Venus and Serena Williams: Raw Vegan Powerhouses

Think vegans can’t get power from their food? Think again! Believe it or not, tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams follow a healthy, balanced raw vegan diet during the tennis season. That’s right, both raw and vegan. These women kick serious butt on the court without eating any cooked food or animal products. While the superstar sisters technically consider themselves ‘chegan’—because they occasionally indulge in cooked fish or chicken if they feel the need/want to celebrate—their foundational diet for health and training is both raw and vegan. The sisters didn’t grow up like this. While their mother made a lot of green juices, they consumed traditional American fare. However, when Venus was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease—Sjögren’s syndrome—she decided to become raw vegan to take control of her body and health. She began consuming a lot of veggies, green juices and raw, sprouted foods. She’s a big fan of smoothies, her favorite ingredients being strawberry, mango, spinach, orange juice and ginger. To support her sister and roommate, Serena quickly joined her, so as not to make Venus’s transition harder by bringing nixed foods like chicken into the house. To fuel herself, Serena makes sure to drink green smoothies with kale and plenty of protein powder, carb up on […]

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What it Will Take to Make an Organic Nation

When I hear the word ‘green’, I think of a lifestyle that takes the next seven generations into account. It reminds me that everything we use and consume in our lifetime is borrowed from the Earth. In our culture, it can be hard to remember where food comes from and easy to take things like sunshine, healthy soil and clean water for granted. Fundamentally, I think ‘green’ means being grateful for the many gifts that nourish us each day. Gratitude helps us recognize that we are stewards, not owners, and that understanding is a wonderful antidote to greed.

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Green Recipe of the Week: Susan’s Eggplant Stack

This is a souped-up version of the recipe that sparked the idea for my recent book project. One night, a few years ago, my mom (Susan) called me up, asking for advice on what to do with the eggplant and tomato she had picked up from the local farm stand earlier that day. She was hoping to cook something low-fat and yet satisfying for her longtime companion, the original Mister Sausage, who was recovering from a recent heart attack.

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