Venus Williams says veganism has helped her reach peak performance

Professional athlete and women’s tennis legend Venus Williams has recently told Insider that ditching meat has been a game changer, improving her sporting ability despite suffering with an autoimmune disease.

Williams, who has been plant-based for 10 years, says that going vegan has transformed her skin health too, telling Insider “Plant-based definitely changed my life, it made my skin amazing,”.

In 2011, shortly after being diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Sjögren’s Syndrome, which causes fatigue and achy joints, Williams ditched the meat in an attempt to alleviate her symptoms and continue making tennis history.

She said: “Living with an autoimmune disease, things can get a little tricky and you can be on loads of medicine, and that’s not something that I want to do,” she said. “So to be able to control as much as I can — what’s happening in my body, my inflammation levels — through what I eat is a godsend.”

Speaking openly about her health and lifestyle, Williams has become an advocate for veganism, helping others learn how eating plant-based can fuel an active life, even creating her own vegan protein brand, Happy Viking to make the transition easier.

“I need to refuel and provide protein to my muscles quickly after I work out for recovery and to maintain muscle,”

“So Happy Viking was created to fuel your inner fighter, your inner Viking, while feeling happy and satisfied about what you put in your body.” She told Insider.

However, Williams still keeps it real when it comes to nutrition, confessing that she is very much a ‘junk food junkie’, adding: “I’ve never met a French fry that wasn’t vegan,”

“I’m definitely not a robot. You can reward yourself and have fun eating as well. There are so many more athletes doing it and sometimes they ask me how to do it. So, I tell them, ‘Hey, sometimes you just have to have some pie.”

Article written by Martha Moody- United Kingdom