Venus Williams Switch to Raw Vegan Diets for Health in 2012

Celebrity athlete Venus Williams is putting the spotlight on the benefits of eating a raw food diet to help improve her health as part of a New Year's resolution. Her sister Serena Williams is joining her. Both tennis players are role models for women and say they plan to fully embrace vegetarian diets in 2012. Other famous faces and sexy star celebs like Natalie Portman, Alicia Silverstone, Olivia Wilde, Pamela Anderson, and Chelsea Clinton are also vegetarians, and the news the Williams sisters have joined the list of Hollywood women who don't eat meat is helping draw more attention to the growing health food movement.

According to The Daily Mail, the professional tennis player first revealed that reason for her drop out of the U.S. Open during the summer of 2011 was due to her discovery she suffers from an incurable disease of the immune system called Sjogren's Syndrome.

The painful and debilitating symptoms caused her to cancel her second U.S. Open match, after winning the first.

Ecorazzi reports, "She says, though, that the diagnosis was a relief after years of going to doctors without results. 'I would go to the doctor and start crying. I couldn't help it. I just want a chance to play on the same field as other people, I want to feel normal, but as frightening as the diagnosis was, it was also a relief.'"

Her sister has pledged to join her on the raw foods diet in 2012, and the two women have already started.

Making preserving and improving health and fitness levels a New Year's resolution is a noble goal for both men and women. However, if the William sisters use their collective star celebs power wisely as fit and trim celebrity athletes in the new year, they stand to help not only the African-American community who looks up to them as fashion icons and role models but also to help promote the heath of all women.

Cheers for going vegetarian, eating a raw foods diet, and promoting all celebrities who care about their heath think about going vegan, Venus Williams! Bravo for your sister Serena Williams taking on the New Year's resolution challenge to make the diet work for both you and her in the 2012 year as well, as her move to support a lifestyle change (as a family member) makes her a hero as well.

May both of you enjoy good health and continued success playing tennis again for many years. Are you a vegan or vegetarian who has seen your health improve after eliminating meat or animal products from your diet? If so, leave a comment below to tell other readers how your life and health have improved.