Ever wondered, what does a champion athlete like Neeraj Chopra eats in a day? Well, the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist has ended the suspense and revealed his diet. Chopra said he likes to have simple, home-cooked food when in India since he doesn’t want to gain weight.
Neeraj Chopra’s Diet
“I prefer simple lunch like veg biryani, daal chawal, dahi or raita, roti, paneer, etc. I mostly eat vegetarian food while in India. However, due to the requirements of the sport, and its availability in foreign countries, Neeraj had to become a non-vegetarian. “I realised that I need to eat them (non-vegetarian food) while training abroad. You get a lot of vegetarian food in India but not outside. You have to take mostly supplements while training outside the country,” Chopra said at a promotional event in Delhi on Tuesday.
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“Supplements support the nutrition part (for an athlete), but a natural diet is also very important so, I started taking non-vegetarian food,” said the 25-year-old Olympic and World champion.
Recalling a funny incident, Neeraj said, “It was when I was training in Poland. I got rice, leafy vegetables, etc. You can say that (it was) like the things buffalo eat in villages. A combination of natural diet and supplements is very important, that helps in training and in recovery.”
Neeraj also pointed out the foods he likes to eat as his cheat meals. “I like to have tea. But I don’t get tea for five months when I train abroad, so I take tea while in India, at home and so I complete the quota while in India.”
“I can have a little bit of sweets, it’s free time now. I didn’t have sweets the whole year (while training). But churma has desi ghee so you can have it when you are doing a proper workout but not otherwise.”
This has been a great year for the Indian athlete, where he won the Asian Games, and the World Championships title. Apart from that, he stood second in the Diamond League Final.
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