Issue 135
December 2015
Ryan Bader eats smart so he’s in his powerful prime on fight night
Q. What are your fight-camp foods?
A. For me it’s just real food. I’m not one of those guys that has to cut too much. I’ll have my fun after a fight, eat what I want to eat for a couple of weeks, but then I just go back to eating real food. Stuff that’s coming from the earth – not processed. I try to eat different foods all the time. I don’t eat chicken asparagus every night. Three days a week I’ll try to have fish, vegetables, some quinoa, brown rice and sweet potato, which are a big staple in my diet. They give me the carbs I need to keep my body running to that third practice of the day.
Q. How do you start your day?
A. In the morning I’ll eat eggs and healthy fats like avocado. I’ll use coconut oil to cook with. I’ll do a green shake with as many greens as I can in there. I probably drink too much coffee, but I don’t get too crazy.
Q. Do you ever have a cheat meal?
A. Oh, yeah, for sure. In camp I try not to eat too many because you get to the point where you’re being so healthy, you really do feel like crap if you cheat. But definitely after, I’ll try to eat healthy during the week, but then splurge on whatever I want. My deal is, we’re here in Arizona, so Mexican food is authentic and awesome, so for me, I’ll get ridiculous. I’ll order a burrito and then two tacos, and wolf all those down, then feel like crap, but it was satisfying.
Q. Do you go crazy once you’ve weighed in?
A. I’ll see a lot of guys that will go straight for the pizza even though they haven’t been eating that at all. I eat as much as I want, but I stick to the same thing I’ve been eating because I know my body’s going to respond after weigh-ins. After the fight, that Sunday’s all about enjoying what you haven’t been enjoying the last two months.
Q. Do you cook your own food?
A. I do a lot of the healthier stuff and I can make a mean rotisserie chicken, with peppers, soy sauce and vinegar over some jasmine rice with asparagus. I try to do different things because I get bored eating in training camp. I’ll spice it up a little bit. My wife cooks pretty well too, so between us we get it done.
Q. Who’s a better cook: you or your wife?
A. Hmm. I should probably say my wife. If we put our minds to it we can both get it done, but on a day-to-day basis she definitely is. Maybe in terms of imagination, I would say me.
Q. Is there anything you hate about your diet?
A. I try to drink at least two gallons of water a day (sighs), if not more. Sometimes I just get sick of water. I want to have a soda or something, but I definitely don’t drink that in training camp.
LOVES
Rotisserie chicken
Not the healthiest way to cook your bird, but tasty and still packed with 26g of protein per 100g.
THE STATS
Sweet potato will give you your carb fix with 20g in every 100g.
THE FACTS
Ryan might hate eating asparagus all the time, but with just 0.1g of fat per 100g serving, it’s ideal for when he’s trying to
cut weight.
THE INFO
Ryan’s right: don’t eat pizza after weigh-ins. Stick to small portions of easily-digestible foods with high-carb content like fruits, vegetables and grains.
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