Venus Williams: My Plant-Based Diet Is to Be Healthy 20 Years From Now

Venus Williams is an inspiration to so many, for her stoic strength on and off the court, but some days, when she was in the middle of a stellar career, she barely felt like getting out of bed. In 2011, at age 31, she had to withdraw from the U.S. Open, suffering joint pain, hand swelling, numbness, fatigue, dry eyes and dry mouth. She said she felt "beat up."

Venus was eventually diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder for which there is no known cure. In people with Sjogren's Syndrome the body's white blood cells meant to help fight infection instead target the body's moisture-producing glands create extreme dry eyes and dry mouth, as well as overwhelming fatigue, swelling, and joint pain and often problems with other organs or their central nervous system. Williams had been grappling with confusing and mysterious symptoms for years and thought she had asthma.

The well-known older half of tennis's super-star-sister-duo, Williams had to learn to cope with an autoimmune disease that stole her energy, her ability to play the game she loved and at times her ability to find hope. She told an interviewer at the time, that she was actually relieved to have a diagnosis, finally, since living with unexplained symptoms for years had left her drained. Williams tried everything to treat her disorder, including taking medicine, but in a last-ditch effort to get her life and health back, she switched to a vegan diet. That's when things started to normalize.

Her swelling and fatigue subsided, her vitality returned, and Williams credits going plant-based as helping her return to the sport she loves. Now, that vegan diet is so much more than just about eating, she says. It gave her back her strength, her health, and her hope. So now she eats this way for "every reason" and explains that her latest project, investing in a plant-based protein, was just the logical next step in helping others achieve their health goals as well.

“After being diagnosed with Sjögren’s Syndrome, I needed to find a way to fuel my body in a way that would mitigate symptoms of the disease and help me to return to the top of my game both on and off the court.

Williams, now 40, has made living a plant-based lifestyle a public part of her otherwise private persona. She shares little about her life other than a commitment to tennis, to plant-based eating, and to helping others achieve their best selves, through following their passions. Now the 7-time Grand Slam winner, owner of 4 Olympic Gold medals, and an entrepreneurial investor has thrown the full power of her fame behind a new vegan brand, to help others live their best lives and train to their fullest, with the benefit of a plant-based protein shake called Happy Viking. She is partnering with a leading beverage company, Dyla Brands, makers of Stur Drink Mixes & FORTO Coffee.

In an effort to find a protein shake that was plant-based nutritious, tasted great, and fit her busy schedule, Williams set out to create the world’s best tasting plant-based protein shake. She worked alongside top nutritionists and dieticians to help her refine and perfect her at-home recipe. Within a year of going plant-based, Williams made a miraculous recovery and returned to championship form, winning the Doubles Championship at Wimbledon followed by a Gold Medal at the Olympics in London shortly thereafter.

"I created Happy Viking because I want other people to have healthy, effective, and delicious options to fuel their bodies so they can strive towards being their best self in every aspect of their life,” said Venus Williams.

Built to provide clean energy to help build healthy muscles, bones, and bodies, Happy Viking is a delicious, balanced, and powerful blend made to "fuel your body and mind." Created by Williams and her team, it delivers what she calls "Complete Body Mind Macronutrients," (or CBMMs). Each shake has 20 grams of protein from yellow peas and brown rice, 9 essential amino acids, 5 sources of prebiotic fiber for gut health, and DHA Omega 3 and Oleic Sunflower Oil for brain food. We caught up with Venus at home in California, where the soft-spoken winner explained why this new drink was so important to her to share with the world.

Venus Williams: Changing my diet is so much bigger now than when I started. It was first for inflammation and to treat my auto-immune disease, but now I eat plant-based for all the health effects. My disease is something I always lived with, but eating plant-based started out as part of taking care of myself, and now I do it for every reason.

I am not happy I had an autoimmune disease, but I am happy it opened my eyes to eating plant-based. Now it's about long-term health. It's about preventing long-term diseases and it's about being as healthy as I am now, 20 years from now.

