Everfit Book Review - Finding Ultra

Sanjay Gupta (MD and New York Times bestselling author of Chasing Life and Cheating death) reviewed the book with this statement - "Finding Ultra is about a journey we all take as human beings when we decide to pursue the impossible...Rich Roll is inspiration embodied." The book goes into Rich Rolls upbringing in a middle class American family just outside D.C. Rich was an ungainly kid with thick glasses, no co-ordination, and is his own words a bit of a dreamer. He was a hard worker and found a love for water, taking his swimming career to a spot on the Stanford swimming team where he excelled in the 200m butterfly (he trained with World record holder Pablo Morales and NZ Olympian Anthony Mosse). Unfortunately his career was cut short as he squandered his opportunities with his alcohol consumption and partying.He managed to scrape thought college and graduate with a law degree. He then bounced around various jobs trying to disguise and make excuses for his alcoholism. 

After hitting rock bottom and getting caught drunk driving he was forced to attend alcoholic anonymous. By his own admission he was only going through the motions and wasn't going "all in". His parents at the end of there tether pulled there support but offered there recommendation to see a skilled psychiatrist who worked with alcoholics. He recommended intense rehabilitation in a live in treatment centre. It was only after some intense reflecting, stopping  blaming others, and then having the insight to "not just ask for help, but be willing to receive it". A life changing lesson that Rich learnt was that a cornerstone of recovery is service to others.

After Rich got married to Julie and opened his own solo entertainment law practice he was started to find some stability in his life. The next life changing moment happened when Rich the night before his 40th birthday was climbing a flight of stairs. He become so short of breath that he stopped and realised that if he didn't make some drastic changes to his eating and activity levels he would follow the same path as his grandfather (a successful swimmer who died of a heart attack in his early 50's). What followed was a massive overhaul of his diet , mind-set, and lifestyle. The months that followed were tough - intense cravings, and banishment of food that was used for emotional support. Six months into his transformation Rich had lost 20kg, he was ripped, and hooked. Rich then decided to put his body to the test with entering the Ultraman World Champs, and attempting to complete 5 Ironman distance triathlons over a week on each of the 5 Hawaiian Islands.

Rich states that he couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams that his life could have turned out this way...."I can say with full confidence that my rapid transformation from middle age couch potato to Ultraman- to, in fact, everything I've accomplished as an endurance athlete - begins and ends with my PlantPower diet"

This book is an example how if you put your health first and foremost with diet being the cornerstone then great things are possible. I will follow up this article with some guidelines on how Rich implemented his diet changes.