If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)
By Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)
In Conversation with George Jacobs - The Man Who Believes in the 'Meat Less' Concept
Meeting George Jacobs (Year 2008)
I met George Jacobs (Phd) in one of the talks which he had organised on 29 June 2008, a few years back, which was just before my win in the 2008 Standard Chartered Marathon (42.195km). I did it at the age of 43, coming in as the local marathon champion in the Men's Open category, doing a time of 2hrs 49min. Another two guest speakers were also invited in the talk. One was Ang Hwee Loo, National Weightlifting coach and the other was Teresa Hsu, who are fellow vegetarians as well. There were altogether 3 guest speakers. My topic was on how a vegetarian diet can in actual fact help boost running time.
Ang Hwee Loo was a weightlifting athlete himself and even now he is able to carry a weight he was able to carry 10 years back. He even showed to us on the weight that he can carry. Then, I listened to the talk given by Teresa Hsu, who was 110 years old at that time. I saw the noble face of a person who has lived selflessly for many years. On top of that, she looked happy and told us to learn to be happy and not sad. There were some question and answer sessions and she answered all of them without showing any sign of tiredness and fatigue. She looked as if she had abundant energy in her. When I was giving my talk, I also realised that she was listening intently. She did this with a person interpreting to her. It was a very humbling experience for me.
I have seen Teresa Hsu being screened in the television showing that all her life she cared about others. Throughout her life, she took charge of some Homes and looked after the people with love. Even at this age, all she was thinking about other people's welfare. It was great having met a great personality like Teresa Hsu.
Later on, during the programme, I was introduced to George Jacobs, who was 56 years old at that time. He had requested to me to give a talk on how a vegetarian diet could help in marathon performance. The reason was because of my marathon performance in 2007, coming in 2nd in the marathon, just behind Daniel Ling.
Very recently, George in fact even sent me an e-mail on how Scott Jurek, an ultramarathon runner, being a vegan and at the same time was able to break the American record. Over time, some inner feeling told me to do a write up on George Jacobs who has been the President of the Vegetarian Society for long.
During George's academic years, 1976 to 1980, he was studying Liberal Arts at the University of Illinois. Subsequently, he studied Linguistic for his Masters education between 1982 and 1984. Finally, in the year 1987 and 1991, after getting a scholarship from the East-West Center in the University of Hawaii, George completed his Doctorate on Educational Psychology. He is married to Fong Cheng Hong.
In Educational Psychology, he studied on Piaget, Maslow, Brunner and Skinner, to name a few. He is specialised to teach teachers to help children, young adults and adults to enhance learning. He is also specialised to teach teachers to be better equipped in teaching any form of language.
Between 1982 to 1987, before doing his Phd, George taught in many institutions. To name a few, he has taught in Chiengmai University (Thailand), Roservelt University, University of Hawaii and in China teaching in an institution which was funded by the China government itself.
In 1993, before coming to Singapore, George was teaching in the University of Hawaii, a primary and secondary school in the U.S. He gained new experience in teaching children of all ages. On that year, he came to Singapore and worked at the RELC as a full-time employee. His focus was on how teachers can use read, write, talk and listen to enhance the learning of children and adults.
From the year 2000 onwards, George worked as a freelance lecturer in the NIE and at the same time coaching teachers of many schools on how to teach students. Some of the many schools that he taught were Singapore Chinese Girls School, Radin Mas Primary and Queensway Secondary School.
The Forming of the Vegetarian Society
In 1999, only a group of people joined this society. The first President was Allein Moore, who was at the helm and taking charge of the society. The members were predominantly locals, made up of Chinese and Indians with few Eurasians and Europeans or Americans. Between 2003 till now, George took over as the President of the Vegetarian Society. He also told me that he has been a vegetarian for 30 years already. From a lacto-ovo vegetarian for 5 years, he started taking less milk and egg and slowly became a vegan.
I asked him why he became a vegetarian. He told me that, in 1980, he read an interesting book called 'Diet for a Small Planet". After reading the book, he felt that it is definitely a very good idea to eat meatless. He said that vegetables and fruits have high levels of anti-oxidants, which enables a person to recover faster from intensive exercise, stress or pollution. Anti-oxidants increases immunity in a person and thus prevent all forms of diseases and sickness.
It was interesting to me when George told me that we get 1kg of meat with the offset of 16kg of grains. The grains, corns and maize are fed to the animal for getting some pounds of meat. Hence, at the expense these, we lose more natural food like grain, corn and maize, which is the main reason for many parts of the world to go hungry every day.
He also told me that by eating meat more, one encourages to be less friendly to the environment. He cited that in Amazon, there is a huge business going on with many forests being chopped and destroyed. Soya bean and corn are being planted to be finally fed to the animals for meat. George told me that this action will not help Global Warming in our environment.
Finally, George rationalised with me that the farming done today is opposed to those done in the past. Factory farming indeed is going on now and it is not advisable. Chickens have to live in a congested space, not having the freedom to walk around. Moreover, these animals are given growth hormone and anti-biotics. Moreover, he cited that the life span of the chicken, pigs and cows is 3 years, 5-10years, 10 years or more, respectively. Now, the life span of the chicken, pigs and cows are reduced to 6 weeks, 10 months and 1 year in order to 'fast-track' the speeding up of animals into food. It was very interesting to hear this from George and I felt that some of the things he told me did not occur to me in the past when I became a vegetarian.
Finally, I gave him an interview. He answered the questions precisely and concisely.
What was the reason for taking up the President post?
It is all about others before self. I took this post as there was no one to take. I realised that to make the society better, it would be a good idea to accept the responsibility since nobody wants to shoulder.
How do you find when you took over the job as the President?
I sometimes find the job stressful and would prefer someone to take over. Since nobody wants to take, I am happy to accept until now.
What are some of the yearly events that your society does?
1. We have membership programs. In fact, anyone below the age of 23 years or younger, who are full-time students from University to secondary school downwards are given free membership.
2. We organise talks at the library and show videos.
3. We have exhibitions
4. We even organise gathering on the New Year Day, Chrismas Day, Chinese New Year Day and National Day.
5. We have Smoothie Workshop, which has home economics. There are different recipes with 10 blenders. It is taught 3 per group. For a group of 35 people, the price is $220 as a group.
What is your advice on making people become vegetarians?
In fact, we form a virtuous circle of noble people. Being a vegetarian ensures better health as compared to non-veg. The environment will be better with less Global Warming. Finally, we are also showing compassion to animals by being kind to them. I think that given a meal of meat which has the same nutrients as a vegetarian diet, the question is on the control of the taste then. By being vegetarian, one is empowered to make informed choices and develop willpower in oneself, whenever we say no to meat.
Any other advice you want to give to the society?
Go in-depth and find out the reason why and be well informed with a strong reason to choose food. Having a buddy who is informed about food matters would be very helpful. For people who are non-vegetarian. If a person can eat meatless, it is a victory as compared to people eating meat all day long.
Note:
By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes to do marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners to do sub-4 hours for marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’ by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).
He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.