Venus Williams: This may be hard to understand, but my training is so extreme and I really only stop at failure. It's not a comfortable place. I do have more energy when I eat this way. But I never feel good when I push myself as hard as I possibly can.

I am training as hard as ever. I actually took three weeks off, to rest for the first time in my life and it made me feel better and now I think I have to work at learning how to do that. Usually, I work as hard as I can, but I think that rest and taking time off will actually help strengthen any limitations I have. Plant-based eating is part of training to my fullest and working with myself.

Venus Williams: It's really obvious to me that living a plant-based lifestyle has helped me. Happy Viking impressed me so much and I want to continue to make plant-based eating a lifestyle choice, and help other people do it too, since going plant-based is what gave me the ability to get back on the court and do what I love. So that in itself is why it's so organically amazing. This is the real deal, and it led me to be able to do what I love.

Venus Williams: Yes. In the morning I have an interesting routine and I don't do what most other athletes do. I don't eat before I train. So sometimes I will have a protein shake or fruit for a quick boost, in the middle of my morning workout, if I need it. I will do a 5- or 6-hour workout, in the morning. But generally, I go without food until lunch, and then I have a massive lunch. But I use the protein shakes for recovery. It's not just a protein drink, it's great for energy and for recovery. The amino acids are great for recovery. A protein drink is something that your body really does need. My favorite flavor? I've got to with chocolate.

Venus Williams: Educate yourself. First know why you're doing it. There are so many benefits to your health. I think most people should look into all the ways it will help you to have this healthy lifestyle and have all this energy. There is so much we could talk about that we probably don't have time for this conversation.

But there are a lot of benefits from it: Less inflammation in the body, less disease, more energy. And if you are the kind of person to go from zero to 100, then go for it. But otherwise, try cutting out meat and then dairy, and do it in phases.  You can just ease into it. Some people start with one meal a day. So there are a lot of ways to get started. But know why.

Venus Williams: What do I eat? Well, nothing in the morning. Because as I said I don't eat before training.

Then I have a massive lunch. It depends on my mood. But I love to have beans and rice and lentils. That's what I love...  I am so hungry after training, and I have to go from the gym to the office and I order lunch so that it's waiting there for me. And when it gets there I am so hungry and happy to eat.

Some days I will have fried rice but generally, that is not enough protein, or I will have a Happy Viking shake for the protein or a super green shake. Something healthy.

Dinner is always a big question mark. Usually, it's something easy like sweet potato. I love soups, hummus. I don't like a lot of carbs. I don't eat a lot of carbs after training. I naturally seem to do a keto diet, and a lot of time I also do intermittent fasting, which know is hot right now. A lot of times I take my Happy Viking protein shake with me, so if I get hungry I can eat that instead of something unhealthy. But for dinner, it's always a question. Sometimes I just have a big salad, which starts with a lot of romaine lettuce and dressing.

Venus Williams: This protein shake is for people who are athletes, or for weekend warriors, or for someone who is looking for a quick pick me up, who needs quick energy, and since the protein is plant-based,  it ends up being so much more than just a protein shake.

It's full of healthy nutrients like Omega-3s, ALAs, and probiotics which your body needs. So actually, if you are fueling your body with nutrients and healthy supplements, that makes you feel better. So I think that is pretty much everyone.

I am not thinking anyone would not raise their hand and say: "I want to do good for my body!"

Venus Williams:  I have to say it's always changing. I have had several mantras, I don't have just one. One we had when we were younger, when we were playing a tournament, I still love. It's this:

"Since you have to show up, why not compete?" I got it from Serena. We were playing a tournament and we were in a doubles match. And during the changeover, I asked are you nervous? And she said: "Since you have to show up why not compete?" I think it speaks to people who may be afraid to give it their all, since a lot of time you might be afraid of failure. But ... Since you have to show up, why not give it your best? She won that tournament, Ii the singles, I remember. And I thought: that's a great mantra.

