Kasumi was a top-tier soccer player in the Netherlands when she became vegan in 2014. Within months, aching joints and declining energy levels sidelined her soccer career.
She “got convinced by YouTube videos to try a vegan diet” to help with a skin condition when she was 23 years old. “In the first two weeks I did see some improvement, but I actually think back now that was because I eliminated all processed foods.” This may be the reason why many people initially benefit from vegan diets, though they lose health later.
Kasumi stayed on the vegan diet, “whole-food plant-based” for four years, and “it was really in the end of the second year that I really started seeing my health deteriorate. I couldn’t do soccer anymore, my joints were aching, everything I wanted to do I couldn’t do anymore when it came to physical activity. I did train a lot in the gym, but my muscles wouldn’t grow anymore.” She tried a raw vegan diet also but lost her period for four months as a result.
“After a year or so, I started to see my health decline. I couldn’t run as fast anymore…everytime I wanted to do something, or kick a ball in a certain way, it just wouldn’t go the same like I used to. At some point I really started to feel my joints aching. I never had issues with that, even though all the types of sports that I always used to do in my life…Injuries started to come, and I would be so extremely exhausted after matches as well, and I just couldn’t keep up. I went from really the best player on my team to someone who couldn’t even keep up with the other girls.”
Kasumi began to notice that she was even afraid to walk up stairs because she felt weak and thought she might “break something.” Her body shape suffered as well: “When I went vegan, all my feminine curves just went away, my boobs shrank, my hips disappeared, and I started to look more boyish.”
Kasumi listened to some Michaela Peterson videos, and “I decided in 2018 to try some eggs again; try a little bit of butter again, and I instantly noticed a difference. So I also ate some chicken again and then added back beef into my diet, and it was just in a couple of days I felt so much better mentally, so much more stable right away, and I really thought ‘the vegan diet is probably not the way to go’ so I completely dropped it.”
Kasumi started eating more meat after learning about the keto and carnivore diets. She continued to see improvements.
“I’ve been on this diet now for four years, and I’ve only seen improvements. It’s never went downhill from that anymore…physically, mentally, everything just keeps on getting better…hitting new PRs with weight lifting is so much more easy now.” Kasumi is “stunned and amazed, still today, and so grateful for the way I feel right now.”
