Feeding an NFL team takes a lot more than stockpiling 4,000 Uncrustables a week. Team dietitians have to fuel a wider range of body types than just about any other sport. Basketball rosters are mostly tall and lean, and soccer players tend to be light and trim. But in football, you've got 180-pound slot receivers, 280-pound heat-seeking linebackers, and linemen tipping the scales at 380 pounds, all of them expected to explode off the line and deliver play after play.
"It's such a wide range of athletes, body types, ages, backgrounds," says Ben Hawkins, head performance dietitian for the Minnesota Vikings. During training camp, Hawkins is managing the preferences and needs of 90 different athletes at once, planning their daily meals, prepping what they'll eat in hotels and on planes, and even liaising with players' personal chefs about what they'll eat at home.
"I'm dealing with guys that are bigger that need to maintain weight, but also guys that are bigger [and] need to lose weight. I'm dealing with guys that are 160 pounds, struggling to keep weight on…I run into so many different nutrition issues."
The challenges go far beyond taste or preference. Dietitians have to factor in everything from how a player's digestive system handles certain foods to religious restrictions. Injuries add another layer-specific foods and supplements can help reduce inflammation and speed recovery. And in some cases, like when a player had his gallbladder removed, the job gets even trickier, requiring a balance between the foods that support his health and the calories and macros he needs to keep performing on the field.
Regular guys, though, don't have to fuel to wrap up a 215-pound tailback or outrun a corner who can lay down a 4.3-second 40-yard dash. Most of us are like Hawkins himself, regular guys trying to fuel muscle growth, health, and recovery in our mere mortal-level workouts. Or, as Hawkins laments, we're not trying to tune our nutrition to our training.
"A lot of guys neglect fueling around training in general. I'd say the two biggest gaps I see are not fueling before a workout, so maybe they'll just fast or won't eat leading up to a workout. It's important to have carbs and a little protein before to fuel your body, make sure your muscles are filled with glycogen, so you can perform at your highest," he says. "And then they're neglecting recovery afterwards, which would be more protein and carbs afterwards to replace the energy we use."
Take a page from an NFL dietitian's playbook-this is how Hawkins eats before and after workouts to maximize performance and recovery.
Before a Workout: Get Energized with Simple Carbs
Hawkins says his pre-training fuel can change: If he's lagging, he might use a pre-workout with beta-alanine and caffeine. But he always includes some carbs. And if he's eating within 30 minutes of training, those are simple carbs, like sugars, so his body can access the energy quickly.
"That could be energy chews. That could be a Honey Stinger waffle, or anything with honey in it," he says. Some lifters, like veteran NCAA strength coach Bennie Wylie, like rice cakes with honey on them. "Anything that's a quick, simple carb is great. You get a better pump, your muscles are fueled, you have more energy, and you can go longer."
Hawkins' Post-Workout Smoothie
When his training's finished, Hawkins says he's got three goals in mind for his post-recovery meal: Easy-to-digest protein for muscle recovery, carbs to restock his muscles' energy stores, and some healthy fats, which can help with muscle protein synthesis, the process by which your body builds more muscle.
To get all this goodness in, Hawkins relies on a smoothie made with protein powder, peanut butter, fruit, and flax seeds. Here's the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tbsp (or one small spoonful) peanut butter
2 scoops vanilla protein powder (Hawkins likes Thorne, but any NSF-certified powder works)
1 tsp creatine monohydrate powder
1 tbsp flaxseeds
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