When juggling busy careers and lives, it's not always easy to find the time to hit the gym or prepare a healthy meal. For inspiration, we're asking influential women in a variety of fields to share a typical day of food and fitness. Carli Lloyd–two-time Olympic gold medalist, 2015 FIFA World Player of the year, and new author–approaches her diet with the same mindset she does with her training: discipline. Read on for her healthy snack recommendations and which "cheat" food she goes for in the off-season.
For breakfast, I ate two eggs over easy with chicken sausage, and half an avocado because I think that's a good fat. I don't eat too many carbs, which is why I just went for half a toast. I'd say my diet is really healthy–I try to just put good things into my body and I'm very conscious of what's going in. I'm always reading up on new things that are good for you and can help my performance on the field. I don't work with a nutritionist. I just do it on my own. I do have this Food Babe Way book that I'm starting to read. I've heard a lot of good things about Vani Hari.
After breakfast, I go to training. Right now I'm with the Houston Dash finishing up our season. What we'll typically do is play some games, then I'll supplement with more training in the gym–weights, body weight, I really like TRX straps, I use everything. After training, I'll usually have either some Krave beef jerky, a Kind bar, or fruit because it's important to refuel yourself, especially after being in the heat here in Houston. You lose a lot of fluids and need to really replenish.
I think we all love to snack. I think it's hard because maybe you want to go in your kitchen and grab a cookie instead of a piece of fruit. But I need something to fill me up, so I love Krave because I think it's a great way to incorporate protein in my diet. With me being on the road all the time, it's hard to have access to something that's really healthy and I can just grab on the go. You know the ingredients, you can see what's in there. I carry two with me in my bag.
For lunch, I had a bunch of vegetables with hummus and lettuce wraps with some chicken mixed with peanuts and some spices and a peanut sauce. Between lunch and dinner, I'll typically have another snack. Those Kind press bars are like a healthy fruit roll-up.
I think my diet has come a long way. What you put in you body is what you get out of it, it's so important to do everything possible to make sure you're performing at your best. I'd say 2009 is when I started to really get into it. Actually one of my former teammates, Heather Mitts, was a really healthy, really conscious eater, and she kind of helped. When you're around someone like that, it opens your eyes to different things. She was all organic and that's how I've gone and I've even now stretched it a bit further with even products—toothpaste, deodorant—just trying to be really conscious of making sure that you're just kind of doing and putting the right things in your body.
For dinner, I really have gotten into throwing a lot of things in my salad. So there is some kale, hard boiled eggs, beets, I think I threw in peppers in there, field greens are in the bottom, some lentils, quinoa, chicken, tofu. I don't really like to be boring. Sometimes I even throw in some fruits and strawberries, just sprinkle it with a little olive oil, a little salt and pepper and you're good to go.
I think you do have to let yourself go a little bit, on the training side and even on the diet side. I'd be lying to say I've never had a cookie or I've never had ice cream or dessert. Of course I splurge, I have burger and fries, pizza, but it's not something that I do all the time and you definitely feel way worse when you do put those things in your body, because I know every time I'm like, ugh, why did I just eat that? I feel so much better just eating clean, but in the off-season, I kind of let myself go a little bit. I wouldn't say that I'm eating McDonald's every single day. Everything in moderation. After a few weeks of not working out a ton, there's this switch that immediately goes off. It's like, okay, I'm ready to get back into my routine, I'm ready to start eating good and training.
