The first emerging lifestyle trend of 2016 is Veganuary, a month when ethical- and health-minded folks are encouraged to give up all animal products.

I’m making it lots less complicated. Starting on New Year’s Day, I will forgo all meat, alcohol and refined sugar for one month. Call it the trifecta.

Still, I’m not going whole hog on vegan. I will take half and half in my coffee, enjoy an omelet, drizzle honey on my oatmeal. I am not the vegan police and I don’t view a nibble of goat cheese as an act of animal thievery. And giving up wine and sweets strikes me as a fair trade for yogurt.

Ultimately, I just want to do something nice for my body, a 31-day spring cleaning, of sorts.

2015 was a year of getting my home and career in order. In 2016, it’s me who needs to be set right.
As V-Day looms, I indulge in beef Wellington and free-flowing Cabernet Sauvignon at a New Year’s Eve party hosted by longtime friends in the Sovereign State of South Jersey. As we count down to midnight, I say good bye to cow and cab, hello to green salads and green tea.

I’ll check in throughout the month to share foods that work for me and various gadgets I discover along the way. I’ll also post a Cocktail of the Hour I tested before I took the pledge. A reminder that February will soon be here.

One month. 31 days. Starting today.