Kawhi Leonard Quotes

I try not to eat too much, but I always get hungry before a match. I make sure I have enough fuel in my body. I'll eat pasta and a little bit of protein usually. I'm pretty much eating a full meal.

If I'm playing in the morning, I'll get some carbs early: porridge with chopped banana. If I'm playing in the afternoon, I'll start with less carbs and have some eggs and fruit for breakfast, then a light lunch about 90 minutes before I play, so I don't feel sluggish or full.

Usually, about 2 hours before a game, I stuff in a nice peanut butter and jelly with chocolate milk.

I like to eat a lot of fruit and starchy things to give myself more energy before games.

Some guys like to eat two or three different times a day before the game. I eat once, and that's it.

I try to eat a lot of carbs, especially the day of the game, because it fills you up. I have my breakfast and I have a huge lunch before I play. For me it's always having pasta and chicken to get some protein in me, so I don't play on an empty stomach at night. The day before a game it's high protein, mostly, with fish or steak, but nothing crazy.

Before a game, I avoid having a heavy meal so that I don't feel sleepy at the board. You eat to be healthy, and that generally takes care of everything. Also, you can't be too finicky, since at tournaments you tend to eat at restaurants here and there. But, as long as you're eating sensibly, it's all good.

The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you're hungry again.

I remember playing a high school basketball game where I didn't eat anything for breakfast. I ate, you know, like a PB and J and some chips for lunch and nothing before the game. I didn't make it through the first quarter. I wish I hadn't have learned that way, but it did leave a lasting impression.

The more you put in your body, the more you have to regulate it with insulin. So later kickoffs, you're talking about breakfast, lunch and a pregame meal, so that's more food you've got to be aware of and what you put in your body. A noon game, light breakfast, a little fruit and some insulin, and I'm good to go.

When I was competing, I cut out red meat but only because I felt it took too long to digest, so I stuck to chicken and fish.

Pregame, you definitely want to carb up.

I always have oatmeal before training or a match. It's easy on the stomach, offers so many vitamins and minerals, and is slow-burning, so it won't leave me hungry at half-time.

In order for me to perform the best I can out on the field, I have to fuel my body with the proper nutrients to be able to do all the running. I'm running four or five miles every game, so it's a lot. Even at halftime, I take electrolytes and have half a peanut-butter-and-jelly or whatever is sitting there just to keep my engine running.

Because I don't like to play on a full stomach, I try to eat a bigger meal in the morning and less throughout the day leading up to the game.

I don't like feeling full when I start a game, so that's why I have a bigger meal in morning or four hours before game.

On a typical gameday I eat pasta, salad and drink lots of water.

If you wait too long between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner, you're more likely to be ravenous and overeat and/or make poor food choices.

The problem I used to have is that I would eat in the morning, get busy training, and then maybe I'd have a shake or two throughout the day, but I wouldn't really eat anything. Then, at night, I would just kind of eat a larger meal or two, but by my second training session, I was usually kind of beat up or worn down.

When I was training for the Olympics, I didn't eat the way I should have. I missed out on much-needed protein and opted for every easy carb.

I need my food to keep my energy up, so I can't really diet.

During the season, one of the most important things to eat is the carbs. Protein's really important, too, but it's the carbs that are important because I have to consistently refuel for the next day.

I like meat and carbohydrates.

I snack on fruit and nuts. In the middle of my long workouts, I'll have a protein shake.

You don't really want to load up a whole lot, probably anything more than four hours before the race. I needed something to make me feel full, but I certainly didn't want it to make me feel stuffed.