From wildbeimwild.com
Tennis star Venus Williams says the vegan diet has changed her life. For a decade, she has benefited from better skin and improved health
Venus Williams has followed a plant-based diet for a decade, and she says it has improved her tennis performance, her skin, and her overall health.
After being diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Sjögren's syndrome in 2011 — which causes joint pain and fatigue — Williams' future in tennis looked uncertain. Switching to a vegan diet, however, proved to be a decisive turning point.
The plant-based lifestyle not only allows Williams to manage her illness without medication, but it has also improved her complexion, something backed up by research.
«The plant-based lifestyle has definitely changed my life — my skin has become fantastic«, Williams told insider.com. And she is not the only one who has found that cutting out dairy products and eating more fruit and vegetables improves one's complexion.
The diet was so effective that Williams threw herself into this lifestyle, founding her own vegan business and investing in others. Now, Williams says, other athletes ask her for advice on how to give up meat without compromising their athletic performance.
Serena Williams suggested Venus try a «raw vegan» lifestyle
Williams' diagnosis was the initial motivation to change her diet, and it was her sister Serena who suggested she eat raw vegan — meaning only raw, plant-based foods — which she did before transitioning to a more relaxed plant-based approach.
«Living with an autoimmune disease can be a little challenging, and you can end up taking a lot of medication, and that's not something I want», she said. «So it is a godsend that through my diet I can control as much as possible — what happens in my body, my inflammation levels.
Today she is a passionate advocate of a plant-based diet that can support the active lifestyle of a professional athlete, and in 2020 she founded her own vegan protein brand, Happy Viking.
«I need to quickly supply my muscles with protein after training in order to recover and maintain muscle mass«, she said. «Happy Viking was therefore created to fuel the inner fighter, the inner Viking, while feeling happy and content with what you put into your body.«
Williams is taking her commitment to veganism even further by investing in PlantX, a plant-based food store vying to become the go-to destination for all vegan needs in the US — or, as Williams puts it: «the vegan Amazon«.
Being a plant-based athlete can be challenging when travelling the world for competitions, Williams said, so much so that other athletes ask her for tips.
Her advice? It’s all about balance.
While a vegan diet can largely consist of whole foods, fruits, and vegetables, there is also plenty of vegan “junk food”, from Oreos to Doritos.
Consuming large amounts of heavily processed vegan foods is unlikely to produce the positive effects on the skin that Williams has experienced.
«If you eat vegan and mainly consume simple carbohydrates, I think the benefits of a vegan diet become fewer. Eating pasta with sweetened tomato sauce all day, without other beneficial vegan ingredients, won’t help much«, said dermatologist Papri Sarkar.
However, most health and fitness experts advocate a balanced diet with everything in moderation, as cutting out all your favorite foods is not sustainable for most people.
The «80/20 rule«, advocated by Denise Austin among others, states that you eat nutrient-dense foods 80% of the time and enjoy less nutritious things like junk food the remaining 20% of the time.
«I’ve never seen a french fry that wasn’t vegan«, said Williams. «I am definitely not a robot. You can reward yourself and also have fun with food. There are so many athletes who do that, and sometimes they ask me how to do it. Then I tell them: Hey, sometimes you just have to eat a piece of cake«.
Williams describes herself as »Junk-Food Junkie». In the past she loved donuts, today she is obsessed with cake, especially apple pie. However, she does not bake her own, because she would eat it constantly, she says.
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