Today, Williams has been primarily plant-based for nearly 10 years, crediting her diet as one of the ways she has stayed at the top of the tennis game. To purchase Happy Viking in either Triple Chocolate or Vanilla Bean, visit www.DrinkHappyViking.com or on Amazon.com. It will also be available in Kroger grocery retail stores nationwide in spring 2021.

The number one tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, went plant-based more than twelve years ago to enhance his athletic performance and win more matches. In recent interviews, he has credited going vegan with helping him rise from third place in the world to first in the world because it helped clear his allergies. Before changing his diet, Djokovic had searched for cures to the breathing issues that cost him matches and focus which caused him to struggled during his most intense matches. The allergies used to make him feel like he couldn’t breathe and would be forced to retire from competitive matches as he did in Australia. "Eating meat was hard on my digestion and that took a lot of essential energy that I need for my focus, for recovery, for the next training session, and for the next match," he said. Djokovic emphasized he does not eat foods that require a lot of digestion, especially in the morning, when he needs all of his energy for training. Instead, he starts the day with hot water and lemon, then celery juice, and some superfood supplements.

Tia Blanco won gold at the International Surfing Association Open in 2015 and credits her success to her vegan diet. Blanco reports that a vegan diet helps her stay strong and she enjoys eating different forms of vegan protein like nuts, seeds, beans, and legumes. The professional surfer was influenced by her mother, who is a vegetarian and grew up in a veggie-forward household, Blanco has never eaten meat in her life, which made the plant-based switch much easier. And speaking of making things easier, Blanco has an Instagram cooking page called @tiasvegankitchen where she shares her favorite simple vegan recipes so all of her fans can eat like their favorite professional vegan athlete. In addition to her home-cooked meals, Blanco recently became an ambassador for vegan company Beyond Meat and now she posts Instagram stories and highlights of her favorite meatless meat recipes.

Steph Davis has been vegan for 18 years now and says, "there’s nothing in my life that hasn’t become better as a result, from climbing and athletics to mental and spiritual well being." Davis has competed on some of the most challenging verticle routes on the planet –like Concepcion (5.13), which is known to be one of the hardest pure climbs anywhere. Davis holds the third overall ascent and is the first female to ever make the ascent of the route. Davis described it as her "most technically demanding climb ever." Davis explained why she went vegan eight years ago when she partnered with PETA. "What can we do to start making changes in a positive way? And if it just so happens that changing our lifestyle leads to environmental benefits, health benefits, economic benefits, and positive social change, then all the better. One thing I’ve learned is you don’t have to do or be anything you don’t want to be, and you can change anything in your life just by starting to do it. It’s you who chooses who and what you are, by the things you think and the things you do." She goes on to add, "no one says you have to become a “perfect” vegan overnight. But why not start making small changes and see how it feels? I believe it’s the small choices people make that have the biggest power to change, and nothing is more simple yet also more far-reaching than changing how and what you choose to eat. We’re all here for a short time, in the end, and living a well-intentioned and compassionate life seems like what ultimately matters the most, the only real goal that I aspire to."

Tennis champion Venus Williams swears that making the switch to veganism was one of the factors that helped to improve her performance and get over an auto-immune disease. The tennis star went vegan back in 2011 when she was diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome, a debilitating autoimmune disease with a range of symptoms from joint pain to swelling, numbness, burning eyes, digestive problems, and fatigue. She chose to eat plant-based to recover to her formerly healthy self, and it worked so she stuck to it. The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion recovers faster on a plant-based diet now, compared to how she felt back when she ate animal protein. When you have an auto-immune disease you often feel extreme fatigue and random body aches and for Venus, a plant-based diet provides energy and helps her reduce inflammation. The Beet reported on Willaim's diet and what she normally eats in a day to stay healthy, fit, and win more matches. Talking about her favorite dinner meal, Williams adds, “sometimes a girl just needs a donut!"

