe talk about it
24:43
or think about it again.
24:45
And the more they talk about it, the
24:46
more you know that they're thinking about it.
24:49
But in general, our message is really just,
24:52
again, to to invite people.
24:54
And we try to make it as easy
24:55
as possible.
24:56
And also because sometimes it's hard for people
24:58
to find the time to cook.
25:00
We also do our best to give them
25:02
tips of how to find affordable and quick
25:07
ways to eat more plant based because we
25:09
just want to make sure that everybody can
25:11
try it, even even if they have challenges.
25:13
And and there's many challenges right at this
25:16
moment.
25:16
And there's the the cost has been rising
25:19
of a lot of food.
25:20
So we also just continue telling, hey, rice
25:22
and beans is a super cheap way to
25:24
eat.
25:24
And we just talk about all these topics
25:27
to remove all the other challenges.
25:29
And look at the delicious, delicious food.
25:33
Now, who put this together?
25:34
These are such incredible dishes.
25:38
Does Veganuary have like an entire chef team
25:41
that puts all these incredible dishes together?
25:44
No, we're actually really lucky that a lot
25:46
of businesses like the food companies and the
25:49
retailers and restaurants send us some of those
25:51
recipes.
25:52
And then there's the celebrities that send them.
25:55
You were also talking or there's also a
25:56
physical cookbook.
25:57
That one was made with a publishing company.
26:02
And they also welcomed our team to send
26:05
in recipes.
26:06
So our teams were able to send some
26:09
of their favourite ones.
26:10
And then when we need pictures, we do
26:12
have a photographer who then is also a
26:15
cook.
26:15
And so she will make the recipe and
26:17
take pictures.
26:18
But most of it is provided by others.
26:19
And we're just really thankful for that.
26:22
I want to talk about corporations.
26:25
I was in the news business for many
26:27
years and quite often I was the only
26:31
vegan.
26:32
In fact, our social media director that we
26:35
have here at Unchained TV today was the
26:37
other only vegan when we both worked at
26:40
Paramount Studios at a local TV station here
26:43
in Los Angeles 20 years ago.
26:45
And now we're working together.
26:47
And at the time, we were both considered
26:49
freaks.
26:50
But things have changed.
26:53
I remember at another job I worked at,
26:56
couldn't get a vegan option.
26:58
And all of a sudden, one day I
26:59
walked in the cafeteria, everything had a vegan
27:02
option.
27:02
I was like, have I died and gone
27:04
to heaven?
27:04
What happened?
27:05
Well, it turns out one of the top
27:07
executives had gone vegan.
27:09
Boom, like that.
27:11
Everything changed.
27:12
So let's talk about the workplace and how
27:16
people who are vegan or trying to be
27:18
vegan can manage the workplace and your workplace
27:23
challenge.
27:25
Yes.
27:25
So one of the challenges is for people
27:28
to eat out.
27:30
Thirty percent of people say, I have a
27:31
hard time eating out.
27:32
And then the second top challenge at around
27:34
20 percent is dealing with friends and family.
27:38
So I don't think we have a data
27:40
specifically about challenges in the workplace, but I
27:43
know from experience and from my friends that
27:45
it is also challenging.
27:48
Sometimes there's people who are vegan, but they
27:50
don't always want to talk about it because
27:52
they don't want to have to deal with
27:53
the conversations and the debates that might come
27:56
with that.
27:56
We do also share tips in our newsletters
27:59
and blog about how to handle some of
28:01
those questions.
28:03
And we also try to give as many
28:04
facts as possible to our participants so that
28:07
they are ready and they have all those
28:08
tools.
28:09
But, yeah, we encourage workplaces to also participate
28:13
in Veganuary and there's people who have done
28:16
Veganuary as a participant and that's how they
28:18
bring it to their workplace.
28:19
And I say, you know, there's this thing
28:20
I want to bring it to my work.
28:22
But we also have an official programme, the
28:24
Veganuary Workplace Challenge, where we give free resources
28:27
to the employers.
