View From d'Isle

It's Never Too Late to Become A Vegetarian...
by Jean d'Isle

rowing up in southern California during the war years was my introduction to de facto vegetarianism — not the consensual kind but the enforced kind. There was a war on and there was no meat. No matter that your ration book entitled you to that luxury in very small amounts, there simply was no meat. Of course, we didn't consider ourselves vegetarians, nor would I have understood the concept at that young age.

As I reflect on that period of my life, I realize how strongly my adult eating habits were influenced by the post-war abundance of those things which were denied me during those formative years.

The war ended when I was 8 years old. So, fifty years later, after having lived a life seemingly dedicated to making up for those "lost years", including a starring role at the all-you-can-eat prime rib buffets, downing enormous slabs of BBQ ribs at one sitting, and bringing tears to the eyes of Sizzler's management staff, why have I come back to vegetarianism (consensual this time)? I was not driven by ethical considerations or health problems. My motivation was simply to improve my ability to run distances, and to enjoy whatever health benefits accrued to me incident to that.

I took up distance running when I turned 50, just to stay in shape, and have since run in hundreds of road races, from 5K to marathon distances. In January 1993, following the December Honolulu Marathon, I started a 6-month "trial" vegetarian diet to see if my performance would improve. I was strongly influenced in that direction by Dr. Ruth Heidrich, current president of the Honolulu Vegetarian Society and well known triathlete. At the end of the 6 months, I found my strength and stamina had improved sufficiently to convince me to remain vegetarian. In 1994, I set personal bests for almost every distance I ran (5K, 5 miles, 10K, 15K 10 miles, half marathon, 30K and marathon).

If there's a point to be made here, other than the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle, it's that people can get rid of some of that negative baggage they took on in their formative years and make intelligent, adult decisions about their remaining years, and the motivation need only be the desire to make a change.

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Jean d'Isle is a retired naval officer living in Hawaii. During his military career he served in a number of overseas assignments, including Germany, England, Spain, Viet Nam and Puerto Rico. Following his retirement, he was an adjunct faculty member of Hawaii Pacific University and is currently under contract with the U.S. Navy at the submarine base in Pearl Harbor.