{"id":544532,"date":"2026-03-25T14:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/544532\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T14:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:54:14","slug":"minnesota-timberwolves-center-rudy-gobert-credits-diet-for-his-successful-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/544532\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert credits diet for his successful career"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS \u2013 Rudy Gobert<\/a> passed a long table of food outside the Miami Heat\u2019s locker room that had a variety of typical choices on his way out of the Target Center.<\/p>\n

While famished after a win, the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> center patiently waited to go home for a postgame meal from his personal chef that fits his heathy daily diet. There was not going to be a celebratory glass of wine or a spirit, either.<\/p>\n

Gobert has played in 69 of the Timberwolves\u2019 72 games and is on pace to reach 70 games played for the fourth consecutive season. The four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year credits his pristine diet as a key reason for his health and longevity during his basketball career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big part of it. It impacts you short term, but more than short term it impacts your long term,\u201d Gobert told Andscape. \u201cA lot of the injuries or things that happen to the body are linked to inflammation. So, what you eat is going to heal you or slowly kill you. There\u2019s no in-between.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if you eat food that nourishes you, that removes inflammation [from] your body, obviously you\u2019re giving your joints, your muscles, your tendons, all your cells \u2014 you\u2019re giving them opportunity to recover better. So, obviously you lengthen your career and your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gobert is 33 and is close to playing 900 career games in his 13-year NBA career. At 7-foot-1 and 258 pounds, he\u2019s averaging 11 points, 11.5 rebounds (fourth in the NBA) and 1.6 blocks (sixth) per game this season. A three-time NBA All-Star, he doesn\u2019t have plans to retire anytime soon. Gobert, All-Star Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves have NBA title aspirations after advancing to the Western Conference finals the past two seasons. They will face the Houston Rockets on ESPN tonight (9:30 p.m. ET).<\/p>\n

Minnesota (44-28) is competing with the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets for the fourth seed in the West playoffs. The Timberwolves are 5-5 in their past 10 games, but they\u2019re coming off a surprising win at Boston on Sunday without Edwards, who was out with knee inflammation for the fourth straight game.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day I think about winning a championship,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cWe know what is holding us back. It\u2019s really on us to work on that and get that s\u2014 done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RudyRudy Gobert (left) is averaging 11 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game for the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

David Berding\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gobert\u2019s healthy diet was initially inspired from a nutritionist who spoke to the Cholet Basket junior team he played for as a teen. The San Quentin, France, native said that was his first education on nutrition. So, after Gobert suffered an ankle injury during his last season with Cholet Basket in 2012-13, he heeded the nutritionist\u2019s advice to invest in a chef despite not making much in salary at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was early in my career. Nutrition was very important to the way I play, the way I recover,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cBeing a skinny player, very early on I had to do a lot of work getting some good weight, some muscle. Even before the draft, I got a chef. It was just a lady that was coming to my place to cook in Chalet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was paying her $1,000 a month. It was a big part of my salary back then, but I realized that it was a good investment. And now, obviously being curious about nutrition, I keep learning. And it\u2019s incredible how important it is what you put in your body for an athlete, for anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gobert\u2019s height, game, potential and nutrition regimen played a role in him being selected 27th overall in the 2013 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets, with his rights being acquired by the Utah Jazz. He made a point to continue his healthy path when he came to the NBA, and he\u2019s on \u201canother level\u201d now 13 seasons in. Gobert says he has a nutritionist, a full-time chef and a naturopathic doctor, who combines modern scientific knowledge with traditional, natural and non-toxic therapies.<\/p>\n

Gobert says a big key to his health is eating \u201creal foods\u201d and staying away from processed foods. Eating \u201cultra-processed foods on a regular basis increases a person\u2019s risk of health complications, including cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, obesity and Type 2 diabetes,\u201d according to the American Medical Association. Gobert says family income certainly can play a role in what people can afford to eat, but \u201cknowledge is power\u201d when it comes to making healthy food choices.<\/p>\n

France center Rudy Gobert is a hero in his hometown \u2013 AndscapeRead now<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, in America it\u2019s much harder, right?\u201d Gobert said. \u201cA lot of it is connected to your income. Fast food in America is cheaper than real food. So, a lot of people don\u2019t really have a choice. They still have a choice whether they want to drink soda or they want to drink water. Or people want to eat bad snacks or they want to just eat meals. So, it\u2019s just knowledge. We have to all individually \u2026 just always be curious about what you put in your body because this impacts your whole life. And I don\u2019t think it takes away the pleasure, because a lot of times people think because you\u2019re healthy, you don\u2019t enjoy it. I enjoy every meal I have. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not particular in terms of the meals and stuff, but I am particular in terms of only eating real food. In America, it\u2019s a little harder, but we try to make sure that we source everything from as clean as possible. I think he\u2019s [personal chef] been paying off over time. Those types of things, they pay off. You see the results over years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gobert says his diet has also had an impact on his family and friends. They have told him that they feel better after staying at his home. Gobert added that he has been particular about the food that his two young children eat to aid their physical and mental development.<\/p>\n

The way Gobert sees it \u2014 for him, his family, friends and children \u2014 education is the key to a smart diet.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think being healthy is about taking a million supplements and all that knowledge. A lot of times it\u2019s just knowledge, just being aware of what you put in your body and for kids, especially the first three years of their life,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cIt\u2019s very important what they put in their body. And it affects their behavior, it affects their brain, their immune system. And we don\u2019t get taught none of that stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of amazing people now in the world that I think [are] just educating about nutrients, what you put in your body, what you shouldn\u2019t put in your body, and then it\u2019s about doing your best to what you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RudyRudy Gobert (right) says part of a good diet is making smart choices and being educated on the food he eats.<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Kyle Phillips<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s a typical game day meal plan for Gobert?<\/p>\n

For breakfast, Gobert says he loves to have eggs and avocado, a glass of warm water and fresh squeezed fruit juice with carrot, ginger, turmeric, cayenne pepper included. He doesn\u2019t eat pork. He typically will eat grass fed steak on a regular basis, but not on game day. He also enjoys whole wheat pasta and fish for lunch and\/or pregame. <\/p>\n

While disciplined, Gobert adds that eating is \u201cpleasure\u201d for him as he \u201creally enjoys food.\u201d He occasionally cheats with his favorite desserts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discipline, everyone\u2019s got layers. We all got layers,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cI used to love eating desserts all the time. I don\u2019t eat as much, but I know that if I eat a dessert once in a while, it\u2019s fine. I don\u2019t drink any alcohol anymore at all. I stopped drinking a year ago. It\u2019s just a spiritual thing. So, I\u2019m challenging myself on these things. And I\u2019m probably happier than I\u2019ve ever been right now. And I\u2019m eating less snacks. That is the beauty of discipline. It\u2019s like taking away the short-term pleasure for a deeper happiness, a deeper accomplishment. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way you fuel your body impacts the way you sleep, the way you think, the way you perform, your immune system. It impacts everything. So, if I\u2019m putting in so much work every day to perfect my craft, this is part of it. This is the power of yourself. The one thing with me is I really believe in the power of nature and for doing things as naturally as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marc J. Spears is the senior NBA writer for Andscape. He used to be able to dunk on you, but he hasn\u2019t been able to in years and his knees still hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2013 Rudy Gobert passed a long table of food outside the Miami Heat\u2019s locker room that had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-544532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}