28:29
Everything we do anyway is free, but we
28:31
also then created extra content so that the
28:33
person at the workplace can copy paste email
28:36
templates, like an email to ask leadership to
28:40
approve a Veganuary programme.
28:42
We have an email template to just encourage
28:44
the colleagues to participate.
28:46
Then we also have quizzes and lunch, like
28:50
just ideas on how to make it interactive,
28:52
like potlucks and luncheons and things like that.
28:55
We have leaflets that we give them, posters
28:57
where the teams can take pictures and they
29:00
can answer, like, why am I doing Veganuary?
29:02
So it's like a nice photo op, just
29:04
so many tools to make it fun and
29:06
as easy as possible to implement.
29:09
And what happens is that we reach out
29:11
to the bigger employers, HR, sustainability, wellness and
29:17
ESG team members.
29:18
But we also encourage vegans and people who
29:21
are really interested in bringing plant-based into
29:23
their work to simply talk about it at
29:26
work.
29:26
They can use our tools and they can
29:28
also work with us.
29:29
They can contact us and ask us for
29:30
advice.
29:32
So we are very happy to help with
29:34
that.
29:34
And this year we are at over 40
29:37
participating companies in the US, which is also
29:40
a record.
29:40
So we're really, really excited.
29:42
And some of the bigger employers this year
29:44
are Ernest & Young, EY, Lush.
29:47
There's also municipalities that are celebrating the Workplace
29:50
Challenge, like City of San Antonio, Texas, is
29:53
already participating for the second year.
29:55
And then also City of West Hollywood, which
29:58
is participating with the Workplace Challenge, but also
30:00
as a city overall, did a proclamation and
30:04
a resolution as part of their implementation of
30:06
the plant-based treaty to communicate about Veganuary
30:09
to residents, businesses and staff.
30:12
So that was the first newer kind of
30:14
size of municipality participating.
30:16
And there's many more.
30:18
Some of them also don't share it publicly,
30:21
so I cannot name all of the participating
30:23
companies, but there are some really major ones
30:26
that are astonishing sometimes.
30:28
Like we're positively surprised to see lots of
30:31
industries participating and new ones this year, where
30:35
media, trucking, like engineering, manufacturing started to participate
30:40
already last year.
30:41
And then we also have schools that are
30:42
participating this year.
30:43
So it just continues to touch new sectors.
30:46
And a lot of it is thanks to
30:47
just the Veganuary effect and also participants who
30:51
speak up and want to talk about it
30:53
at work.
30:54
And Veganuary.
30:54
You said media, because that is so important.
30:59
One of the biggest challenges we face and
31:02
the reason I started Unchained TV is because
31:05
the media is not reporting our story the
31:08
way it should.
31:09
Veganuary is a big exception.
31:12
But I've seen many undercover investigations, for example,
31:17
that we've reported here at Unchained TV.
31:19
And then I look to see what media
31:21
has picked it up.
31:22
Oh, laws being broken.
31:24
Terrible.
31:25
We passed here in California, Prop 12, Prop
31:28
2.
31:28
These are animal welfare laws that are not
31:31
being enforced at all.
31:32
So these undercover investigations are very serious.
31:35
Also, animal activists being put on trial.
31:38
It's not getting the coverage it deserves.
31:40
Because look at the advertisers on these major
31:43
networks, meat, dairy and pharmaceuticals.
31:45
So I would like to understand your strategy
31:47
for having success with media, getting all the
31:50
media reports, as well as getting media companies,
31:54
you said, to participate, actually their staff, their
31:58
employees in Veganuary.
32:00
Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
32:01
Because honestly, that is huge.
32:05
As the media goes, so goes the nation.
32:09
Yeah, I love that.
32:10
And yes, it's the first time we have
32:12
a participating media company and they publicly announced
32:16
that they gave us a quote.
32:17
It's one of the channels in Spokane, Washington,
32:20
one of the TV channels, public television, television.
32:23
And the person who is leading it is
32:26
in the sustainability and did participate in Veganuary
32:29
in the past and therefore knew there's this
32:33
workplace challenge format.
