Jono's Plant-Based Journey
In this debut column, professional racing driver and long distance runner Jono Lester discusses fuelling yourself on a plant-based diet when your livelihood depends on it.
Hello to my fellow plant-powered Vegans. I was on the cover of this magazine a couple of years ago, and it’s fantastic to have partnered up with the Vegan Society of NZ to share some of my personal musings, learnings, and tips from my own plant-based journey; now five years and counting.
First, it’d be remiss of me not to introduce myself. My name is Jono Lester and I’m a professional racing driver. I live my life between NZ and my busy competition calendar across Asia, Europe, and occasionally back here in NZ.
Racing is what I do, but as I’ve come to learn — ironically since making the vegan switch in 2019 — it’s not who I am or what defines me.
I love and feel a deep connection to animals, the earth beneath our feet, exploring the great outdoors, running long distances and escaping in nature, cooking and retrofitting delicious vegan cuisine, daily yoga, meditation and mindfulness, and generally trying to do (and be) a little bit better every day.
I’m committed to a life of service, which is something I’m weaving more into my life currently and aim to ramp up in my post-driving career, whenever that may be.
None of these things were important pillars of my existence until making the plant-based switch in 2019; a selfish decision for my personal health which, inevitably, opened me up to the animal welfare, environmental, and empathetic aspects of a vegan lifestyle.
I live my life ‘on the run’ as a professional athlete, keen ultrarunner, and someone dedicated to (some might say obsessed with) their fitness, health, and optimising the body, mind and soul; the consideration of switching to a plant-based diet was initially a risky and daunting prospect.
I made the switch because I needed to make a radical change in my life and was dealing with a pretty nasty bout of situational depression at the time. A friend and former All Black star inspired me to try a plant-based diet as did the myriad of top ultrarunners, all of whom were fuelled by plants while excelling in two starkly contrasting athletic endeavours.
If you can double down in a scrum for the Rugby World Cup, or run 100 miles in searing desert heat, and do neither with any dependence on animal products, then there’s all the justification you ever need to open your mind up to the possibility that it can be done.
But how? That’s the dilemma many of us, no matter what walk of life we hail from, when considering the vegan switch. It doesn’t matter our reasoning or our desired outcomes — there’s few life changes more profound than what we put in our mouths two to five times a day, every day, until we die.
I can only speak from my own experience, but I thought I’d share with you here some of the key resources that I found helpful when considering the switch. Bear in mind these are from the perspective of someone wanting to fuel myself on a whole-food, plant-based diet for optimising my health (immediate and long-term), prioritising sleep and recovery, and excelling in body and mind with everything I do.
My two ‘go tos’, and I’ve shared these with many friends and confidants who have expressed an interest in trying this lifestyle out, are Rich Roll’s Finding Ultra and Brendan Brazier’s Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance.
Both are written in contrasting prose but weave in compelling personal stories and anecdotes with recipes, resources, tips, and tricks to provide a rough blueprint for people considering trying, or diving in head first, to a plant-based diet and lifestyle.
What’s great about these books is that they’re a practical vegan resource. You can learn, and you can apply directly into your own life from there, helping you to understand the necessary lifestyle adjustments and how to restock your pantry for your specific needs.
For those of you who enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, try @veganbowls and @bestofvegan on Instagram for easy recipe ideas, as well as both ‘The Happy Pear’ and ‘Make It Dairy Free’ on YouTube.
I’ve got a bunch of column ideas to dive into with the Vegan magazine, so keep a lookout for my mug in future issues.
Be sure to connect with me across the socials @jonolester. Don’t worry, it’s not all race cars.
Until next time,
Jono
Aotearoa Vegan and Plant Based Living Magazine
This article was sourced from the Winter 2024 edition of The Vegan Society magazine.
Order your own current copy in print or pdf or browse past editions.
Disclaimer
The articles we present in our magazine and blog have been written by many authors and are are not necessarily the views and policies of the Vegan Society.
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