I was raised on a standard American diet (SAD)—lots of meat, dairy, and highly processed foods. I started competitive swimming at age 6, and I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism and celiac disease at age 12. The doctors started me on thyroid hormone replacement therapy, which I continued to take for years.
Throughout middle and high school I never took my diet seriously as playing a big part in my athletic performance, eating entire racks of ribs and highly processed foods in between swim practices. At age 20, I was 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds.
Experimenting with Dietary Approaches
Starting my junior year of college, around 21, I started looking for ways to better my swimming performance. I went gluten-free and started changing those racks of ribs out for salads. After that, I lost 50 pounds and became a two-time All-American swimmer and set five school records at my college.
A few years later, in February 2024, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol. I was shocked. I was just 25 years old. Again, I began searching for a lifestyle change that would help. That May, I watched Forks Over Knives, which prompted my fiancé, Esfandiar, and me to go whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) overnight. In the next few weeks, without really trying, I lost 10 pounds. I found that I had more energy and started training for triathlons.
A Life-Altering Accident and a Plant-Based Comeback
One day, not long after going WFPB, Esfandiar and I had just been on a run and were walking down the street together, when he was hit by a car. He suffered a diffuse axonal injury (DAI) and spent 19 days in a coma. I insisted that his tube-feeding formula be vegan (the best the hospital could do) to continue to respect our new WFPB lifestyle. After he woke from his coma, he resumed eating WFPB.
Since the accident last year, Esfandiar has made what the doctors call “miraculous” progress, and I know in my heart that it’s thanks to our WFPB diet. Today, just eight months after he was in a coma, we love doing races and fun runs together and swimming. We’re enjoying every moment of life—especially the moments preparing WFPB meals together.
In the nine months since going WFPB, I have seen remarkable improvements in my own health, as well. I have taken 50 points off my cholesterol. I was able to safely discontinue thyroid medicine that I had been taking for 10 years. I have so much energy that I’ve incorporated CrossFit into my Ironman training routine. In the future, I intend to compete in and win the CrossFit Games as a WFPB athlete, to spread awareness about the benefits of this lifestyle. I’m grateful to the WFPB greats, such as Dr. Michael Greger, for sharing knowledge about WFPB nutrition and forever changing my life. I have a social media presence, and I use my platform to talk about Esfandiar’s amazing recovery and my own personal journey to well-being. When talking about this lifestyle, my heart shines with pride, and I want to use every moment I have to share that light.