32:34
I can bring it into work.
32:37
Oh, oh, oh, I don't know what happened
32:40
there, but that's OK.
32:42
I'll tell you what, this is a good
32:43
opportunity for us while we get that back
32:46
on track to talk a little bit about
32:49
Unchained TV.
32:51
We're going to tell you a little bit
32:52
about what Unchained TV does.
32:54
We're a 501C3 nonprofit and our whole effort
32:59
is to promote veganism.
33:02
So it's a vegan Netflix.
33:04
OK, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard.
33:06
I love Unchained TV.
33:08
Unchained, Unchained TV, your life will change.
33:11
It's just that easy.
33:12
Unchained TV has all sorts of content for
33:15
everybody.
33:15
Unchained TV changed my life.
33:18
Unchained TV is crushing it.
33:21
I love Unchained TV.
33:23
Unchained TV is my go to.
33:25
Unchained TV, who knew?
33:27
Unchained baby, yay!
33:35
So I can tell you a little bit
33:36
more about Unchained TV.
33:39
I'm the founder and there it is right
33:41
behind me on my Samsung TV.
33:44
So if you want to get involved with
33:47
telling the story that we all need to
33:49
tell, that the solution to so many of
33:52
our problems, literally, I would say 90 percent
33:55
of our problems, climate change, world hunger, preventable
34:01
lifestyle diseases and so many other problems.
34:09
We got a little bit of a problem
34:11
there.
34:12
We'll get through it.
34:12
The solution is for the world to understand.
34:18
Yes, I can hear you.
34:19
You're back.
34:19
Yay.
34:20
I was just telling everybody about Unchained TV.
34:24
Anytime there is an opportunity for me to
34:27
talk about it, I will.
34:28
So I'm going to explain a little bit
34:30
more about how you can get Unchained TV
34:33
right on your phone.
34:34
We're a 501C3 nonprofit.
34:36
It's absolutely free.
34:37
And there's 2000 videos, including this one that's
34:42
playing right now behind me.
34:45
Documentaries, vegan cooking shows, biographies, lifestyle shows and
34:49
news shows.
34:50
And the greatest part about it is you
34:52
can get it on your phone for free.
34:54
Just go to your App Store, Google Play
34:56
or your Apple App Store, and you just
34:59
put in Unchained TV, one word, and then
35:02
you can text these videos.
35:03
If somebody says, oh, the animals aren't treated
35:05
that bad, you can text them a video.
35:07
If they say I could never give up
35:08
cheese, you can text them a video.
35:10
It's all completely free.
35:12
And if you want to watch it on
35:14
your TV, it's on all Samsung TVs.
35:16
But also if you have an Amazon Fire
35:18
Stick, a Roku device or an Apple TV
35:20
device, you can also get it that way.
35:24
And of course, you can watch it online.
35:26
So just go to Unchained TV dot com
35:28
or watch Unchained TV dot com.
35:29
So, all right, we're back with the one
35:31
and only Sandra Hungate, the U.S. Director
35:34
of the January.
35:36
And I see you got some mood lighting
35:38
there.
35:39
You probably had an electrical outage, if I
35:41
had to guess.
35:42
But we're happy to have you back.
35:44
So you covered a lot of ground, but
35:47
I want to know why the January has
35:50
succeeded when so many other similar efforts have
35:55
not had the same level of success.
35:58
What is your secret sauce?
36:02
Thanks.
36:03
I'm sorry about the technical problem.
36:07
We we think that there's a few elements.
36:09
The first one is the fact that it
36:11
is not nonjudgmental and inviting.
36:13
So that there's that pressure.
36:15
The pressure is taken away, as mentioned earlier.
36:17
So people feel more comfortable giving it a
36:19
try.
36:20
But we also had a lot of support
36:22
early on from celebrities.
36:23
So you were saying earlier how it started
36:25
in the U.K. 11 years ago with
36:27
two people.
36:28
And the first year they had about 3000
36:30
participants and they thought this was going to
36:32
be like a side project.