Mike Tyson recently said he is "in the best shape ever" thanks to his vegan diet. The boxing legend then announced he's getting back into the rings after 15 years, to fight against Roy Jones, Jr. in California later this fall. Tyson went vegan ten years ago after dealing with health complications and in the wake of having cleaned up his life: “I was so congested from all the drugs and bad cocaine, I could hardly breathe." Tyson said, “I had high blood pressure, was almost dying, and had arthritis." Now, the 53-year-old powerhouse is sober, healthy, and fit. "Turning vegan helped me eliminate all those problems in my life,” and "I'm in the best shape ever." His new trainer agrees: Watching Iron Mike's speed during recent training sessions, observed: "He has the same power as a guy who is 21, 22-years old."

Oklahoma City's point guard Chris Paul decided to ditch meat and dairy and was asked join on as a co-executive producer for the popular documentary, The Game Changers. For breakfast, Paul enjoys oatmeal with plant-based milk and nut butter. For lunch, he fuels up with pasta or brown rice with Beyond Meat sausage, grilled vegetables, and a curry sauce. His chef told USA Today, "The main thing is, we try to keep it as light and clean as possible for his normal routine, with organic ingredients. Anything that can minimize body inflammation. Chris is always worrying about what he can and can't eat." So far it appears he's getting it right. In an exclusive interview with The Beet's Awesome Vegans columnist Elysabeth Alfano, Paul said eating a plant-based diet helps him keep up with players half his age.

In 2016, Kaepernick made the switch to veganism with his longtime girlfriend to recover from a series of injuries that had him down for the count. The Beet recently reported on how this dietary switch has allowed Kaepernick to stay strong and healthy. Now, he's in the gym building muscle and looks fitter than ever. But will he be picked up? The professional football player claims that a vegan diet makes him feel "always ready" to perform his best on the field.

Cam Newton just replaced Tom Brady, who also follows a mostly plant-based diet, as the New England Patriot's QB, after having made the plant-based switch back in March 2019. The NFL Star first decided to ditch meat and dairy to recover quicker from injuries when he learned that a plant-based diet is proven to help reduce inflammation. "I've seen such a remarkable change in the way my body responds to the food that I eat," Newton told PETA for his recent partnership for a new campaign called, "Built Like a Vegan," proving that you don't need to eat meat to be strong. Newton enjoys a meat-free burger on a pretzel bun, heavy on pickles and sauce. He adds: "People often ask, 'How do you get your protein?' I just say, 'I get it in the same way you do, but it's fresher and cleaner.' " Newton shares how to do it: "My advice to a person who wants to become vegan is to eat on schedule. If you can eat on a schedule, you won't miss [a meal or crave meat] or think anything different, and you'll be alright."

Elijah Hall says about his vegan diet: "Going vegan was the best decision" he has ever made. Hall holds records in the indoor 200 meters and was training for the Tokyo this summer when it got postponed by a year due to the pandemic. Hall said "the effects that it’s having on my body are amazing. Becoming a plant-based athlete has opened many doors to my health and my training." We predict he'll only get faster in the next 11 months and break records, come home with golf and be the world champion in 12 months.

Five-years ago, Morgan Mitchell went vegan and it made her faster, leaner and happier. Last year she was featured in the plant-based athletes documentary The Game Changers and said, “Being vegan has helped me immensely. I don’t feel sluggish like I did when I was eating meat, and my recovery from training really took off. It felt like an overall cleanse for my body, and I started seeing greater results on the track.” Now Michelle is committed for the planet as well. “Ultimately helping the environment and not contributing to animal cruelty was a big thing for me, too. That was my initial reason for going vegan, and the rest of the benefits were just added bonuses.” Mitchell describes what she eats in a day for enhanced performance and more energy to win sprints. “I like to make sure I have three different types of protein in there. I use tofu, beans, and mushrooms, along with spinach, vegan cheese, and hash browns,” she says. “I also love to add Beyond Meat for more flavor, which is a great source of plant protein as well. That usually keeps me full for the better part of the day," she told Well + Good.

