Multiple Time DPOY Award Winner Discusses Secret to His Longevity

Being great in the NBA is a difficult thing to do. Being great for a sustained period is even harder. To keep your mind and body sharp, year after year, is no easy feat. The NBA game is getting harder and harder, and the 82-game season makes it very difficult to stay healthy year after year. 

Rudy Gobert is one of the few players who have been able to stay relatively healthy throughout their career. He’s also been able to play at an elite level, especially on the defensive end, for more than a decade. 

Gobert recently revealed his secret to a long and healthy career. 

"If you eat food that nourishes you, that removes inflammation [from] your body, obviously you’re giving your joints, your muscles, your tendons, all your cells — you’re giving them opportunity to recover better. So, obviously you lengthen your career and your life…The way you fuel your body impacts the way you sleep, the way you think, the way you perform, your immune system. It impacts everything. I don’t drink any alcohol anymore at all. I stopped drinking a year ago. It’s just a spiritual thing. So, I’m challenging myself on these things. And I’m probably happier than I’ve ever been right now. And I’m eating less snacks. That is the beauty of discipline. It’s like taking away the short-term pleasure for a deeper happiness, a deeper accomplishment."

A lot of NBA players have changed their diets in an effort to decrease inflammation. There are tons of stars over the last decade who have moved towards vegan and vegetarian diets to reduce inflammation. 

As the science on what certain foods and alcohol does to the body gets better, so will NBA player diets. With millions of dollars on the line, players are starting to take what they put into their bodies very seriously.