36:33
But then it just exploded because they got
36:36
big businesses that took part.
36:38
They got celebrities that participated.
36:40
And so that that was really how that
36:42
snowball effect started, because there were these big
36:45
names that participated.
36:47
And then also you were asking me about
36:48
the media we have ourselves.
36:50
You know, we send out the press releases
36:52
and the content.
36:53
We also have other participating entities that are
36:56
sending out the content as well.
36:58
So I was mentioning the West Hollywood city
37:01
participation.
37:02
Right.
37:02
So they they had the city council meeting.
37:05
There were media there.
37:06
So it was also mentioned in the media
37:08
because it was part of their programme.
37:11
We also have the Mellow Mushroom, for example.
37:13
We're talking about them as a chain.
37:15
They just sent out a press release about
37:16
their participation.
37:18
So they also are part of the messaging.
37:20
And then we also send our own messages.
37:23
Yeah, it's like a team effort between all
37:25
the other groups of people who are who
37:27
are making this bigger and bigger every year.
37:30
It is so amazing.
37:32
And, you know, 2013, when that coffee table
37:36
discussion was happening is not so long ago.
37:40
So it started in 2014 small.
37:44
Then it exploded.
37:46
You're hearing that it exploded because celebrities got
37:48
on board.
37:49
What I'd like to know is, first of
37:51
all, we have a question from somebody watching
37:53
on Facebook, and it's kind of a silly
37:56
but fun question.
37:58
Sandra, is there any significance to your question
38:00
mark symbol?
38:01
Oh, ha ha.
38:03
Yeah, I actually made these.
38:05
And I love the question mark symbol for
38:07
a few reasons.
38:08
I like to always question things.
38:09
I'm part of also the Generation Y that
38:11
is always asking why.
38:13
And yeah, just overall, like the the symbol
38:16
as a design element itself.
38:18
So, yeah, I thought it would be a
38:20
good a good symbol for today when we're
38:22
talking about and learning about beginner and beginners
38:25
question what you're being told on the news
38:28
media.
38:28
I saw a ridiculous article.
38:31
Somebody told me about it.
38:33
There's something does do veggie burgers cause depression?
38:36
Now, you know, at a certain point, we
38:38
need to counteract this nonsense.
38:41
It's like when if if I have a
38:44
an injured pinky and I go to the
38:46
doctor, sometimes I'll try to make my injured
38:49
pinky about veganism.
38:50
I go, what about all these sick people
38:51
who are lined up in the gurneys in
38:53
the hallways and who are vegan?
38:55
Do you make it about them being meat
38:58
eaters?
38:59
You know, there's this, I think, institutional bias
39:02
that we're seeing.
39:03
And when that institutional bias occurs, we as
39:09
independent thinkers have to question it.
39:12
And we have to question when doctors tell
39:15
us we have to eat meat or dairy.
39:16
Well, how much training have you had in
39:19
nutrition?
39:19
Because the average doctor has very little training
39:22
in nutrition.
39:23
Their health stats aren't better than the general
39:25
public.
39:26
And there's an entire organisation called Physicians Committee
39:29
for Responsible Medicine that tries to educate doctors
39:32
because a lot of them are just repeating
39:34
urban myths.
39:36
They don't know.
39:37
I mean, I read that the guy who
39:39
created the ham and cheese breakfast was a
39:44
PR guy who had ham, you know, pork
39:47
producer as a client.
39:49
And he called one doctor up and said,
39:51
would you recommend eggs and bacon for breakfast?
39:54
And the doctor said, sure.
39:55
And then he turned that into a whole
39:56
campaign.
39:57
It's online.
39:58
You can find this where he said the
40:01
medical establishment is suggesting that we all eat
40:05
this breakfast.
40:06
And he on the online video.
40:09
He's very old now.
40:11
He brags about how he basically scammed everybody.
40:15
So, you know, we have to question what
40:18
we're being told, because as somebody far wiser
40:22
than myself said, we're all being factory farmed.
