| VUNA
VIEWS - July 1998 |
| It
Took a Truck to Do It -- Ironlady Ruth Heidrich Slows Down |
She's battled cancer and won, holds world records for fitness,
is victorious at triathlons all over the world, and still finds
time to serve as President of the Vegetarian
Society of Hawaii and as a member of the VUNA Regional Council.
A truck was too much even for her, though--almost! Ruth tells
it best:
"I've had an event that really changed my life in a hurry!
While I was training for a triathlon, an oncoming truck suddenly
decided to make a left turn right into me, shattering my right
tibia and left pelvis. After two and a half weeks in the hospital
and surgery to put a rod in my left leg, I am slowly getting
back to some level of fitness. I am doing stationary cycling
for 40 minutes, swimming 40 laps in the pool, and water-running
for 15 minutes, all this daily and increasing by a minute or
two on each of the three activities.
"There's improvement everyday but my racing schedule
is shot, at least for the rest of 1998. This really hurts because
I was on my way to beating last year's record of 63 races (runs,
triathlons, and 4 medals in the national Senior Olympics). I
had just done my 20th race the Sunday before the accident and
gotten my 20th first place medal. I was using my competition
as the vehicle to emphasize how important a vegan diet is, especially
as you get older, even in your 60s!
"By the way, this is something everyone asks me. 'I'll
bet you really had a problem getting good food in the hospital'
and several people even sent me CARE packages. I was amazed that
I was able to stick with my vegan, low-fat diet with no problem
at all. They even had brown rice on the menu, along with six
different veggies. With a breakfast of oatmeal and papaya (remember,
this is Hawaii), and lunch and dinner of brown rice and veggies,
I enjoyed all my meals and did not gain or lose any weight. Nor
was I hungry in between meals. (Of course, being in a lot of
pain and on morphine will do that to anyone!)
"The prognosis is for a full recovery, although it may
take a full year to get back into competitive shape."
|
Articles | Books | Global Directory | Members | News
| Phrases | Recipes | Events | Search
|
Maintained by Judy Miner
jwminer@accessvt.com
|
