OrganicAthlete: What is your athletic background?

John Waddell: Tennis, hiking and marathon running. I've been keen on tennis for 45 years, and still play four mornings a week. For 27 years I led groups on overseas hiking expeditions. The main hikes were the Kokoda Trail (Papua New Guinea), Milford Track (New Zealand), summit of Mt Kilimanjaro (Tanzania - just under 20,000 feet), Ghorepani Circuit (Nepal), Inca Trail (Peru), Aurland Fiord (Norway), Mont Blanc Circuit (Switzerland, Italy, France), Mt Kenya (Kenya), Mulanje Mountain (Malawi), Dogon Desert (Mali), Mt Kinabalu (Malaysia), Towers of Paine (Chile), Mt Toubkal (Morocco) and Simien Mountains (Ethiopia). In all those trips I never experienced difficulties on a vegan diet. Sure you might miss meals occasionally, or lack the variety or quantity you might prefer, but it doesn't hurt us to go without occasionally. It doesn't hurt healthwise, because most of us in the developed world eat too much anyway. And it didn't hurt me to experience how people in many parts of Africa struggle for food every day of their lives, let alone for a few days of a holiday. Perhaps surprisingly, it was those on an omnivorous diet who faced the difficulties in Africa. If they ate their normal food they usually paid the penalty in illnesses. Suffering diarrhea on a packed African bus where you're squeezed so tightly you can't move a muscle, let alone fight your way to the door, is memorable. And seeing their food slain right in front of them brought them face-to-face, for the first time, with where the meat on their plate at home came from.

Throughout my school days I was the worst runner in my year. Not just the worst, but the worst by far, as any of those I meet at school reunions enjoy reminding me. So I am the opposite of a natural runner. In 2000, at my brother's invitation and my reluctance, I started training for the Sydney marathon and soon got hooked on marathon running. And, to bring my athletic background right up to date, I now tell my brother that marathons are just for wimps and have moved to ultra-marathons. I believe that my body's going from one extreme to the other in running can only be due to a vegan diet.

OA: How long have you been vegan? And what caused you to shift to a plant-based diet?

JW: My reading of healthy diets encouraged me to become a vegetarian in 1963 in the hope it would improve my health and consequently my tennis. It improved my health dramatically - from being sick regularly before the change to not a day off sick in the 42 years since. It didn't improve my tennis.

In 1978 I heard that founder of Animal Liberation (and now Professor) Peter Singer was a vegetarian. I wanted to know why. So I purchased his book Animal Liberation. Before I had finished his eye-opening sections on suffering in the dairy and egg industries, I was a vegan. So that's 27 years now without any animal products. My motivation for avoiding meat, fish, dairy and eggs is that I cannot be a party to cruelty. Of course, I still value, the health benefits as a bonus.

OA: You've obviously traveled quite a bit! What are your tips for finding good vegan fare?

JW: Yes, 136 countries, mainly for outback and mountain hiking. As I had no interest in restaurants, even in my omnivorous days, I'm probably not the one to be asked. I'm quite content to stock up with fresh fruit and vegetables, plus the products from the health food sections of supermarkets. But most restaurants these days have vegetarian options and some have vegan, or are more than happy to have something prepared if given notice.

OA: What's the best place you've traveled as far as food?

JW: England well understands vegetarians and vegans and my own country, Australia, is not far behind.

OA: The worst?

JW: Greenland and African countries such as Togo, Benin, Mauritania and Guinea. Yet in those countries I was at a distinct advantage over my meat-eating travel companions. When they saw meat being prepared, they understood my advice regarding the risks and chose to concentrate on fruit and vegetables. That meant a major adjustment for them but none for me. Whilst fruit and vegetables can be difficult at times to obtain in those countries, missing a few meals does us no harm and more likely some good. Also, feeling some hunger gives a faint understanding of what the locals have to endure for years, not just days.

OA: What's the longest ultramarathon you've run?

JW: 50 kilometres, and loving the taste that gives me for progressively longer ultras. The longest I have run continuously without slowing my pace, though, is 45 kilometres (meaning running through drink stations, and missing a drink if it's congested and I'd be forced to break my rhythm).

OA: How do you fuel during your races and long training runs?

JW: In the 48 hours before races I flood my body with water (which means my sleep is disturbed for obvious reasons every hour or so) and add pasta and extra bananas to my normal fare. Most organisers now provide energy bars or sachets at the later drink stations, but these usually have milk ingredients, which rules them out for me. Where the organisers allow personal drinks (which they deliver for you in advance to selected stations), I have my own bars and sachets attached to my drink bottles. I have the same, to a more limited extent, in my training runs, which are continual laps of the local sports oval from 3.30 to 5.30am. At that time I have no people or dogs to interrupt my rhythm - the oval is mine!

OA: Do a lot of people ask you about your vegan diet?

JW: Yes. And the questions roughly follow a pattern. The protein one takes first place, followed by: "But you eat fish, don't you?" and "How do you live without all that and milk too?" I tell them that if I win my age division in marathons and ultras without trying to, and not have a sick day in over 40 years, there can't be too much to worry about with being on a vegan diet for decades. If anything, it suggests I should be asking the questions of them. Very few probe my main reason for being vegan, namely avoiding animal cruelty.

OA: How do you respond to people's questions about "where do you get your protein" and other such inquiries?

JW: I explain that a simpler question would be "Where DON'T you get your protein?" I ask them to check the ingredient lists on labels in supermarkets and see if they can find any foods that don't contain protein. I also point out that it is excessive protein intake, rather than lack of protein, that is responsible for so many of the developed world's health problems.

OA: What's your age and do you feel that a plant-based diet for the last 43 years has helped to maintain youthful vigor?

JW: I'm 62. My vegan diet has given me the vigor that I didn't have in my youth. I was always the worst athlete throughout my school years. I had and still have absolutely no natural talent as a runner. There can be only one explanation for the change, and that is moving from junk to plant-based food.

OA: Do you actively promote a plant-based, vegan lifestyle? If so, how?

JW: My book, But You Kill Ants, is a handbook for vegetarians and vegans. Now in its 4th edition, it answers 100 questions (starting, of course, with "Where do you get your protein") that cover everything they can expect to encounter.

OA: Thanks John and best of luck at your future running events!