“It’s an adjustment for everybody,” said veteran tackle Andrew Whitworth. “Guys have to play harder and faster. (To do that) guys have to fuel themselves the right way.”
For wide receiver A.J. Green that means relying on Chef Kevin, whom he said normally cooks at the Atlanta restaurant Ocean Prime, but now prepares his meals three times daily when he’s back home in Georgia.
This is the first year Green has hired his own personal chef, though last season – and again now while he’s living in Cincinnati – he said he and a few other Bengals players relied on the services of “Carlos’s Lady.”
By that he meant Chef Kymberly, the personal food preparer of Bengals stellar defensive end, Carlos Dunlap.
During the team’s lunch break Tuesday, Green stood at his locker and talked about the various advantages of having a personal chef, something many top athletes in all sports now have in their employ.
“Early in the morning when I get up I don’t like to eat breakfast,” he said. “I might grab a (protein) shake, but I feel better if I get a meal in before a workout.”
Green said he found Chef Kevin through his Atlanta barber, who, believe it or not, also uses the personal chef. Green believed proper eating would help him bulk up a bit for this coming season, something he thought he needed even though he has been an All Pro performer. catching 260 passes for over 3,800 yards in his first three NFL seasons.
“Sometimes he makes me eat stuff I don’t like, like a lot of green vegetables I don’t like to eat. He just wants me to try it out.”
When he was growing up, Green said “my daddy did all the cookin’, but it wasn’t healthy cookin’. It was fried chicken, stuff like that.”
That memory made him salivate … and laugh: “My fiancé won’t allow fried chicken in the house. It’s tough, but I try to be healthier.”
He said while he now drinks very little soda and doesn’t have a sweet tooth, there is one thing he won’t deny himself:
“I love got hot dogs. I can’t get rid of that. Hot dogs with catsup, chili and onions.”
That’s a guilty pleasure, but not a regular staple. Whitworth said it’s the same for a lot of other players in the dressing room, as well:
“For the most part, this is one of the most health conscious teams I’ve ever seen when it comes to what they put in their body. They’re eating properly, eating healthy. You’re starting to see so many guys (in the league) who are big and athletic and can move and are in good shape.
“To be in the NFL you have to make good choices if you want it to last. Mostly I think we eat better than the general population. Guys focus on the food they put in their bodies because it is their fuel.”
One well known exception in the Bengals dressing room in years past was receiver Chad Johnson, who lived on a fast food diet. That may have had something to do with why he often cramped in games, but for a long time he also was one of the best receivers in the league.
“I was never able to figure how Chad was able to do it,” Dunlap said shaking his head. “He was very bad.”
Dunlap said he grew up “on Bojangles and Hardee’s … That was my meal every day. I used to eat fast food two and three times a day. Now I’ve cut out all fast food. I’ve tried to eliminate fried food, too.”
He said his mindset changed when he joined the Bengals in 2010 as a rookie out of the University of Florida and saw some of the veteran players – guys like Terrell Owens, Leon Hall and Morgan Trent – all had chefs:
“I talked to them and they said eating home-cooked meals, eating healthy rather than fast food, gave them more energy and helped them prolong their careers. That’s when I started looking for a chef and I actually got (Trent’s)”
Chef Kymberly, who he said also has a bridal salon and catering company in Cincinnati, has taught him to eat healthier: “The majority of food I eat is all organic, gluten free. I try to cook in the healthiest way possible. I use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. It’s helped me lean up and play with more energy, (too.)
“A lot of the guys kept seeing me with my chef and they’d ask me about her, so I put Vontaze Burfict on to her. And I had Devon Still with her and AJ, too. There was like six guys with her. They all loved it and they noticed the difference.”
One guy who doesn’t rely on a chef is Kevin Zeitler, the Bengals 6-foot-4, 315-pound guard out of Wisconsin. He said he has become more and more conscious about his diet, especially after last season when he was injured and picked up weight.
Zeitler said he met up with Jim Riggs, the fitness and supplement guru who runs Power 3 Fitness in Cincinnati, and gave him a nutrition plan to follow.
“As long as I can go to Kroger’s, I don’t need a chef,” Zeitler said. “I prep all my own food. On weekends I cook anywhere from 10 to 15 pounds of chicken and a whole bunch of steaks. I have my vegetables prepped and cut and ready to go so, when I need them, I can throw them in a pan and cook them up. I know what to eat, when to eat and just what to take in.”
Dunlap smiled at the mention of offensive lineman and food:
“Zeitler is the one offensive lineman who is meal conscious. He’s a rare breed. He’s a body builder. But the rest of them, no, they’ll eat anything. Offensive linemen are supposed to be big and ugly.”
But these days with the new up-tempo Bengals, they’re also supposed to be quicker and more fit.
That’s why, by the time the season starts, Dunlap figures a few of them might even want the number for “his lady,” Chef Kymberly, as well.
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