Q&A with Grant Hill of Phoenix Suns
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
For a stretch of about six seasons, it seemed as if injuries would put an early end to Grant Hill’s basketball career. Now, Hill is 37 years old and coming off the only season in his career in which he played in all 82 games.
He spoke with us about taking care of himself, giving his career new life and what he learned from the adversity:
Question: Is it true you’ve adopted Steve Nash’s diet?
Answer: No! He and I have different diets. I don’t know how he gets credit for having a healthy diet. He’s not the only one. I think it’s because Shaq coined it the Nash Diet. But the good thing about Steve, aside from our similar interests off the court, is that we’re both particular about taking care of our body. We run things past one another. I certainly have learned a great deal from him, and hopefully he’s learned from me. One of the common themes is we watch what we eat. Everybody’s body is different, but I don’t eat the way I did when I was younger.
Q: What have you cut out?
A: My first year in the NBA I ate nothing but fast food. There was a street in Michigan near my home that had seven or eight fast-food places. I went eeny-meeny-miney-moe. I got a chef my second year, but I still kept two or three pitchers of Kool-Aid in the refrigerator. And of course we had to have Sprite (which Hill endorsed commercially). And we made lot of cakes. So I would go to bed with a quarter of a cake and a Big Gulp-sized container of Kool-Aid. I’d take that to bed with me.
Q: When did you change?
A: It was gradual. At one point, I cut out all drinks except water. That’s when I started getting away from some of that. I was still eating red meat, less pasta. As I’ve gotten older and become more educated about it, I’ve slowly changed. My wife (Tamia) and I practice a macrobiotic diet. (A macrobiotic diet eliminates processed foods and emphasizes water, vegetables, fruits and organically grown grains, such as brown rice. It typically does not include red meat, dairy or eggs.) It’s hard to eat like that on the road, but you want to try to make healthy decisions. When we get on the plane after the game and the options are turkey with mashed potatoes and yams, or a Cobb salad with chicken, I’ll get the salad. I drink a lot of water. It’s just understanding what you put in your body and how it will affect your energy level.
