By: Plant-Based Ultra-Athlete Rich Roll~richroll.com At thirty-nine, I was a fat, out-of-shape couch potato hurdling into middle age, depressed and unenthusiastic about my life. It was only in the wake of a health scare on the eve of my fortieth birthday that I realized not only that I needed to change, but that I wanted to change. That change ultimately took the form of a plant-based diet, a decision that permanently changed the trajectory of my life—transforming me into a middle-aged ultra end