Serena Williams isn’t a strict vegan, however she doesn’t like beef and tries to eat plant-based as a lot as potential. The tennis champion first determined to offer a vegan weight loss plan a strive round a decade in the past, due to her sister, Venus Williams.
As Serena told Bon Appetit in 2013, she cleaned up her weight loss plan and began consuming vegan after Venus was recognized with an immune system dysfunction referred to as Sjogren’s syndrome.
As one of the proficient athletes on this planet, with 39 Grand Slam titles to her identify, Serena may be very aware of what she places in her physique. Because the Michigan native has found, she feels her greatest when she sticks to a nutritious and largely meat-free consuming routine.
“My philosophy is eat to stay. Don’t stay to eat,” she informed Women’s Health in August 2021. “I need to have a wholesome life-style and, so you realize, [I’m eating] a variety of greens and principally plant-based these days, simply tremendous wholesome stuff.”
To assist herself follow a hearty vegan weight loss plan, Serena beforehand enlisted the assistance of plant-based chef Lauren Von der Pool, who cooked for the Williams sisters for a number of years. Whereas with the Williams sisters, Von der Pool whipped up every thing from spinach salad with plum vinegar to plant-based tuna wraps made with walnuts.
Despite the fact that Serena possible has a hand (or two) within the kitchen, she nonetheless enjoys throwing collectively a lot of her personal (principally vegan) meals. “I really like cooking,” she defined. “I don’t have a ton of time to do it typically, however I really like cooking and it’s simply type of enjoyable for me.”
What does Serena Williams Eat?
In terms of vegan meals, Serena is keen on plant-based variations of tasty staples comparable to tacos and pizza, which are sometimes each topped with walnut meat. Whereas she actually enjoys meals, as an elite athlete she views it as gas greater than anything.
“You want [food] to outlive,” she informed Girls’s Well being. “And that’s very laborious to stay by, as a result of I positively like to snack, however that is what I need. These are my targets.”
Serena sometimes talks about a few of her favourite vegan dishes and recipes in numerous interviews. She additionally shares a few of her meat-free creations on social media, significantly on her Instagram. Serena is keen on common dishes which are simple to make, and likewise loves hearty vegan smoothies and dishes that use plant-based meat substitutes. Listed here are a few of Serena Williams’ favourite vegan recipes.
Walnut ‘meat’ tacos
Considered one of Serena’s favourite meals, courtesy of Von der Pool, is her “Grand Slammin’ Tacos” which embrace vegan “meat” made out of nuts blended with a flavorful seasoning mix that options cumin, paprika, and extra.
Serena has even made the Mexican staple on her personal, as she shared with USA Right now in June 2013. “I used totally different nuts and it was scrumptious. I used a comfortable shell taco, cashews, walnuts, and sunflower seeds,” she mentioned on the time. “I put them in a mixer. You soak the nuts in a single day and after you combine them you place them within the dehydrator. After that, I add seasoning, so it really tastes like meat.”
Fruit and veggie smoothies
To make sure that Serena was getting the vitamins she wanted to succeed on the court docket, Von der Pool whipped up nutritious vegan smoothies and tossed loads of hearty veggies within the drinks as a solution to “trick” the tennis professional, although they took a little bit getting used to.
“After I first began, Serena would pour out the inexperienced juices into the crops and act like she was consuming it. Serena is so humorous, she’s the very best, however she’s simply additionally like a mischievous baby,” Von der Pool beforehand informed LIVEKINDLY.
Extra lately, Serena has taken to creating nutritious smoothies on her personal. Throughout that chat with Bon Appétit, the athlete famous that her fridge is full of vegan smoothie staples comparable to “coconut water, Gatorade (my favourite!), cucumbers, mint, kale, greens, ginger, and wheatgrass.” Yum!
Bean burgers
Per Girls’s Well being, Serena’s mid-day meal often entails greens and protein. “I had a bean burger the opposite day,” she informed the publication, including that she as a substitute opted to eat a “gluten-free bean burrito,” days later.
Whereas it’s clear that Serena has a penchant for Mexican meals (uh, who doesn’t?) her Mexican dishes gained’t ever embrace beef or avocado, as she’s by no means actually preferred both ingredient.
Greens with fruit
Earlier than a recreation, Serena sometimes stays away from any meat or animal merchandise, however she nonetheless manages to have a wholesome and balanced meal. “I often wish to have plenty of greens earlier than my match after which fruit really, and a little bit carbs and a few kind of a protein,” she shared. “So I attempt to knock them [the food groups] all out in a single.”
Pizza
In one in every of her first-ever Instagram posts, Serena proved she will be able to throw collectively a tasty vegan meal all on her personal. “Mexican vegan pizza I constructed from scratch,” she captioned a snapshot of two pizza pies contemporary from the oven. “Meat is definitely nut-based.”
By the appears to be like of it, the pizzas had been additionally topped with tomato sauce, vegan cheese shreds, and a few mushrooms.
Vegan fish dishes
Vegan fish dishes aren’t but as common as meals made with plant-based meat substitutes, however that doesn’t imply you possibly can’t make a fish dish with out utilizing any actual fish. In actual fact, Von der Pool recalled she typically threw collectively vegan fish dishes for Serena comparable to sushi and a plant-based tuna wrap made with walnuts.