40:26
If the animals are being factory farmed, but
40:28
we're being factory farmed to to get sick,
40:31
to get diabetes, to get high cholesterol, to
40:33
need operations, to need drugs.
40:36
We don't inherently.
40:38
There's a lot of stuff.
40:39
Look, I believe in doctors.
40:41
I do go to the doctor.
40:42
I'm not somebody who's against established medicine.
40:45
There's a there's a good reason for doctors,
40:47
OK?
40:47
But we also have to question authority and
40:52
not just obey.
40:54
All right.
40:55
We're back with Sandra Hungate.
40:57
And I want to ask you, what's next?
41:01
OK, if you could tell us what are
41:04
the future plans for the January?
41:07
Obviously, we won't know all the stats until
41:09
2025.
41:11
January is done.
41:12
But what's happening in the years ahead?
41:16
If you could unmute and tell us.
41:18
Yeah, so we work all year long.
41:21
That's sometimes the question that we get.
41:23
Yeah.
41:23
What what does the January do after January
41:25
is over?
41:26
So we work all year long in contacting
41:28
businesses and different organisations and entities to to
41:31
prepare for the next campaign.
41:33
And also some campaigns that are in the
41:35
middle of the year.
41:35
We do call them mini campaigns.
41:38
So we already are planning one in April,
41:42
May to talk about chickens.
41:45
And, you know, they're the ones that are
41:47
in numbers suffering the most from animal agriculture.
41:51
So we're talking about how to how to
41:53
swap out chicken products specifically.
41:56
And that helps to keep people on the
41:58
January waggon, how we call it.
42:00
And we also talk about other topics like
42:03
the fish industries, usually in the summer and
42:06
then plants, milks versus dairy later in the
42:10
summer.
42:10
And yeah, just to keep people as as
42:14
much on the waggon as possible.
42:15
We also continuously email the participants throughout the
42:18
year.
42:18
They get every few weeks more emails and
42:21
tips and recipes, kind of like those ones
42:23
that are in the first month.
42:25
And then, of course, we also do fundraising.
42:27
We're also a nonprofit.
42:28
We also need and rely on other donations
42:31
to make sure that our content also is
42:33
available and free to everybody.
42:35
We also regroup.
42:37
We see what worked, what didn't work.
42:39
To your point with media, we look at
42:40
what are the stories that the media is
42:43
actually picking up the most and how can
42:45
we then utilise that in the next year?
42:48
And then I also forgot, I guess we
42:50
also take a quick break in February because
42:53
we work throughout the holidays, as you can
42:55
imagine.
42:56
That's like our main time, December, January.
42:58
So we still have a few days where
42:59
we take a break as an organisation in
43:01
February.
43:03
And then we also start brainstorming already in
43:05
the summer about like, what is our next
43:07
angle?
43:07
What do we want to talk about next
43:09
year?
43:09
And it's usually based on what the industry
43:12
and the current cultural news are about or
43:17
what are some of the products or things
43:19
that people are looking for and things like
43:22
that.
43:22
We just kind of look at everything and
43:23
then decide on some of the new topics.
43:26
I love it.
43:28
And what really fascinates me is it's constantly
43:32
evolving, but it remains very positive, which I
43:37
think could be a challenge, honestly, because a
43:40
lot of us who are vegan experience frustration.
43:44
For example, the environmental catastrophe happening here, I
43:47
remember there was a catastrophe on the East
43:50
Coast and people had held a news conference
43:54
saying, we have to have no more factory
43:57
farms here in this particular state until we
43:59
find out the connection between these factory farms
44:04
and the ever escalating weather turbulence and just
44:10
meteorological nightmare that we're experiencing.
44:13
And the news media videotaped that news conference.
44:17
None of them aired it.
44:18
But what they did air instead was a
44:21
barbecue for the victims, a meat barbecue.
44:25
And I remember that.
44:26
Yes, it was so frustrating to me.
44:29
It's like we're trying to help you avoid
44:31
the next catastrophe.
44:33
This is just the appetiser of climate change.
44:37
I mean, it's going to get exponentially worse.
