- Cooper Kupp said he started only eating farm-to-table meat, and ocean-to-table fish this year.
- Kupp said he used to eat junk food like tacos and pizza.
- But after switching his diet, Kupp had a historic season and is on his way to the Super Bowl.
Cooper Kupp says his wife Anna switched him to a stricter diet this past year, and it’s helped him become the best wide receiver in the league and lead the Los Angeles Rams back to the Super Bowl.
The 28-year-old NFL star told ESPN that he now relies on a clean eating philosophy, eating farm-to-table meat and vegetables and ocean-to-table fish. He adopted the new food habits because of his wife, who helped him learn the science behind nutrition and how it can impact his performance and recovery, according to ESPN.
Kupp told ESPN he previously ate fast food tacos before workouts and favored pizza, breadsticks, and cinnamon sticks from Pizza Hut.
Since the switch, Kupp has become the first wide receiver since 2005 to lead the NFL in catches, receiving yards, and touchdowns, which is known as football’s triple crown for wide receivers.
Kupp’s historic year is one big reason why the Rams are headed back to the Super Bowl, as he had one of his biggest games of the year in the NFC Championship with 156 yards and two touchdowns against the San Francisco 49ers.
Kupp isn’t the only NFL star to invest in a farm-to-table lifestyle
The All-Pro Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey also adopted a farm-to-table lifestyle after starting his NFL career.
McCaffrey previously told Insider that he outgrew his college diet a year after joining the NFL in 2017. He started to track his allergens and invested in a fully farm-to-table diet with local foods for his chef to prepare.
Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey
Cody Glenn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Image
“It’s all farm to table. The food is fresh from North Carolina farms or caught off the North Carolina coastline,” McCaffrey said. “That’s something for me where I’ve felt a big difference … I think it’s just a combination of a bunch of different things, but that’s kind of what it takes to be at your best.”
Like Kupp, McCaffrey has been named an All-Pro, a signifier that someone is at the top of their position in the NFL.
Farm-to-table living can be costly
It’s possible that Kupp’s local approach to eating may be helping him get more nutrients from his food.
Produce from local farms is usually harvested at peak ripeness because it doesn’t have to be shipped long distances and stay fresh for multiple weeks, registered dietitian Kristy Del Toro told CNN.
Fruits and vegetables tend to be most dense in nutrients at peak ripeness, she said.
That said, farm-to-table food sourcing can be costly depending on where a person lives in relation to local farms.
Registered dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix told Insider that she doesn’t recommend farm-to-table diets to most of her clients.
“Farm-to-table doesn’t mean that the products they are referring to are actually nutritionally superior and very often, they can be more expensive,” Taub-Dix said.
