New Delhi: Neeraj Chopra achieved another historic feat on Sunday, becoming the first Indian athlete to win a World Athletics Championships gold medal during the men’s javelin throw final event in Budapest, Hungary. Chopra’s second attempt in the final saw him launch the javelin to a distance of 88.17m, which remained the highest in the event.
Chopra’s disciplined life routine and dedication has helped him make this history. As per a report by ESPN, Chopra swears by a protein-rich diet and an intense fitness routine.
Chopra maintains a body fat percentage of around 10-10.5%, which is considered ideal for male javelin throwers as it provides them with more energy and explosive power. To achieve this, he follows a strict diet that is high in fruits and protein, the macronutrients that support muscle growth and maintain a healthy level of body fat.
Let’s take a look at all the details about Neeraj Chopra’s diet.
Neeraj Chopra’s diet:
Breakfast:
Neeraj Chopra tries to keep his diet simple. A wholesome breakfast, which fuels his training sessions, is key.
“I start my day with juice or coconut water. For breakfast I have three-four egg whites, two pieces of bread, a bowl of Dalia, and fruits,” Neeraj Chopra says.
Bread and omelette, especially, are his favourite and the javelin star had previously stated that he could eat these any day of the week.
Lunch:
At lunch, it is usually curd and rice for Neeraj, along with pulses, grilled chicken and salad. In between training sessions and gym, he snacks on dry fruits, especially almonds and washes them down with some fresh juice.
Dinner:
Dinner mostly consists of soup, boiled vegetables, and fruits. “I try to eat fruits and vegetables as much as possible,” he stated.
Salmon, a latest addition to the diet:
Salmon fish has been a recent addition to Neeraj Chopra’s diet chart and is fast becoming his choice of protein intake.
“It’s supposed to be good for you. I’ve started eating it recently. If I have to eat non-vegetarian food, I’ll prefer having some grilled salmon,” he told ESPN.
Chopra’s diet seems heavy on fruits and protein, the macro-nutrients that help build muscles as well as keep body fat at a healthy range. Chopra also uses protein supplements to meet his daily needs.
Cheat meals: churma, sweets and golgappas!
In the world of nutrition, the concept of cheat meals is pretty common.
A strict diet is often hard to maintain and becomes monotonous after a while so cheat meals make a diet more sustainable in the long run.
Cheat meals are not that common for Chopra, who tries to maintain his diet as religiously as possible.
But during the rare breaks, Chopra likes to indulge himself in churma, a Haryanvi delicacy made of crushed roti (Indian bread), sugar and ghee, or some sweets, especially kheer (sweetened rice with milk).
One of Chopra’s guilty pleasures is the popular Indian street food called golgappas, also called pani puri. It’s a crispy fried thin wafer with a filling of spiced mashed potatoes served with flavoured water.
“I think there is no harm in eating golgappas. It’s mostly water and most of your stomach gets filled with water. The papri is quite big but the amount of flour is very little. It’s mostly water that’s going inside of you. There is some amount of spice but that’s another matter,” Chopra told ESPN.
(With Inputs from ESPN and Olympics.com)