44:39
And yet the very people we're trying to
44:42
help are refusing.
44:48
It's this weird dilemma that they're regarding us
44:52
as some of some of them infringing on
44:55
their lifestyle when we're trying to say, hey,
44:57
it doesn't matter how much money you make.
45:00
If you can't walk outside the street without
45:03
collapsing because of extreme heat, you know, your
45:06
money isn't going to mean that much to
45:08
you.
45:09
What are your secret strategies for maintaining a
45:13
positive approach no matter what?
45:15
I'd like to hear it.
45:19
I just need to tell you, sorry, I
45:22
cannot speak to that as an organisation.
45:25
But personally, I would say my strategy is
45:27
that I focus on the the impact that
45:30
we're creating.
45:31
And that's what motivates me.
45:32
And especially in this time of year, like
45:34
in the winter time is when we see
45:36
all those those entities participating and all that
45:39
energy.
45:40
And then when you see the stats in
45:42
the spring of how people how many people
45:44
participated, how many stayed vegan, that just fuels
45:47
you for the rest of the year, basically.
45:49
Which is like, oh, my gosh, we continue
45:51
to reach more people.
45:52
And we just we just want to do
45:53
more and more and more until we don't
45:55
need to anymore.
45:56
And the world will be vegan, which is
45:58
our our vision.
45:59
And I think all of our vision in
46:01
the vegan space.
46:03
So let me let me ask you, we
46:04
we here at Unchained TV, just like you
46:07
accept everybody wherever they are on the journey
46:09
we put up.
46:10
You know, you said there's no there's no
46:12
problem with answering any questions.
46:14
So here's sort of a provocative question from
46:16
Animal Vegan Animal Defender 269.
46:19
How is asking people to change their diet
46:21
for a month while still using animals fighting
46:24
for emancipation is justice or respect a challenge?
46:27
How is it respectful to ask for just
46:29
a month of respect?
46:31
What's your answer to that?
46:33
So because we know that we are just
46:36
the beginning and we're the the first trial
46:39
for them, we then give them the information
46:42
so that they can learn about all these
46:44
other problems that are linked to not just
46:46
how they eat, but also how what they
46:48
wear, what kind of cosmetic they use.
46:50
And as mentioned earlier, a lot of people
46:52
say that their main motivation are the animals.
46:56
So even though maybe they start for health
46:58
reasons or sustainability reasons, which are also really,
47:01
really important reasons, they just learn a lot
47:03
about animals and then realise there are so
47:06
many problems in in this.
47:08
And I even after eight years of being
47:10
vegan, I continue to learn more things about
47:12
how awful they're the animal ag and and
47:16
the industries are.
47:17
And so we continue to just we give
47:20
them that way in and we encourage them
47:22
to continue to learn more so that they
47:24
can really also become a defender of the
47:26
animals and learn more.
47:28
And you know what I remind myself of?
47:31
My point is not to be right.
47:34
My point is to convince other people.
47:38
And so there is a psychological strategy to
47:41
convincing other people.
47:43
And so sometimes you've got to speak truth
47:46
to power and confront people.
47:48
I went vegan when a fourth generation cattle
47:50
rancher turned vegan advocate named forget his name
47:55
now, but he's the mad cowboy.
47:57
OK, he was on Oprah and he was
47:59
quite famous.
48:00
And he pointed at me when I said
48:03
I still consume dairy and pointed his finger
48:06
right in my nose and said liquid meat,
48:08
because I was a vegetarian who committed who
48:10
would continue to consume dairy, liquid meat like
48:13
that.
48:15
And I'm sure somebody's going to tell me
48:17
his name because I just for some reason
48:19
forgot it.
48:19
But anyway, that was confrontational.
48:24
It was a little rude, but it got
48:25
to me.
48:26
And that was the last day that I
48:28
consumed dairy.
48:30
That was twenty nine years ago.
48:31
So I was already vegetarian.
48:33
Then I went vegan because somebody confronted me
48:36
rudely.
48:37
But that's me.
48:39
I'm a certain type of person.
