Scott Jurek, the World’s Top Ultrarunner Talks About his Transformation to Veganism and how it Allowed him to Reach Greatness: Includes Recipes!

Here’s a positive story for the day!  Sometimes, among all the hell we read about comes a good story.

Ironically, it was an arrogant meat eater who told me about Scott Jurek.  Thankfully he did as I now add him to those I look up to.  An amazing vegan athlete whose success simply cannot be denied (well, I’m sure Fox would try).  Truly, this guy is amazing, and, as you’ll see in this excerpt, his greatness was fully realized ONCE he finally went full vegan (or plant based as he says).

Here is a little taken from the full article at http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-303--14320-F,00.html

“I spent the next two to three years testing the theory. In the spring of '97, I cut out meat. I won the Voyageur again. Then fish. I won the Voyageur a third time, and placed second in my first 100-miler, facing ultrarunning's top competitors. When I finally went vegan in 1999, I lost a layer of fat—the layer that came with eating the cookies and cakes and cheese pizza that so many omnivores and even vegetarians gulp down. I learned that I could eat more, enjoy it more (fruit tasted sweeter, vegetables crunchier and more flavorful), and still get leaner than I had ever been in my life. I started on more whole grains and legumes. Muscles I didn't even know I had popped out. My blood pressure and triglyceride levels dropped to all-time lows, my HDL, "good" cholesterol, shot up to an all-time high. I had virtually no joint inflammation, even after miles of pounding trails and roads, and on the rare occasion I sprained my ankle or fell and whacked my elbow or knee, the soreness left faster than it ever had before. I was running in the morning, working eight-to 10-hour days, then running 10 miles in the evening—yet I woke up with more energy every day.

Was it the food I was adding—the vitamins and minerals? Or was it what I wasn't eating, the concentrated carcinogens, excess protein, refined carbohydrates, trans fats? Was the sum of a plant-based diet greater than its parts? I wasn't sure of the answer, but I had never felt better. The Western States 100 was coming up. Could I compete? Could I win? If so, how many records could I claim with my newfound secret? I aimed to find out.”