Category: General News

England: Vegan Food At COP26. Why None ? – WAV Now Write To MP and Ask Him To Contact Mr Sharma For Responses. Keep Ramping It Up Sort Of Thing !

WAV Comment:

Over the past few weeks we have been drawing some attention to the fact that NO Vegan, or plant based food is being made available to delegates at the COP26 Climate Conference taking place soon in Scotland.

UK: Ever Visited Your GP With A Cough And Then Been Prescribed 20 Cigarettes A Day ? – World Animals Voice

Urge the COP26 Climate Summit to Serve a 100% Vegan Menu. – World Animals Voice

UK: UN COP26 Climate Summit – vegan eating can reduce food-related carbon emissions by 73%. Eating meat and dairy is part of what got us into this mess. So Why No Vegan Food At the Summit ???? – Take Action Below. – World Animals Voice

Taking into account that this is a climate conference, and we all know how rainforests are being destroyed by intensive livestock feedlot creation, along with the huge environmental destruction caused by animal farming; would you not think that COP26 would be the ideal place to set out a stall to support a plant based diet which is much more environmentally friendly ?

It still seems that this is not the case.

So today, 8/10/21, I have written to my own Member of Parliament (UK), to ask him to contact Alok Sharma MP; President of the conference; and ask why vegan plant based is not the only food that will be available to COP26 delegates who attend.

At my request, my MP  really has a duty now to contact Alok Sharma MP; COP26 Conference President; and ask for a formal response to my letter.

I will now  sit and wait to see if anything arrives in the next few weeks; and will naturally let you know the result.

Regards Mark

Here below is a copy of my letter on behalf of WAV dated 8/10/21 to my MP:

—————————————————————————–

Adam;

The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate summit is now weeks away.

Alok Sharma MP is the President of this important conference.

Climate protesters know that fishing, meat, dairy, and egg industries are not only intensively cruel to animals but also cause catastrophic damage to the environment. For decades, the United Nations has identified animal agriculture as a leading cause of deforestation, pollution, ocean dead zones, habitat loss, species extinction, and zoonotic disease spread. The UN is calling for a climate tax on meat, and the Committee on Climate Change says people must reduce their meat and dairy consumption.

The science is more than clear: animal-derived foods have far bigger carbon footprints than plant-based alternatives.  But is Alok Sharma, President of COP26 really clear on what is happening ?

Plant-based foods have a far smaller carbon footprint than their animal-derived equivalents.  A switch to vegan eating can reduce food-related carbon emissions by 73%. Intensive meat farming / production methods are and have been causing massive destruction in the Amazon rainforest regions for example, part of the reason why we now are globally in such a mess.

The COP26 Climate Summit Should Set an Example; but does it through the policies of Alok Sharma ?

Given everything we now know about the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment, the Alok Sharma attitude of serving meat, dairy, or eggs at a climate change summit would be like distributing cigarettes at a health convention.  Plants and plant based diets are the only way forward, and a vegan menu would not only allow attendees to experience the wonderful vegan options of today, but would also allow them (allegedly as environmentalists ?) to dine with a clear conscience and set an important example for the world to follow.

Given the vast availability of vegan food today, it would be easy for COP26 to create a delicious and sustainable plant-based menu that would impress delegates. Ensuring that all food served at COP26 is plant based would be a powerful way for the UK to show its commitment to action on the climate crisis while championing fresh British produce and British farming. 

Only vegan food should be served at COP26.

Please write to Mr Sharma MP on my behalf and ask him why environmentally friendly vegan food is not being served at COP26.

Mr Sharma is not setting a good example by his current actions; which says does it not, that his Conservative government is great on the ‘talk the talk’ front, but lacking in the real action department. 

I would be very interested to hear his reasons for, through his actions, of not supplying a plant based, environmentally friendly diet at a COP conference which will hopefully progress and get people AWAY from intensive animal agriculture, the basis of global forest destruction such as the Amazon.

Thank you

Mark Johnson

————————————————————————–

Additional:

SAO PAULO, Oct 7 (Reuters) – Nearly a third of the cattle bought by JBS SA (JBSS3.SA) in the Brazilian Amazon state of Para came from ranches with “irregularities” such as illegal deforestation, prosecutors found in a 2020 audit of the world’s largest meatpacker released on Thursday.