"We were taught that eating animal products was good for us but we've been lied to for hundreds of years," said Lewis Hamilton. The Beet reported on Hamiltion's vegan diet quoting The New York Times that he credits his new plant-based diet with making the difference in his career. Hamilton gave up processed food and animal products for vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, because of his strong compassion for animals, for the benefit of the environment, and his own health. Hamilton isn't the only vegan in his family. His dog Rocco is fully vegan and Hamilton says he's "super happy" on Rocco's very own IG post. Earlier this year, Hamilton gave up his private jet because he said it's a big pollutant and aims to live a sustainable lifestyle. Back in February, he started a line of sustainable clothing with Tommy Hilfiger at London Fashion Week.

Featured in The Game Changers for his elite strength and his superhuman ability to lift a car, Patrik Baboumiam is one of the strongest men in the world and also happens to be vegan. Baboumian lifted 358 pounds in the 2009 German log lift nationals. Back in 2014, Baboumiam partnered with PETA in his campaign "Want to be Stronger" describing powering yourself with plants and how you can build muscle without eating meat. One of his 2019 PETA campaigns showed him posing with crossed arms and leaves in his mouths with the text: "The world's strongest animals are plant-eaters: Gorillas, buffaloes, elephants and me." Bahoumiam's diet consists of a dairy-free shake for breakfast with 8 grams of protein and 0 carbohydrates. For lunch, he enjoys vegan sausage, falafel, low-fat oven fires, peppers, and more grilled veggies. He normally eats 250 grams of carbs and 90 grams of protein just for lunch. Dinner includes vegetables cooked potatoes, and tofu. If you want to eat like Boubanian, he reports his food diary on his blog BarBend.

Here's a guy who has worn many hats: Bodybuilder, Terminator, California Governor, and now vegan and advocate for the plant-based lifestyle. Arnold Schwarzenegger ditched meat and dairy and has proven that you don't need to eat animal products to be strong, healthy and reverse symptoms of heart disease. Now 73, he had a pulmonary valve replacement 1997 due to a congenital defect and underwent emergency open-heart surgery in 2018 to replace the valve again. He then changed his eating and fitness habits and now extolls the virtues of plant-based eating for the environment as well as health reasons. He is a producer of The Game Changers (a movie with many masters) and an advocate for going vegan for health, the environment and the sake of animals (he posts on IG with his pet donkey and miniature pony, both household dwelling animals). Schwarzenegger said last year: "Right now, seven million people are dying every year. That is alarming and everyone in the government has the responsibility to protect the people.... 28 percent of the greenhouse gasses come from eating meat and from raising cattle, so we can do a much better job."

Jurek is an extreme ultra-marathon runner who has won the Hardrock Hundred, the Badwater Ultramarathon, the Spartathlon, and the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run (you get the idea). Jurek has been vegan for almost two decades, after easing into it by cutting out meat in college, he slowly stopping seafood and finally giving up all animal products once he realized that eating this way made him feel healthier and happier. To run such an extreme amount of miles, you need to fuel your body with plant-based foods that will give you enough energy and carbohydrates to go the distance. The goal is to eat 5,000-6,000 calories of plant-based foods daily. Jurek outlined his plant-based diet in an interview with Bon Appetite. Instead of waking up to a hot cup of coffee to boost energy, he prefers to drink tea and a green smoothie with spirulina or chlorella and a host of other ingredients. He adds bananas, frozen pineapple slices, or mangoes, brown rice and pea protein, (for protein) to rebuild what's lost in training. This is not just any smoothie.

Soccer star, Alex Morgan is one of the beloved members of the USA National Team that won the World Cup and has shown that the female players deserve to get equal pay as their male counterparts by the US Soccer Federation. She is also an animal rights advocate and longtime vegan, having given up meat when she decided that "it didn't feel fair to have a dog, and yet eat meat all the time,” referring to her adorable pup Blue. Morgan aims to eat 90 grams of plant-based protein daily to stay fit and lean, especially for her workouts and on the field. Morgan admitted that breakfast was difficult because "a lot of the things I love like pancakes and French toast had dairy and eggs." But now she enjoys oatmeal with nut butter and berries, smoothies, rice, quinoa, veggies, black beans, protein shakes, Mediterranean food, Impossible burgers, Mexican beans, and sauteed veggie burritos, she told USA Today.

