Happy #Veganuary and happy 10 year veggie-anniversary to me! This year marks 10 years since I went vegetarian (later vegan) so I wanted to share some tips for anyone thinking of giving up animal products this year. Thread.

Go slow. I made my decision in January 2011 but it would be autumn before I fully made the switch. I started changing my home cooked meals first and then worked on finding on-the-go food and refusing non-veg food at someone's house.

(Re)learn to cook! When you give up meat you might need to relearn cooking. I got stuck in a cheese pizza phase for a while before picking up this gem of a cookbook. As you can tell I've made good use out of it.

Get a veggie crew! I didn't have veggie friends in 2011 then I met @LooweezBx in 2012 randomly on Twitter and she was the first person I could throw ideas about with (obviously don't be friends with someone JUST because they're veggie). Use hashtags on insta! Attend events!

Consider vegan toiletries! This is easier than switching to vegan food since we don't socialise around shampoo. I was using vegan cosmetics before my diet was 100% vegan. Astonish is the best vegan cleaning brand and check out @logicalharmony for cosmetics.

ASDA and Iceland both do cheap and fuss free vegan ready meals. And if in doubt, a dinner of chips, onion rings and waffles works lol.

Alcohol is not always vegan (a lot of companies filter with fish!). Check out the website Barnivore to see if your favourite tipple is veggie. My beloved spiced rum is usually okay but white wine I need to google the brand.

Vegans argue a lot about what milk is best. I'm an alpro almond milk girl but you go find your favourite.

You can still be vegan and 1) take medication 2) date non-vegans and 3) make mistakes. There are some assholes who don't believe this. Don't listen to then.

Finally, PETA are awful. Ignore them and they'll go away eventually.