Revealed: rampant deforestation of Amazon driven by global greed for meat | Brazil | The Guardian

Revealed: rampant deforestation of Amazon driven by global greed for meat

The cows grazed under the midday Amazon sun, near a wooden bridge spanning a river. It was an idyllic scene of pastoral quiet, occasionally broken by a motorbike growling on the dirt road that cuts through part of the Lagoa do Triunfo cattle farm to a nearby community.

But this pasture is land that the farm has been forbidden to use for cattle since 2010, when it was embargoed by Brazil’s government environment agency Ibama for illegal deforestation. Nearby were more signs of fresh pasture: short grass, feeding troughs, and salt for cattle.

The vast 145,000-hectare (358,302-acre) farm is one of several owned by the company AgroSB Agropecuária SA – known in the region as Santa Bárbara. Located in an environmentally protected area, Lagoa do Triunfo is more than 600km (372 miles) from the capital of the Amazon state of Pará on the western fringes of Brazil’s “agricultural frontier” – where farming eats into the rainforest. To get there takes hours of driving along dirt roads and a ferry ride from nearby São Félix do Xingu, a cattle town accessible only by plane until a few decades ago.

AgroSB supplies cattle to JBS, the world’s biggest meat packing company and single biggest supplier of beef, chicken and leather globally, with 350,000 customers in more than 150 countries.

Continue reading by clicking on the above link.

The Expansion of Intensive Beef Farming to the Brazilian Amazon – ScienceDirect

Livestock and climate change: impact of livestock on climate and mitigation strategies | Animal Frontiers | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

Germany: Undercover footage reveals ‘nightmarish’ animal testing in German lab.

This is a 3 Page Article.

With thanks to Stacey as always – sorry it is late;

Regards Mark

 

Challenging the Government’s Censorship of Animal Advocates’ Speech on Social Media

by Stacey

Undercover footage reveals ‘nightmarish’ animal testing in German lab

Germany sees spike in experiments on monkeys | News | DW | 20.12.2018

Undercover footage reveals ‘nightmarish’ animal testing in German lab (france24.com)

In rare footage from an animal testing facility, released on October 11, dogs can be seen lying in blood and excrement, while primates spin in circles in tiny cages, visibly in distress. Dead beagles are hung up on meathooks, and macaque monkeys are violently handled, restrained and force fed. Staff also appear to harm cats.

The footage was shot at the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology (LPT), a contract testing laboratory near Hamburg, Germany, and relates to its toxicity testing for pharmaceutical companies.

The investigation, organised by animal welfare organisations SOKO Tierschutz (based in Germany) and Cruelty Free International (based in the UK), involved getting someone employed at the facility in December last year. This undercover investigator worked there for four months, filming with a hidden camera.

In the US, it is estimated that 100,000,000 animals are used for testing/research YEARLY. Approximately 95-99% are not afforded any legal “protections” under the Animal Welfare Act and are therefore not required to be reported (thus the estimate). Of the few who do receive “protections” under AWA, they still suffer, experience pain and fear, and violently die; sadly, they are often subjected to INTENTIONAL PAIN as it is theorized that pain relief would compromise testing outcomes. These animals include dogs, cats, and primates, totaling >56,000 victims REPORTED, neglecting the vast majority who are not afforded even the illusion of existence by mandated recording of their suffering, pages 7-8:

Animal exploiters DETEST social media for giving activists a platform to publicize the violence they inflict on vulnerable animals, who all experience pain, fear, and suffering as human animals do. If the law doesn’t prevent humans from violent exploitation of animals, then it cannot exempt humans for exposing these criminal, unethical acts.

And to the indignant who equate animal suffering with human health, do remember the negative consequences and fatalities of pharmaceuticals that were considered safe as the result of testing them on different species: thalidomide was a tragedy, and saccharine, which was found to cause cancer in rats, is still marketed to humans. If humans claim human superiority as a validation for condoning animal experimentation, perhaps those “intellectual giants” can determine more effective research methods that do not violently kill billions of animals, a rather contradictory “means” to an uncertain “end”.

Some states have enacted student rights to not use animals in education, determine if you have Student Choice Laws via AAVS HERE or NAVS HERE

Go to Page 2

UK: Ever Visited Your GP With A Cough And Then Been Prescribed 20 Cigarettes A Day ?

Image

Urge the COP26 Climate Summit to Serve a 100% Vegan Menu

The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate summit is fast approaching. Urge the president of COP26 – Alok Sharma – to set a meaningful example during this time of climate emergency by serving a fully vegan menu at the event.

