November 7, 2022
Happy Viking: Venus Williams Invites Us To Fuel Our Inner Warrior With Plant-Based Living
In celebration of her pro tennis debut 28 years ago, Venus Williams can proudly look back with no regrets while inspiring generations to always be in pursuit of their best selves.
During her legendary career, the tennis champion has had many wins and losses. She is praised for changing the course of history in women’s sports, and appreciated for her efforts in empowering a healthy lifestyle.
In 2011, Williams was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, called Sjögren’s Syndrome, which impacted her ability to function on a daily basis. Tennis had to take a backseat and plant-based nutrition took the driver’s wheel.
“Learning about my diagnosis took literally years,” Williams shared with BLACK ENTERPRISE. “I couldn’t play tennis anymore until I was finally diagnosed. I would never want anyone else to go through that. Being diagnosed is the first step of being able to take steps to feel better, and the worst part is the quality of your life goes down when you’re not feeling well.”
“And then I started my plant-based journey.”
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With motivation from her sister, Serena, Williams took a deep dive into learning how food affects the body, how most chronic diseases are led by inflammation, and how you can eat in a non-inflammatory way. She said their mother’s history of planting was also a good start.
“It was an awesome journey. And when you know better, you are able to make better decisions,” she said.
In December 2020, Happy Viking was born thanks to the familiar, yet thoughtful partnerships, like Dyla Brands. They carved a clear path for Williams to establish what plant-based ingredients would be implemented in her protein products.
“Happy Viking is about fueling your inner warrior and it’s about really fueling your body in the right way and putting that first,” Williams said.
The vegan protein brand offers products with over 60 mindful ingredients from superfoods and probiotics to an incredible taste.
“When you know why you’re doing it, then it gives you more motivation to continue. And plant based is a great way to eat, to prevent long term disease,” Williams explained. “Chronic illnesses like cancers or autoimmune diseases that unfortunately I live with, you age well, your skin glows.”
The ready to drink protein shakes come in two flavors, Vanilla and Chocolate, and The Complete Superfood Meal powders come in four flavors, including Strawberry, Vanilla, Chocolate, and Greeña Colada.
“The flavors are so much more fun. We have our strawberry protein drink, and that’s kind of pretty unique for our protein powder. And it’s my absolute favorite. I live off that strawberry,” she said.
“I’ve always relied on smoothies to kind of replace my meals.”
From the Cherry Chip Smoothie Bowl to the Badass Banana Berry Smoothie, Happy Viking offers a wide range of decadent recipes.
Williams revealed that she loves blending together her strawberry protein powder with strawberries, some ice, and her favorite sweetener, dates. She even suggested adding dates to the ready made protein drinks, or oatmeal or water if you desire. But she likes to mix the dates first.
In leading a “happy viking” lifestyle, Williams drops a few gems for all.
“The best thing you can have in life is your health and wellness has done so much for me. Just living a healthy life has changed my life. So I hope that I can be a good influence to other people to be healthy,” she advised.
“No, you don’t have to train an Olympian to feel like an Olympian. And I always encourage my friends to just get moving. You don’t have to work out three, four hours a day. It doesn’t even have to be painful, but as long as you’re moving, you’ll see the results and you’ll feel good.”
As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, Happy Viking secured $2 million in an athlete investment round. Financing was led by Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman‘s 35V, Peloton Vice President of Fitness Programming and global wellness expert, Robin Arzón, professional golfer, Michelle Wie West, soccer champion and Medal of Freedom recipient, Megan Rapinoe, tennis star Reilly Opelka, and basketball phenoms Isaiah Hartenstein and Collin Sexton.
“This round was really about including great athletes that we respect and that we love,” said Williams. “And we wanted them to be a part of this journey of helping people to live plant based lives and giving them easy solutions to do so.”