Meal plan meets game plan when it comes to feeding an NFL team.
When you think about an NFL team preparing for the big game, you probably imagine them running over techniques for bone-crushing hits and practicing deep passes to the end zone, but equally important is what players are putting into their stomachs.
“My rookie year, I remember going into practice. I had to ask some older guys, ‘Hey, what are you eating before practice? Because I don’t feel the best right now. I feel slow. I don’t have much energy,’” New York Giants safety Julian Love told TODAY’s Harry Smith in a spot that aired Dec. 19.
“So then that’s when they put me on game to what a true pro is supposed to eat,” he added.
The Giants’ team kitchen opens up for players at 5 a.m. each day with a wide selection of foods, which are geared at providing nutritional value. And that can have a real effect on the field.
“Very rarely is nutrition going to be the No. 1 reason why you win. But it can become the reason why you lose,” said Steve Smith, the Giants director of sports and performance nutrition.
Smith said each player has his own vision when it comes to food.
“That’s the ideal goal. But the good part is that the best friend that I could possibly ever have is our kitchen staff,” he said. “Because they’re basically creating the physical representation of what I’m recommending.”
A healthy diet can go a long way for a pro football player, especially when he’s working to come back from an injury. Giants offensive lineman Nick Gates broke his leg during a game in 2021 and dropped 30 to 40 pounds. He needed to stock up on calories to get back to his ideal weight of more than 310 pounds.
“Eating the right things and eating healthy, and not just junk food and crappy food, to put the weight back on,” he said. “I needed good weight, not bad weight.”
The Giants have nine cooks, led by executive chef Angelo Basilone. His staff goes through 200 pounds of fish, 300 pounds of meat and 500 pounds of chicken each week. He says he’s determined to keep the players smiling while keeping their stomachs full.
“As long as they come in here and they’re eating and they’re happy, that’s the most important thing,” he said.
“I was once paid a compliment by one of the players that — we made oxtails the one day and he ate them. And he’s like, ‘This reminds me of my grandmother’s.’ So, if you can make that connection, something from home, then I won,” he shared.
The food looked so delicious that Harry Smith thinks kids might want to grow up to be an NFL player ... for the fine dining.
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Drew Weisholtz is a reporter for TODAY Digital, focusing on pop culture, nostalgia and trending stories. He has seen every episode of “Saved by the Bell” at least 50 times, longs to perfect the crane kick from “The Karate Kid” and performs stand-up comedy, while also cheering on the New York Yankees and New York Giants. A graduate of Rutgers University, he is the married father of two kids who believe he is ridiculous.