Eating Vegan Is Better for the Environment

The fishing, meat, dairy, and egg industries are not only cruel to animals but also cause catastrophic damage to the environment. For decades, the United Nations has identified animal agriculture as a leading cause of deforestation, pollution, ocean dead zones, habitat loss, species extinction, and zoonotic disease spread.

Plant-based foods have a far smaller carbon footprint than their animal-derived equivalents, even when comparing imported plant proteins to flesh from grass-fed, locally farmed animals. And a switch to vegan eating can reduce food-related carbon emissions by 73%. Quite simply, eating meat and dairy is part of what got us into this mess.

The COP26 Climate Summit Should Set an Example

Given everything we now know about the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment, serving meat, dairy, or eggs at a climate change summit would be like distributing cigarettes at a health convention.

Plants are the way forward, and a vegan menu would not only allow attendees to dine with a clear conscience but also set an important example for the world to follow.

Take action and tell Alok Sharma, president of COP26, to set an example and only serve vegan food at the event:

Urge the COP26 Climate Summit to Serve a 100% Vegan Menu | People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (peta.org.uk)

Regards Mark

England: Vegan Bites 7/10/21.

Hi all you super cool vegan foodies – here are a few links which I hope will give you a few ideas about expanding your diet.  Enjoy;

Regards Mark

Viva ! Recipe Club

Easy Rocky Road, Halloween Cupcakes, Ethiopian Lentil Stew, Win a Surprise Treat Box! (mailchi.mp)

Nestlé Launches Vegan Egg And Shrimp In Health And Sustainability Drive

Nestlé Launches Vegan Egg And Shrimp In Health And Sustainability Drive – Plant Based News

11 Vegan-Friendly Apps Every Plant-Based Eater Needs on Their Phone

11 Vegan-Friendly Apps Every Plant-Based Eater Needs on Their Phone (chooseveg.com)

Kate Winslet’s Self-Care Is Eating Vegan

Kate Winslet’s Self-Care Is Eating Vegan – Mercy For Animals

7 Fall-Inspired Vegan Recipes to Try This Week

7 Fall-Inspired Vegan Recipes to Try This Week – ChooseVeg

Jane Goodall Becomes Narrator Of Cultured Meat Documentary ‘Meat The Future’

Jane Goodall Becomes Narrator Of Cultured Meat Documentary ‘Meat The Future’ – Plant Based News

VegNews

Soft-baked vegan cookies (mailchi.mp)

Cultured Meat Market To Be Worth £1.7 Billion In The UK By 2030, New Report Finds

Cultured Meat Market To Be Worth £1.7 Billion In The UK By 2030, New Report Finds – Plant Based News

Veg Newsletter

Vegan eggs, all the ways 🍳 (mailchi.mp)

Brown Rice With Maple-Roasted Parsnips and Shallots

Brown Rice With Maple-Roasted Parsnips and Shallots – Vegos

THE TRUTH ABOUT CALCIUM FROM DAIRY

How to Get Calcium Without Dairy | The Truth About Calcium & Dairy (veganuary.com)

Creamy Kale and Mushroom Salad by Deliciously Ella

Creamy Kale and Mushroom Salad by Deliciously Ella – PETA UK

EASY VEGAN CHILI CHEESE FRIES

Easy Vegan Chili Cheese Fries – Make It Dairy Free

Vegan Breakfast Products: The Ultimate Guide to a Quick and Delicious Meal

Vegan Breakfast Products: The Ultimate Guide to a Quick and Delicious Meal (chooseveg.com)

Russia: Bear attacks his torturer during the circus act

They are horrific scenes (!!!) that they recently played in a circus in Russia.

A brown bear suddenly attacks its trainer – in front of numerous children. In the end, the trainer collapses injured.

Shock moment during a circus performance: children were shocked to see a bear suddenly attacking its trainer. As currently reported by the British “Daily Star”, the brown bear pounced on the woman in the middle of the show and clung to her legs.

The incident took place four months ago in Berezovsky, Russia.

Shocking images show how the animal pounces on the trainer.

Two other trainers are desperately trying to get the beast off the woman. But the bear holds on to her, biting her leg more and more.