Paul Rabil who played for the Boston Cannons and the New York Lizards of Major League Lacrosse, ditched meat and dairy after his 2019 season ended and revealed he's now "officially" vegan on YouTube. "At first [switching to a plant-based diet] was to help solve some pain and trauma that I was going through. Over the last two years, I've had two herniated discs.... and that has led to a ton of shooting pain down my legs, its called sciatica," Rabil explains the purpose of his diet switch. He adds: "I've tried to a lot of things; I've had a number of cortisone shots; I've done physical therapy for two years. And I reached a place where I was thinking 'okay maybe I can solve this with nutrition because a lot of our pain stems from inflammation. Within a few weeks, I started noticing a lot of alleviation so I started focusing and doubling down more on veganism"

Hannah Teter won Olympic gold and silver in the halfpipe and is also a seven-time XGames medalist. She changed her diet after watching the documentary, Earthlings when she discovered how "horrible" factory farming is. After a strict vegetarian diet, Teter liked the way she performed and believes that her diet helped her win gold at the 2006 games. She now considers herself "plant-based" and in an interview with the Huffington Post, Teter said, "I feel stronger than I’ve ever been, mentally, physically, and emotionally. My plant-based diet has opened up more doors to being an athlete. It’s a whole other level that I’m elevating to. I stopped eating animals about a year ago, and it’s a new life. I feel like a new person, a new athlete."

Djokovic is not the only tour player to go plant-based. Nick Kyrgios shared that he does not eat meat anymore because of his strong compassion for animals. During the time of the Australian wildfires, the Aussie native explained: "I've been passionate about animal welfare for some time now. I don't eat meat or dairy anymore. That’s not for my health, I just don’t believe in eating animals." "I tried a vegan diet a couple of years ago but with all the travel I do, it was hard to stick to it. Since then I've managed to make it work, and I've been vegetarian for quite a while. "Seeing the footage of these animals suffering from the fires only reinforces why I've chosen this diet. When I see these terrible photos, I can’t comprehend eating meat."

Matt Frazier has run 27 ultra-marathons in his career so far and continues to write about the endurance strength of being a vegan athlete in his personal blog, which he started 11 years ago: No Meat Athlete. The Beet recently interviewed Frazier about his vegan journey and how to be a successful athlete on a plant-based diet. When asked about the first time he ditched meat Frazier replied, "I had already cut 90 minutes off my first marathon time. I was still 10 minutes away from the Boston Marathon qualifying time. I had plateaued, and I was not sure how I was going to find 10 minutes. [Plant-based eating] was what I was missing. That’s what it took. The other big noticeable difference to me [after going vegan] was I stopped getting injured. Injuries had always been a big part of my running journey. When I became vegan, it was around the time I ran three 50-milers and a 100-miler. I didn’t have any injuries. If it’s done right, [plant-based diets] can really help you recover faster."

Rowing is grueling. It's known as the toughest endurance sport in the world. The world record-breaking female rower, Michaela Copenhaver went vegan in 2012 for ethical reasons, she told Great Vegan Athletes. “Initially, I just wanted to eat more vegetables. Those things are super good for you, and they're delicious. Being vegetarian and vegan made me more conscious of how many servings I was getting a day (or not).” When she switched from vegetarian to vegan it was almost accidental: “I was traveling for a regatta in the fall of 2012. I had been vegetarian for 1.5 years already but relied pretty heavily on dairy and eggs. While I was traveling, I was bouncing from couch to couch and had no way to safely store dairy or eggs—so I decided to try a week without them. I felt great, and it wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought. I’ve been vegan ever since.” Now it's a value system: “Once I stopped eating and using animals, I felt I could finally address a question that had been bothering me for a long time—what right do we have to exploit other creatures? Now, I understand that we have no right, and my motivations are primarily ethical.”