You are what you eat, as they say. And no one knows this better than a professional footballer. Eating well is just as important as training well. In fact, the latter doesn't happen without the former.
Ronaldo （Swordfish, tuna & Chicken)
The Portuguese superstar is in incredible shape and is still one of the world's top athletes at 36 years old.
"I eat a high protein diet, with lots of wholegrain carbs, fruit and vegetables, and avoid sugary foods." The Portugal international has a personal dietician who has worked with him ever since his Real Madrid days, eating six small meals a day – or one every three to four hours.
But behind the scenes it takes a lot of hard work. From his diet, to exercise routine to sleep and rest, Ronaldo leads the most disciplined of lifestyles.
He can eat up to SIX meals a day, with fish a big part of his diet.
Swordfish, tuna and braised cod are particular favourites. He regards chicken as "magical" due to its high protein and low fat content.
For breakfast Ronaldo will eat ham and cheese and low-fat yoghurt.
If he doesn't have it for brekkie, the Juventus star will wolf down avocado toast for snacks during the day. Now we show you Ronaldo's typical daily diet.
Lunch No1 could consist of chicken and salad, while No2 might be fish - maybe tuna with salad, eggs and olives.
Dinner will see the football legend fill his boots with meat or fish, maybe breaking them up in two separate sittings.
Steak, swordfish or the Lisbon speciality of Bacalao a la Brasa - a mixture of braised cod, onions, thinly sliced potatoes and scrambled eggs should see him through till bedtime.
Once tucked up, Ronaldo will ensure he has eight hours of sleep each night. That's in addition to FIVE naps he will take during the day.
Messi (Whole grains, fruit & vegetables)
Messi has identified five key foods – water, olive oil, whole grains, fresh fruit and fresh vegetables – as the foundation for Messi's dietary regime. "Also very good are nuts and seeds,” his nutritionist Poser explained and has also advised his client to cut down on the sugar. 'Sugar is the worst thing for the muscles.'
In 2014, Messi began working with Italian nutritionist Giuliano Poser. He changed Messi's diet to improve his fitness while ageing. Messi’s diet was created to cut back on sugar. If you think Messi actually drinks Pepsi because he stars in the soft drink brand's commercials, then think again.
By keeping all the animal products off his plate, Messi switched to a vegan diet a few years ago for improving his performances not only in the La Liga but also as a football player in general. And just like Aguero, he's reportedly only vegan during the football season.
His transition to this particular diet has given made him lose 3 kilograms worth of bodyweight and has improved his speed to a greater extent. He is known to include a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables in his meals.
Bellerin (Vegan diet)
According to The Athletic, Arsenal's Hector Bellerin has adopted a vegan diet since 2016. While the right-back admitted that he gained knowledge about veganism through Netflix documentaries
Bellerin shocked the Arsenal fans when he ditched all the animal products due to the effect on the physical health and toxication. Bellerin switched to a vegan diet just for a trial, but it churned out better results and has continued to consume the plant-based diet ever since.
“Being a professional footballer means your diet has to be absolutely on point,” he says during the Veganuary video. I was already eating meat less and less when I started watching documentaries like What the Health.
“I realized then that there were athletes out there that were not just vegetarian, but actually vegan. So I started researching and found out that a vegan diet wasn’t just suitable for me, it was actually better for my body. So I switched.
“My family’s family and they eat meat with almost every meal, but I wanted to try veganism to see if it could help me achieve my full potential, and it did – really quickly.”
According to Bellerin, the diet helped with inflammation and recovery between games.
“Health is not the only reason I’m vegan,” he adds. “It was the ground zero, but now there are other reasons that push me to do it.
“The sustainability of the environment and animal cruelty now motivate me just as much as health.'“The way I feel physically and mentally, ''knowing I’m doing the right things, makes me really happy to be a vegan.”
Lewandowski （Vegatables, tuna & avocado)
According to the newspaper El País, the Pole starts his meals the other way around, that is, always for dessert, in addition his wife has a table in which he combines the food so that he never goes over calories.
Avoid gluten and lactose, and eat tuna for breakfast, some of the things that made him stronger, that led him to his proper weight and, therefore, to play better. In moments of recovery, vegetables and avocado are part of the dinners of the Bayern Munich point man.
Neymar (Protein shake, turkey & blackberries)
Neymar prefers to drink whey protein in the morning, before and after his workout. There are three fried eggs and spinach with slices of lean turkey for his breakfast.
There is a mid-morning meal for him, which consists of a glass of protein shake with a handful of sunflower seeds and almonds. You can see that every meal of his has a portion of protein in it.
Lunch of Neymar is a tasty treat with turkey meatball and asparagus-like green chutney. He also takes half of a sweet potato with this meal.
Evening snacks are turkey with peanut butter and some sunflower seeds.
In the dinner, Neymar takes white fish with chopped boiled cabbage. After dinner dessert is his favorite so he takes smoothie made with fruit juice, carrot juice, and whey protein with almonds, blackberries, and half avocado is thrown into it.
Neymar, being a youngster loves his fries. He takes them on cheat day along with pizza.