The bear – dressed in a hat and glittering scarf – was made to continue performing despite the horrifying attack – and the set upon the trainer again as she dangled a hoop in front of the animal. Eventually the woman collapses in excruciating pain. Again a male trainer intervenes and finally pulls the animal away from her.

The injured trainer did not see a doctor after the incident, it is said. Presumably to cover up the bear attack. And the circus continued the show anyway.

There have been reports of multiple attacks at the circus previously. Some local reports say there was a third attack but still the show did not stop.

The circus is famous for dressing bears in human clothing, with some even wearing tutus. Although the animals obviously suffer from the circus conditions, the operators repeatedly emphasized that they are proud of “the humane training of their animals” (!!!)

Circus denies bear attack but the Russian Investigation Committee is investigating the case to see if there were any security breaches during the performance. According to the report, there would have been neither a fence nor a barrier to protect the audience.

The Harlequin Traveling Circus later denied there was an attack, despite video evidence.

A spokesman told Mash Siberia: “There was no incident at all. Simply put, the bears are now in the mating season.”

Animal rights activists appalled by “cruel circuses” Irina Novozhilova from the animal rights group VITA called for a ban on all circuses with live animals in Russia after the incident.

“Circuses are always cruel without limits. And circuses with animals should be banned, “she explained.

https://www.news.de/panorama/855928547/baer-attackiert-trainerin-in-zirkus-in-russland-vor-zuschauern-braunbaer-stuerzt-sich-auf-dompteurin-und-krallt-sich-an-beinen-fest/1/

And I mean…“Shocking scenes?” If anything is shocking, it is the fact that animals in the circus are still allowed to act as ridiculous servants.
We don’t want to imagine how the bear fared behind the scenes after the attack.
The reaction of the circus workers, who forced the bear to continue performing after its attack and also to bow to the audience, suggests the worst.

In addition, according to media reports, the circus denies the attack – although video recordings clearly prove the incident.
Apparently the primitive circus people think their audience is stupid.
Which is not totally wrong, however.
Because who brings their child to such a shit?

All animal abusers deserve this.
If you decide to train animals in the circus, you have decided to become an animal torturer.
We abhor animal abusers.
We fight for the liberation of slaves wherever they are held and exploited.

My best regards to all, Venus

No surprises as French senators distort anti animal mistreatment law.

No surprises as French senators distort anti animal mistreatment law

1 October 2021FBBNews

After a marathon day finalising the adoption of the ambitious law aiming to reduce pet abandonments and end the use of wild animals in shows, the French Senate significantly weakened the text.

Where the Senate weakens the text adopted by the National Assembly in January:

  • Ban on the sale of animals in pet shops from 2024: the senators are opposed to it, they propose instead to stop displaying the animals in shop windows and to introduce a seven-day reflection period between the purchase and the collection of the animal.
  • Obligation to sterilise stray cats (responsibility of the mayor) in the interests of animal protection, public health and defence of biodiversity measure: the senators cancelled this provision.
  • Ban on the use of wild animals in traveling circuses (5 years after the law was enacted) as well as on bear and wolf “shows”. The Senate reverses these bans and puts the ball back in the government’s court, which will have to issue decrees specifying the target species. The ban would not be set by law but at the discretion of the minister and after the opinion of a commission, which is yet to be established but already seems highly convoluted.  
  • Ban on holding cetaceans in captivity (7 years for dolphins, 2 years for orcas), the Senate is opposed to this measure.

Concurrence between the two chambers:

  • Ban on carousels and pony rides at fairs: the Senate maintains the ban.
  • Reinforcement of penalties for acts of cruelty: the penalty of two years’ imprisonment and a fine of € 30,000 is replaced by a penalty of three years’ imprisonment and a € 45,000 fine (5 years and a € 75,000 fine in the case of acts leading to the death of the animal), the Senate maintains the measure.

The main advances adopted by the senators:

  • The Senate introduced a VAT exemption on veterinary procedures for animals taken in by associations, regardless of whether they have a shelter.
  • Ban on mink farms and other animals raised specifically for their fur: the Senate adopts an immediate ban, as opposed to the National Assembly’s adopted ban “within two years”. 

We cannot be satisfied with this vote which betrays both the spirit of the text adopted by the National Assembly, and the commitments made by Barbara Pompili. The joint committee will have to restore the ambition of the initial proposal so that France can finally catch up with the other EU Member States. This bill is the most ambitious one ever debated in Parliament on animal protection. An exceptional opportunity that must not be missed, especially as this subject, supported by a majority of French citizens, will be at stake in the next elections.Christophe Marie, spokesperson for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.

