What's For Lunch in the NFL? Nutrient Timing and Codfish...

Written by Thomas Jackson | 17 August 2010

Ask any player in any NFL camp this summer what’s their favorite time of the practice day, and chances are they will answer: “Lunch.”  Specifically, they’re referring to the 2-hour break between morning and afternoon practices. It’s a time to take off the helmet and shoulder pads, cool down, stretch out in the shade, chat with family and friends who are briefly allowed inside the ropes, and of course…eat a well-prepared meal from the luncheon buffet.

I became curious as to what NFL players are being served for lunch these days, and specifically who’s in charge of planning nutrition for the 2010 Eagles and the meals in general at training camp.

 Jeanie Subach is the Sports Nutritionist for the Eagles and the 76ers. Here she speaks to students at U. of Delaware.  Subach is also a professor at West Chester State and Immaculata  U.  Subach is a Board Certified Sports Nutritionist, one of the first 49 such certifications in the nation.

Sue James is the Sports Nutritionist for the Baltimore Ravens. Here she was at Ravens camp last week reviewing the plate of LS Matt Katula. 

Jeanie Subach wears many hats as a nutritionist for the Eagles.  Her job includes working with the coaches and the players and their families.
"I work with the strength and conditioning coaches, especially in the off-season, to create menus for the players during training camp," she said. "I also deal with supplement issues. I do individual consultations as well as consultations with spouses, because they're the ones feeding these players in the long run." 

What’s different this year, if anything, in NFL Nutritional Science? Here's what Subach tells us:

It’s called “Nutrient Timing”…and according to Subach and Russell Adams, well-known in the San Diego area for his healthy obsession with sports nutrition, it's the road nearly every team in the NFL is taking this season. 

NFL players, like every other corner of America in recent years, had previously bought into the low-carbohydrate, high-protein fad, which dovetailed nicely with teams' longstanding practice of piling on the red meat. Now, much like other health and flab-conscious folks, pro teams are looking for the latest word in healthy eating. Low-carb has given way to a new concept called nutrient timing, which stresses eating precise portions at exactly the right time of day in relation to exercise.

Some nutritionists argue that you don't have to be a 240-pound linebacker to reap the benefits. Meal timing is predicated on the notion that if two people exercise the same amount and consume the same number of calories daily, but one eats more frequently, the person who eats more frequently will burn more fat and retain more muscle.

The idea behind the "nutrient timing" diet is that, during and immediately after a workout, the body is exposed to a "tissue breakdown environment," says John Ivy, the author of "Nutrient Timing: The Future of Sports Nutrition." He believes that you can reverse and take advantage of that condition by taking a timely food intake that combines carbohydrates and protein, preferably with a carb-to-protein ratio of between 2-to-1 and 4-to-1. The carbohydrates, he argues, replenish depleted energy stores, while the protein stimulates tissue repair and growth.

Nutrient timing is the next big thing on NFL menus. The logic: Strenuous exercise breaks down energy stores and muscle tissue, and the best way to sustain energy and repair and grow that muscle is to continually replenish the body with a combination of carbohydrates and protein--- before, during and after the workout. People who take a protein-carbohydrate supplement immediately after working out can increase protein synthesis (or muscle growth) fivefold, according to Ivy, chairman of the kinesiology department at the University of Texas...

At a time when pro sports has seen a widespread crackdown on the use of illegal performance-enhancing substances, teams are placing more importance than ever on understanding how diet and nutrition affects muscle growth and tissue repair. Some teams have had dieticians on staff for decades, but the 1990's explosion of supplements caused more and more teams to turn to nutrition professionals to decipher what was out there. "Snacks won't ever trump sacks", as Russell Adams quips, on teams' list of concerns, but more than ever, teams are devoting energy and resources to grabbing even the tiniest edge over the competition.

So what's the deal with the current codfish craze?

Apparently, cod has been declared "the perfect low-fat protein meal" by NFL nutritionists. The Cincinnati Bengals (Eagles' next preseason opponent) got a lesson on the merits of baked cod when they filed in for lunch on the first day of training camp this summer. The red-pepper coulis sauce, according to the menu board prepared by team nutritionist Michele Macedonio, has plenty of beta-carotene for endurance and lots of vitamin C for wound healing and muscle repair. "I wouldn't know what red-pepper coulis is," says Bengals strength-and-conditioning coach Chip Morton, "but it's a power meal."

Okay, codfish for lunch... what about the rest of the day? A player who's adopted the nutrient-timing approach pretty much can't go anywhere without getting handed something to eat or drink. He'll load up on protein (maybe a peanut-butter sandwich or some yogurt) within 30 minutes before a workout, drink something that contains both carbs and protein every 15-20 minutes during a workout, and throw down a postworkout snack. He shouldn't nap for too long after practice because another meal a couple hours later is crucial, says Ms. Mary Bonci of the Steelers. And if he chooses to play pick-up basketball after dinner, as many Steelers players like to do, he had better not go to bed without eating another protein snack.

Jeanie Subach explained a method she uses that metaphors proper dieting to football terminology. Her "Foods to play by" include touchdown foods, field goal foods and penalty foods. Her players can score points by sticking to whole grains, fruits and proteins. If they pick fat, sugar and sodium, however, they're bound to fumble.

Ms. Julie Berning says it took her years to persuade the Broncos to serve breakfast in the meeting and film rooms, which meant many players used to hit the practice field on an empty stomach. "That really ticked me off," Ms. Berning says. The training staff finally implemented morning feedings before the 1998 season, when the Broncos won their first of two consecutive Super Bowls. Breakfast has been served ever since.

The Chicago Bears, meanwhile, use a computer program that factors in the player's position, body composition and diet to determine the amount -- and type -- of calories each player should consume per day. Bears long-snapper Patrick Mannelly, now a disciple of strength-and-conditioning coordinator Rusty Jones's regimented and individualized nutrition program, says that when he entered the NFL eight years ago he ate whatever was in front of him whenever he wanted and "just tried to exercise out the bad stuff I was putting in."

Nutrition in the NFL has gotten much more individualized. A growing number of teams, including the Bengals, now use a hand-held device called the BodyGem that measures a player's resting metabolic rate to determine how many calories he needs. The team nutritionist, Ms. Macedonio, uses that reading to tweak each player's diet based on other factors like the positions they play.