7 Inspiring Vegans Over Sixty

Remaining completely healthy, energetic and youthful past the age of sixty seems like an unachievable dream for many people. I don't blame them - many people who reach this older age generally do suffer from health problems, reduced energy and declining cognitive ability. Not all, though. It doesn't have to be that way. If you want to feel energetic, happy, healthy and youthful well past the age of sixty, veganism is the way to go.

Despite what meat-enthusiasts tend to say, most vegans know for sure that there's nothing unhealthy or damaging about the vegan lifestyle. In fact, many see it as the healthiest possible way to live. I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it? Living compassionately, caring for others and helping the environment as much as possible is bound to have a positive outcome for all involved.
In this post, I've compiled some fantastic examples of wonderful, compassionate people who have lived the vegan lifestyle for a great number of years and reaped the benefits. Please enjoy their stories. If these seven people don't inspire you, I don't know who will.

Dr. Ellsworth Wareham 

If anyone can convince you that living a vegan lifestyle is incredibly beneficial for your health, it's Dr. Ellsworth Wareham. He's been vegan for nearly forty years. At 99 years old, he barely looks a day over 70, and is wonderfully articulate and witty for his age. He spent the majority of his life working as cardiothoracic surgeon, stopping just four years ago, at age 95 - now, that's what I call inspiring! If anyone ever tells you that vegans don't get all the nutrients they need to live a full and healthy life, tell them about Dr. Ellsworth Wareham. There's no way they could rebut you. He's a heart doctor after all, and knows what's good and right for our bodies.

Dr. Warehouse credits his good health and longevity partially to his vegan lifestyle, as well as his dedication to maintaining a stress and worry-free state of mind. Many of us, including myself, could learn a great deal from this inspiring man.

Watch an interview with him here.

Jim Morris 

Jim Morris is 70 years old and his well-built physique is more impressive than that of your average 20-something. He has been vegetarian since 1985, at age 50, and vegan since 2000, at age 65. He has a 30-year competitive body-building career under his belt and owns his own gym. He has maintained his muscular, sculpted physique since very early in life, and his health has only improved since becoming vegan.

Before adopting his new lifestyle, Morris suffered from debilitating arthritic pain every night. Since become vegan, his pain has completely diminished. He also attributes an improvement in eyesight to his plant-based diet and compassionate lifestyle.

You can visit his website here.

Mimi Kirk

Mimi Kirk, once voted America's Sexiest Vegetarian Over 50 (and you can see why), is 71 years old. She has been a raw vegan since age 69 and a vegetarian since her early 30s. Interestingly, she was influenced to stop eating meat when she accidentally bit the back of her hand while eating a roast beef sandwich! This encouraged the sudden realisation that roast beef is animal flesh, and she vowed never to eat meat again. And what a great vow to take. It's clearly paid off wonderfully for her, and for the animals as well.

Kirk demonstrates an excellent attitude towards life and older age. Despite being 71, she claims to feel as fresh, free and energetic as she did at 20. Kirk's story is a wonderful example of how living compassionately can improve every aspect of your existence.

Check out Mimi's website here.

Annette Larkins

Annette Larkins looks fresh, healthy and stunningly beautiful at 72 years old. She lives a highly dedicated, raw vegan lifestyle and eats directly from her own home-grown garden. She became vegetarian in the 60s, and has been eating a completely raw diet for over 27 years. She refers to her garden as her 'fountain of youth', and it's easy to see why.

Her husband, who is an omni (and looks 30 years older than Annette), now wishes that he had decided to make the same lifestyle change as his wife. He is bombarded with questions about his partner when out in public - people often ask if Annette is his granddaughter!

Her mind is as functional as ever - Annette spends her free time building computers, sewing her own clothes and gardening. She can also speak three languages!

Larkins's website is available here.

Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray

I saw Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray at the Vegan Festival in Adelaide this year. They both looked fantastic and their wonderful speech was very inspiring - they have set the bar incredibly high for people their age. At age 64 and 68 respectively, Janette and her husband ran 365 marathons in 2013. That's a marathon every day for a year without a single break - an achievement most people half their age could only dream of.

Janette and Alan are both raw vegans. They love their fruit and often consume over 30 bananas per day, along with fruit-and-veg-laden green smoothies. They promote kindness to all life - including animals, of course - and attribute their astonishing fitness levels to their compassionate lifestyle.

Check out their website here.

Storm Talifero 

Storm Talifero is a 64-year-old raw vegan (I'm starting to see a pattern here...) He has followed his healthy, cholesterol-free lifestyle since 1972 - and looks just like he was born then! Like the other raw vegans in this post, Talifero credits his youthful appearance, energy and happiness to his fresh, delicious and completely unprocessed diet. He has written his own book, "The Garden Diet" (doesn't that sound much more appealing than "The Dead Bodies Diet"?) and produced "Breakthrough", a documentary about raw veganism.

Storm believes that following a raw vegan lifestyle is the best way to slow down the ageing process, living by the motto "fresh is best". He's a living manifestation of this belief.

His website can be found here.