48:41
Somebody else might be horribly offended and go
48:43
out and drink a gallon of milk because
48:45
of that.
48:46
So it really depends.
48:49
It's it's a multi level chess game, a
48:53
three dimensional chess game.
48:55
There's no right answer for any one person.
48:57
Different people, because of their life habits, are
49:00
going to respond differently to different stimuli.
49:04
So, yeah, if you want, he has one
49:08
more follow up.
49:09
We can we can live dangerously and check
49:12
that out, too.
49:13
But why can't you call it something else
49:14
without using the only word for animal emancipation,
49:18
like plant based challenge or diet challenge?
49:20
Why hijack the term, which means rejecting animal
49:22
use?
49:23
I'll let you answer.
49:27
I am not the one who created the
49:29
name, so I cannot really discuss that or
49:32
or change it.
49:34
But I'm trying to think if there's anything
49:37
I can really share otherwise.
49:39
But I understand your question.
49:42
There's obviously a lot of other challenges.
49:43
I would like to say a couple of
49:45
things.
49:45
One, somebody reminded me the person's name was
49:47
Howard Lyman, who I know well.
49:49
Oh, I forgot his name is crazy.
49:51
But I'd like to respond because.
49:55
This brings up a bigger issue that I'd
49:56
like to address, and that is when vegans
49:59
are fighting amongst themselves, the other side is
50:02
applauding and winning.
50:03
Keep going, keep fighting.
50:04
The truth is the January works and it
50:08
is arguably the most successful vegan campaign that
50:14
has ever happened in the history of veganism.
50:19
You know, and I I learned recently that
50:22
veganism is a very new term.
50:25
In fact, it only went into the dictionary
50:26
in 1962.
50:29
Wow.
50:29
The word vegan only went into the dictionary
50:31
in 1962.
50:32
So let's not attack something that's working so
50:37
well.
50:37
And I also would urge everyone who is
50:41
vegan to take all the energy that you
50:44
might use telling somebody else, you know, this
50:47
is how you should do it and actually
50:50
use that energy and send it out to
50:54
people who are not yet vegan and spread
50:56
the word.
50:57
There's too much of this bubble vegan bubble
51:03
conversation.
51:05
And I say, cut it out.
51:07
When two vegans are talking to each other,
51:09
although we are talking, but hopefully others are
51:11
listening and will listen, then what are we
51:16
accomplishing?
51:17
But when we talk to somebody else who
51:20
needs the message, that's when we're going to
51:23
achieve change.
51:24
So I don't think we should all try
51:27
to do report cards on other people's activism.
51:32
My activism is an imperfect, completely imperfect.
51:35
I mess up every day, go knucklehead.
51:38
What were you thinking?
51:39
But I keep going and learning and hopefully
51:41
improving.
51:42
But I have to say that Veganuary is
51:45
brilliant.
51:46
It's a brilliant concept from a psychological standpoint
51:50
for the very reason that it's like, I'll
51:54
just tell you, I'm 29 years sober.
51:55
I'm a recovering alcoholic.
51:57
And the first thing that they'll tell you
51:58
is if you tell yourself when you first
52:00
get sober, I'll never drink again.
52:02
The pressure is so enormous.
52:04
You'll last five minutes.
52:05
But if you say just for today, just
52:08
for today, I'm not going to do it.
52:09
Sometimes it's just for five minutes.
52:11
I'm not going to do it.
52:13
Well, for 29 years and hopefully on April
52:15
1st, April Fool's Day, which is very appropriate,
52:18
I will celebrate 30 years sober.
52:20
I've managed to do it 30 years, one
52:22
day at a time.
52:24
And it's the first day I got sober.
52:27
You're going to have to you're never going
52:28
to be able to drink for 30 years.
52:29
I'd be like, you're crazy.
52:30
I can't.
52:31
I can't.
52:31
I can't.
52:32
But one day at a time, I was
52:34
able to do it.
52:35
So it's psychological.
52:36
Just thinking about never being even now today,
52:40
30 years later, I get a physical reaction.