Read more at source Fondation Brigitte Bardot

Regards Mark

The Belgian Constitutional Court upholds the ban on slaughter without stunning in Flanders and Wallonia.

The Belgian Constitutional Court upholds the ban on slaughter without stunning in Flanders and Wallonia

30 September 2021GAIANews

Today, the Belgian Constitutional Court supported the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on the ban on animal slaughter without stunning.

Following a lengthy legal battle, last December the CJEU clearly concluded, in response to the preliminary questions by the Belgian Constitutional Court, that Member States are allowed to impose mandatory pre-slaughter stunning. With this ruling, the Belgian Constitutional Court also confirms the legality of the ban in Flanders and Wallonia.

Eurogroup for Animals member GAIA has been leading the campaign for a ban on ritual slaughter without stunning in Belgium for over 25 years. In 2014, 10,000 people marched in Brussels asking for a ban. Finally, in 2017 the Walloon and Flemish decrees prohibited the slaughter of animals without stunning. The bans came into force in 2019 for both regions but were then challenged by several religious organisations on the grounds of freedom of religion. 

The CJEU judgment considered the latest development on reversible stunning as a method that successfully balances the apparently competing values of religious freedom and animal welfare, and it concluded that “the measures contained in the (Flemish) decree allow a fair balance to be struck between the importance attached to animal welfare and the freedom of Jewish and Muslim believers to manifest their religion”.

This brings to an end a lengthy legal battle in favor of the Flemish and Walloon ban, the sole purpose of which is to avoid inflicting scientifically proven and practically avoidable suffering during the killing of animals, with no exception for slaughter carried out in a religious context

commented Michel Vandenbosch, GAIA’s President

To date, the Brussels-Capital Region still permits slaughter without stunning and that’s going to be the next step for GAIA:

Now that the Constitutional Court has ruled in favor of the Flemish and Walloon bans, there is no longer any valid reason to not introduce a total ban in the Brussels-Capital Region too. GAIA urges the Brussels government and parliament to introduce such a ban without further delay

added Vandenbosch.

We congratulate GAIA for their relentless efforts on these bans. Last December we celebrated together an important victory for the animals and we have more reason today to salute the Constitutional Court’s  confirmation. It’s now time for the EU to make it mandatory in the next revision of the Slaughter Regulation

added Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals.

ENDS

Notes

Animal welfare victory: the CJEU ruling confirms Member States right to introduce mandatory pre-slaughter stunning
Position Paper Slaughter without stunning 
Opinion poll on slaughter 
Summary of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case C-336/19
Amicus Curiae on CJEU case
EFSA reiterates that slaughter without stunning should not be practiced

Regards Mark

Animals are also tortured on World Animal Day

Even if it is popular among animal lovers on this day to ponder “OTHER ANIMALS”, and posts of this kind =how terrible is animal suffering = flood the internet , we would like to remind you, that the majority of the “other animals” never had basic rights on this planet even for an hour.

Therefore we dedicate the day to this animal and will try to describe its fate truthfully.

Let’s look at this photo!
It is an enslaved monkey who is forced to perform tricks and is therefore brutally abused beforehand.
No living being deserves to be mistreated like this!
Animals also have feelings and we can imagine how this monkey feels.

Robbed family, lifelong imprisonment and torture of the most brutal kind, an existence as an entertainment convict that no felon has to fear in his country.
He is given the right to life as long as he is useful as a slave.

We treat animals like rubbish. Just throw them away or abuse them as we feel like it.
Although animals have just as much a right to their lives as we do.

But animal rights are nowhere in the world. Not a single animal, from mussels to chimpanzees, has a single right. Nowhere.

What animal laws regulate (if they exist at all and at best) is only to limit the power of disposition of humans to animals.

That is why we fight and demand for animals (at least for the thinking, feeling ones among them, i.e. those with consciousness) subjective rights in analogy to human rights, specifically at least the right to life, freedom, integrity; simply because they have a comparable interest rights as we humans have.

And we will not only do it on this one day of the year, but we fight tirelessly and uncompromisingly for basic rights for all feeling, thinking individuals.

My best regards to all, Venus

The twisted history of milk in America

According to evolutionary history, the modern human has lived on this planet for about 200,000 years and has only been consuming dairy milk for the past 8,000 to 10,000 years. Hence, consuming dairy milk is not instinctive behavior nor it is essential to our well being.

