Note: I asked Mike Fremont, whose lifestyle this website is based on, to write a guest blog, as he did several times in the summer of 2012 before setting a new world marathon record in November. I thought that, since, six years later, he’s showing no signs of slowing down – although he runs mostly shorter races – his perspective on life would be interesting. I asked him, “How does a 96-year old avoid the nursing home?” Mike felt that relativity is an important angle. Here’s his response.
Don’t be overcome with fears of nursing homes. I go to visit my contemporaries in them all the time and they all seem happy, never complaining. Years ago one of these was E.E. Keller (Eek), in his 90’s, holder of international records for long-distance running. He was seven years older than I and he kept his trophies in the trunk of his old Buick parked near his apartment. He must have run on the grounds outdoors in good weather but the staff were concerned when he ran in the residence corridors in bad weather “what if someone opened a door when he was running by”, or “what about a crash with a wheelchair coming around a corner?”
We “borrowed” him for a Thanksgiving Day 10K race with promises to take care of him. He not only ran the race but won his age group and got a prize! He started off pretty fast in the race and I soon realized he didn’t want to lose sight of the person in front of him!
Continuing one’s sports in old age is really fun, relative to being younger. Nobody expects anything of you (they shouldn’t!). There is – effectively - no competition. Considering the 19,743 healthy diets available today, I can still run races on the Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet, the modern name for the Vegan Diet, which was the modern name for the Macrobiotic Diet that I adopted at age 69 to deal with cancer. I’d been given three months to live if I declined an operation - so, there was a gun at my head. But I cleaned out my kitchen and stretched that three months to 27 months. The surgeon said he’d looked for metastases - seen by the diagnosticians - in 35 places, and found none. That is what the change in fuel did! No radiation, no chemotherapy, just a different diet.
The WFPB has let me live outside of nursing homes for 27 years, without a headache or stomach ache and maybe two colds in those 27 years. I also lost the arthritis I had on the old standard American diet and now eat all I want absolutely without concern. WFPB is meat, egg and dairy free (no poultry, fish, seafood). It’s whole grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruits.
There is good company in this lifestyle - our sitemaster Dr. Bob... Socrates, and athletes like Martina Navratilova, Carl Lewis, Tony Gonzales, Mike Tyson, Scott Jurek, Harvey Lewis, Serena Williams.
As elders, our athletic performance is pitiful relative to younger folks and we tend to moan about how we get slower or less competitive as we age - every year, or month even, shockingly… and predictably. But the public makes a huge fuss over our diminished bodies in our occasional presences in races, which for us is incredibly rewarding.
A few cookbooks? Cooking with Rachel - Rachel Albert, Vegan Soul Kitchen - Bryant Terry, Crazy Sexy Kitchen - Carr & Sarno, The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen – Klein, May All Be Fed - John Robbins, The Vegan Table - Patrick-Goudreau, The Natural Gourmet -Annemarie Colbin,
And Vegan Planet - Robin Robertson
On a closing note, here’s an interesting stat: sales of vegan food rise to $3.3 billion, with experts saying veganism has “gone mainstream.” Also, the sales of vegan milk (almond, rice, soy, hemp) are up 9% while cow milk sales have dropped 6% in just 12 months.
Don’t be overcome with fears of nursing homes. I go to visit my contemporaries in them all the time and they all seem happy, never complaining. Years ago one of these was E.E. Keller (Eek), in his 90’s, holder of international records for long-distance running. He was seven years older than I and he kept his trophies in the trunk of his old Buick parked near his apartment. He must have run on the grounds outdoors in good weather but the staff were concerned when he ran in the residence corridors in bad weather “what if someone opened a door when he was running by”, or “what about a crash with a wheelchair coming around a corner?”
We “borrowed” him for a Thanksgiving Day 10K race with promises to take care of him. He not only ran the race but won his age group and got a prize! He started off pretty fast in the race and I soon realized he didn’t want to lose sight of the person in front of him!
Continuing one’s sports in old age is really fun, relative to being younger. Nobody expects anything of you (they shouldn’t!). There is – effectively - no competition. Considering the 19,743 healthy diets available today, I can still run races on the Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet, the modern name for the Vegan Diet, which was the modern name for the Macrobiotic Diet that I adopted at age 69 to deal with cancer. I’d been given three months to live if I declined an operation - so, there was a gun at my head. But I cleaned out my kitchen and stretched that three months to 27 months. The surgeon said he’d looked for metastases - seen by the diagnosticians - in 35 places, and found none. That is what the change in fuel did! No radiation, no chemotherapy, just a different diet.
The WFPB has let me live outside of nursing homes for 27 years, without a headache or stomach ache and maybe two colds in those 27 years. I also lost the arthritis I had on the old standard American diet and now eat all I want absolutely without concern. WFPB is meat, egg and dairy free (no poultry, fish, seafood). It’s whole grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruits.
There is good company in this lifestyle - our sitemaster Dr. Bob... Socrates, and athletes like Martina Navratilova, Carl Lewis, Tony Gonzales, Mike Tyson, Scott Jurek, Harvey Lewis, Serena Williams.
As elders, our athletic performance is pitiful relative to younger folks and we tend to moan about how we get slower or less competitive as we age - every year, or month even, shockingly… and predictably. But the public makes a huge fuss over our diminished bodies in our occasional presences in races, which for us is incredibly rewarding.
A few cookbooks? Cooking with Rachel - Rachel Albert, Vegan Soul Kitchen - Bryant Terry, Crazy Sexy Kitchen - Carr & Sarno, The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen – Klein, May All Be Fed - John Robbins, The Vegan Table - Patrick-Goudreau, The Natural Gourmet -Annemarie Colbin,
And Vegan Planet - Robin Robertson
On a closing note, here’s an interesting stat: sales of vegan food rise to $3.3 billion, with experts saying veganism has “gone mainstream.” Also, the sales of vegan milk (almond, rice, soy, hemp) are up 9% while cow milk sales have dropped 6% in just 12 months.
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