With Suzanne Lenglen and Amélie Mauresmo, Marion Bartoli is one of only three French women to have won the prestigious Wimbledon tournament. But after her victory in 2013, she decided to put away her rackets, physically and mentally exhausted. His health problems will then take a dramatic turn. In 2016, she was hospitalized, weighing just 41 kilos, and suffering from a severe viral infection that weakened her immune system.
It was during this period that Marion turned to nutrition for her healing. It is a period of exploration, where she tests several approaches in the hope of regaining her health.
“My fight with food was bitter and cruel,” she writes, describing the years of distress she went through before finding a solution. “I was blinded, she said, by nutritional advice that is sometimes too restrictive. I was wrong for a long time about the culprit. »
I was blinded by nutritional advice that was sometimes too limited
This culprit, which it took a long time to unmask, is not fat. It’s the sugar. Or more precisely, its complicated relationship with carbohydrates. For her, she says, sugar had become a real poison. After years of battling extreme fatigue, inflammation and digestive issues, she decided to completely change her approach to eating by adopting a ketogenic diet.
The ketogenic diet: a transformation
The ketogenic diet involves drastically reducing carbohydrates and increasing fats to put the body in a state of ketosis. Ketosis is a natural metabolic process where the body, weaned off carbohydrates as an energy source, uses fat to produce ketones which will be transformed into energy.
This metabolic pathway is also activated during fasting and explains part of its benefits. Marion discovers that the ketogenic diet is widely and successfully used in overweight and obesity and even metabolic diseases.
She adopts it seriously, convinced of the benefits reported by followers of this lifestyle. It’s a revelation.
Marion Bartoli explains in Keto Queen that this diet allowed her to regain energy that she thought she had lost forever. “The trigger, the missing piece of the puzzle. With her, all my questions, all my doubts, find a logical answer”she writes when talking about her discovery of the ketogenic diet.
So no more sugar. Marion eats a diet rich in healthy fats, such as avocado, nuts, olive oil, fatty fish, while eliminating refined carbohydrates. “My body consumes fat and not sugar to run the machine. Another fuel source is possible »she explains in her book.
Read: Olivier Maria: “Good fuel is a sine qua non condition for sporting performance”
The benefits of a suitable diet
The ketogenic diet not only allowed Marion Bartoli to lose weight, but also to free herself from the health problems that were plaguing her. She found better quality of sleep, greater mental clarity and a reduction in chronic inflammation. She also points out that this diet helped her regulate her appetite and stabilize her energy levels throughout the day. “In a flash, the fog lifts. Everything becomes clear, crystal clear”she writes while describing her experience.
A new mission: to inspire through nutrition
Today, Marion Bartoli wants to share her experience with as many people as possible, in particular with those who, like her, have struggled to find a solution to their health problems. “I wanted to build it like a refuge, a light at the end of the tunnel”. For her, the ketogenic diet is not just a diet, but a lifestyle that can transform the health of those who follow it.
Marion Bartoli is therefore no longer just a champion on the tennis courts, but also a champion of nutrition. Convinced of the impact that a well-chosen diet can have, she encourages those who encounter health difficulties to explore several dietary approaches, to listen to their body and not hesitate to change their habits. For her, ketogenic nutrition is a form of autonomy: it allows you to take control of your health and free yourself from traditional dietary patterns that do not suit everyone. “I hope that you will find some food for thought in my story and that you will be able to identify”she writes.
Beyond the story, his book is a source of information, with lots of advice and his favorite recipes.
She also wants to educate young athletes about the importance of nutrition from the start of their career. « Sports performanceshe emphasizes, is not only based on physical training, but also on nutrition, an aspect often underestimated in high-level sport. »