This begs the question – who was the brilliant ancestor of ours that saw a cow’s udder, licked their lips, and started suckling?? And why did the others join?

Relative to human existence, the history of milk is considerably short – yet it is truly riveting. Power, corruption, greed, mass manipulation—all are present in the evolution of milk in our modern-day society.

Thanks to the bizarre thinking of that early human, most of us are guzzling down a substance not meant for human consumption. It’s time to leave cow’s milk to the textbooks, and of course, to baby cows.

Fast-forward through the evolution of lactase persistence in European regions (yes, all early humans were lactose intolerant past their toddler stage), domestication of dairy cows, the invention of cheesemaking, millions of people who died from milk-borne illnesses prior to the invention of pasteurization (a fourth of all food-borne illnesses in the US were attributed to cows’ milk prior to the early 1900s), and the invention of the glass milk bottle, and we find ourselves in 1922 with the seminal passing of the Capper-Volstead Act

It wasn’t until the 1950s that skim milk received some commercial attention, though this was in the form of a dry, powdered, ‘just add water!’ mix.

As awful as instant milk powder sounds today, we can’t blame our grandparents – instant was all the rage back then.

The industry also had plenty of skim milk to get rid of, as much of it was leftover from WWII when dry milk powder was used as a relief food. To chisel down this surplus, the industry employed skilled marketers to position skim milk as a weight-loss food.

Milk dealers received backing from physicians to pedal this product as a health food, and by the 1950s, skim milk had transformed from a waste byproduct to a trendy weight loss beverage mostly consumed by affluent society

In reality, farmers just need a way to get rid of (and profit of off) the skim milk they had made during the war effort … which tends to be a theme in milk’s history: made too much? Turn to clever marketing.

Let’s hop back to WWI – the global event that catapulted America’s century-long milk surplus into existence.

The US government started sending canned and powdered milk to soldiers overseas, and dairy farmers responded by ramping up production.

They invested in the latest equipment and even abandoned other forms of farming to dedicate their work to the war effort.

While the war ended, the milk production did not – creating a surplus and dangerously low milk prices. Throughout the 1930s, dairy farmers staged several strikes and unionized to demand a fair price for their milk. To appease these farmers, the government created federal programs to artificially drive demand.

The first of these programs included the 1940 Federal Milk Program for Schools and federally subsidized milk advertising under the Works Progress Administration. In 1946, President Truman passed the National School Lunch Act, which mandated each lunch include between one and a half to two pints of whole milk.

Continue reading “The twisted history of milk in America” →

USA: Venus Williams Says Being Vegan For 10 Years Transformed Her Health In Major Interview.

Venus Williams says her health and skin were transformed since going vegan over a decade ago
‘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’ Credit: Instagram

 

Venus Williams Says Being Vegan For 10 Years Transformed Her Health In Major Interview

She’s still a ‘junk food junkie’ but has been able to keep playing tennis despite being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that affects her joints

Venus Williams Says Veganism Transformed Her Health In Major Interview (plantbasednews.org)

Tennis legend Venus Williams detailed the extent of her health transformation since adopting a vegan lifestyle a decade ago.

Ditching meat and dairy helped her athletic performance and enabled her to better cope with an autoimmune disease affecting her joints, she told Insider.

‘Plant-based definitely changed my life’

Williams, who was once world number one in the sport, said her plant-based diet made her skin ‘amazing’.

Furthermore, it helped immensely after she was diagnosed with autoimmune disease, Sjögren’s Syndrome.

As it causes joint pain and fatigue, the diagnosis threatened her future as an athlete.

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.

“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.”

Venus Williams

It’s not the first time the iconic Olympian and Grand-Slam champion has spoken out about the host of benefits that come with switching to plant-based.

Upon launching her own vegan protein shake company Happy Vegan, she said she needed to ‘take back control’ of her health.

‘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.

Moreover, she is an investor in the vegan grocery store, PlantX.

Vegan ‘junk food junkie’

Williams is a self-confessed ‘junk food junkie’, adding: ‘I’ve never met a French fry that wasn’t vegan’. It can be difficult traveling for tournaments and planning meals around it.

Moreover, there is a lot of processed vegan ‘junk food’ out there, she explained.

Williams said: “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.”

Regards Mark