- SHARAN/Scaling Mt Everest twice as a vegan
Scaling Mt Everest twice as a vegan
My name is Kuntal Joisher. I’m a Mumbai based vegan mountaineer and a software engineer.
Born in a vegetarian family I always believed that “animals are sentient and emotional beings with individual characters and have as much right to live freely and happily as much as we do.” In 2001, I moved to the United States to pursue my Master’s degree where my roommate at the university exposed me to the horrors of the poultry, dairy and leather industry. After that conversation, I connected the dots and realised that a piece of meat, a slice of cake (made with eggs), a glass of milk, a block of cheese, a leather belt and even the feather jacket I was wearing – were all the same and came from abused animals. I could not reconcile to the fact that despite being a vegetarian I contributed to animal cruelty and hence I had to take a stand. That was the moment when I turned vegan. And it has to be one of the best decisions of my life.
In October 2010, the biggest dream of my life, to climb to the top of Mt Everest, came true. Since then, in the past decade or so – I have been part of more than 35+ Himalayan trekking and mountaineering expeditions, completed more than 800+ treks in the Sahyadri mountain range near Mumbai, and spent easily close to 3000+ hours of tough physical fitness training – all to get ready to climb Everest and other big mountains. I ended up climbing Everest not just once but twice. First in May 2016 from the Nepal side, and then again in May 2019 from the China side. There are only a handful of mountaineers from India who have climbed Everest from both sides, and I’m one of them. And I’ve never had any problems doing all of this while maintaining and thriving on a healthy vegan lifestyle.
Coming to my nutrition – it is very simple – I eat a well-balanced vegan diet that doesn’t exclude any food groups (and I truly believe that animal and animal by-products are not food groups). I love eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, dry fruits, nuts, seeds, and in addition to that I include small amounts of processed foods such as tofu, tempeh, seitan, plant-based meats, plant protein powders as well. As a mountaineer and a bodybuilder (two extreme sports) – my protein and nutritional needs are slightly higher than a lay person, and I am easily able to hit all my macro and micro nutrition goals from this diet, including my protein requirements. I’ve been able to build top of the world level endurance and muscle as a vegan for the last 18 years, and I can say it with authority that each one of you reading this can do the same too.
Last but surely not the least, being vegan is easy. You can make it happen, no matter where you are or what you are doing. It just takes a commitment – for your health, for the animals, and for the future of our planet!
– Kuntal Joisher, Mar 2021