52:42
No, it takes the pressure off to answer
52:45
your question.
52:46
That's why Veganuary is brilliant, because it takes
52:48
the pressure off and then allows people to
52:50
participate because they're not worried about failing.
52:54
The anxiety is being removed.
52:56
So I'm just answering the question because I
53:00
think it's that's the answer.
53:02
I as a person who has a dubious
53:04
honour of being an expert in addiction, I've
53:06
written two books about it.
53:09
That's the psychological issue that we come up
53:11
against.
53:13
That's why Try Vegan is so brilliant.
53:14
And would you like to elaborate more on
53:17
that?
53:18
I agree with what you're saying, even though,
53:20
like I said, I can't comment to the
53:21
word, I think that the efficiency or the
53:24
efficacy shows itself.
53:27
And there's many stories like the one you
53:28
just described.
53:29
Even in our team who say, I started
53:32
Veganuary so many years like it was seven
53:35
years ago for one of them the other
53:36
day.
53:36
And she was saying, and I was telling
53:39
myself at just one month and then I'll
53:40
get back to my favourite chocolate.
53:42
And she looked at her chocolate and she
53:43
said, I haven't had that chocolate for seven
53:45
years now, and I'm waiting for it to
53:47
be veganized.
53:47
And it's the Lindor, which they veganized this
53:50
year.
53:50
So it's just so cool, the stories that
53:53
we hear.
53:54
And to your point earlier, to everybody, every
53:56
story that I've heard is different.
53:59
And we're just part of that story.
54:01
Everybody will find their why inside of them.
54:03
And we just give them the tools.
54:05
We invite them in.
54:06
And that's what we're focussing on.
54:08
And, you know, he says, I don't see
54:10
why you're not open to discussing this and
54:12
frame it as hostile.
54:12
I'm not framing it as hostile at all.
54:14
I'm only giving my opinion about it.
54:17
You asked a question.
54:18
I'm not framing it as hostile at all.
54:21
I do think that dialectics, which is by
54:24
definition, argument and counter argument to reach a
54:27
higher understanding of the given subject matter is
54:29
fine.
54:30
I'm I respect you.
54:31
I posted it.
54:32
I'm not I'm not characterising it in a
54:34
negative way.
54:35
What I'm giving you is my take on
54:37
what needs to be done.
54:39
We are at a pivotal juncture.
54:43
Perhaps it's been brought home to me because
54:46
people I know have had their houses burned
54:48
down.
54:49
People I know have had their dogs die
54:52
of smoke inhalation as as they try to
54:54
find them in a burning building.
54:56
I mean, we are in crisis and we
54:59
really have to stick together, is my opinion,
55:02
and and support each other.
55:05
I hope you support the January.
55:07
I hope you support Unshade TV.
55:09
It's these are all things that different people
55:12
are doing.
55:13
And yes, trying to get in with Mario
55:16
says, hope everyone stays safe in L.A.
55:18
right now.
55:19
Thank you, Mario.
55:20
And he has a cooking show on Unshade
55:21
TV.
55:23
I want to just look at a couple
55:28
of other comments.
55:29
Vegan going to be around forever.
55:30
I'm proud to be vegan and everything is
55:31
going to be vegan eyes.
55:34
Whoo hoo.
55:34
I want to say thank you so much,
55:37
Sandra, for taking an hour of your very
55:39
busy time.
55:40
You are a dynamic team member, leader of
55:45
U.S. Vianuary, and we hope you will
55:48
come by next year and tell us what
55:53
the fabulous Vianuary strategy is for 2025 and
55:58
2026.
56:00
Thank you so much.
56:02
And for everybody, please, please support Unshade TV.
56:08
We'll leave you with this.
56:10
Discover Unshade TV and transform your life for
56:13
free.
56:18
Unshade TV is a nonprofit organisation producing plant
56:21
based content built with tips and tricks to
56:24
spice up those healthy veggies, grains and legumes.
56:29
For more information on Unshade TV productions, just
56:33
visit Unshade TV dot com.
56:36
That's.