The dietary factor has allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to experience one of the peak periods of his career after the age of 30 and to remain an elite athlete to this day. And looking how fit are theese players is necessary if you want to place a bet with no deposit bonus codes.
What Ronaldo Eats and How
"A good workout must be combined with a good diet," said the superstar footballer in one of his interviews.
"I adhere to a diet high in protein, with plenty of whole grain carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables, and avoid sweets. Eat regularly. If you train regularly, it's important to maintain high energy levels to fuel your body for better performance. Sometimes I eat up to six small meals a day to make sure I have enough energy for each training session at the highest level," he said.
The frequency of meals helps maintain a high metabolism. Ronaldo follows a Mediterranean diet. The foundation of his diet consists of whole foods, a large amount of vegetables, fruits, and plenty of protein: lean chicken, fish, and eggs. Red meat is rarely present in the player's diet.
Young Juventus player Dauda Peeters shared Ronaldo's diet: "He always eats the same thing. Broccoli, chicken, and rice. With liters of water, and of course, without Coca-Cola." By the way, there is a separate story about Cristiano's relationship with the famous soda brand. During the 2020 European Championship, Ronaldo caused a scandal when he demonstratively removed Coke from the table during one of the press conferences and showed a bottle of water.
In turn, the chef of the Portuguese national team, Elio Loureiro, noted the influence of Ronaldo's mother on his diet: "Ronaldo consumes about three thousand calories a day. The diet is based on fish, seafood, and vegetables, and the main cooking methods are grilling and baking. He loves dorado, sea bass, and Portuguese bacalhau-à-brás (cod with egg and vegetables) prepared by his mother Dolores, but he can't eat it every day because it contains five hundred calories."
Ronaldo's Diet Impressed Evra, Manchester United Players, and Motivated Holland
Ronaldo's absolute discipline in terms of nutrition has been publicly confirmed by his teammates more than once. For example, in his first stint at Manchester United, the Portuguese puzzled French defender Patrice Evra.
"Once I visited Ronaldo. I'll tell you, never go to lunch with him, because with Cristiano you will get one of the most boring lunches: it's salad, regular chicken, and water. There's not even carbonated water here. After that, we went to the garden, did some training, swam, went to the sauna, and at some point I looked at him and said, 'Brother, we just finished training, why do we need a second one?'" Evra recalled.
Upon returning to England, Ronaldo again made an impression on his Manchester United teammates. Goalkeeper Lee Grant evaluated how Cristiano's arrival changed the players' perspective on nutrition:
"On Friday night after dinner, each footballer can treat themselves to apple pie, cream, chocolate cakes, or any other dessert. But not a single footballer touched the sweets. It never happened before. Everyone was interested in what Cristiano eats. What's on his plate? He only has healthy foods: quinoa, avocado, and a couple of hard-boiled eggs. So, nobody dared to take unhealthy food. This guy is in amazing shape. He has almost the best body in the team... after me."
Ronaldo's state of form, even at his not-so-young age, inspired even his younger competitors to reconsider their diets. For example, Manchester City forward Erling Haaland copied Ronaldo's diet and decided to adhere to it to improve his performance.
Despite moving to Al-Nasr, where the level of the local league differs significantly from the Premier League and other top European leagues, Cristiano did not relax his dietary requirements, and he has already put his teammates on this regimen. This was shared by Al-Nasr dietitian Jose Blesa:
"Cristiano has a very good education in nutrition and consumes a wide variety of products to have energy for every game and training, without any of the strange interventions that are now in vogue. Every conversation with him is a lesson. We met and talked about his diet, how he understands the importance of it and rest for performance. He wears two rest trackers - a ring and a bracelet.
Since he arrived here, all the players have started training more and following a stricter diet... I haven't seen a club where players improve their body composition by almost 90 percent every time: they have less fat, more muscles, and they do all the exercises."
Titles, goals, endorsements, a celebrity lifestyle - these are undoubtedly Ronaldo's legacy, but the fact remains that the Portuguese player has fundamentally changed footballers' perception, even in details such as diet.