By Tim Clifford

According to Michele Clarke-Mason, owner of Meant To Be Foods and the nutritional therapist for the Seahawks, it takes approximately 7,000 calories of food-a-day to feed a single player. The average intake for a mildly active man is estimated at about 2,500 calories a day.

“I had one player who lost 5 pounds in his first week back and we had to figure out a diet plan to keep his weight up” she explains.

Starting her work with the team last year, Michele, a lifelong Burien resident, plays a very active and hands-on role with the ‘Hawks by designing personalized meal plans and assisting in the daily offerings in the training facilities main dining hall.

Located in Renton and situated along Lake Washington the Virginia Mason Athletic Center (VMAC) is an impressive cathedral-like facility boasting a cutting edge weight-room, full length indoor football field and a 95 foot tall ceiling. Housed within a massive green hangar the site is also the only training camp in the NFL with a lakefront view.

This is Michele’s office where her meal plans and diet regiments are as modern and “cutting-edge” as her workplace.
Meeting with me to answer a few questions in the main dining area of the VMAC with players such as Russel Okung, Jermaine Kearse, and Cliff Avril coming in and out to grab meals on their way to meetings or the weight room, we discussed her work and what it takes to feed the team.

Q: What is your role here at the VMAC and with the Seahawks?
Michele: I’m the nutritional consultant here. I work both with the chef (Mac Mcnabb) and kitchen and with the director of player health and performance, Sam Ramsden. Then in that capacity I work with individual players and staff members. Chef Mac Mcnabb, he does all the menus and he’s been doing this a long time. When I started we adjusted some ingredients and tweaked some things.

Q: Can you explain how the diet plans are created for the players?
Michele: All the players are served breakfast and lunch here every day. There is a large selection of items. Then for the players that have come to me for their specific health needs they’ll have parameters as to how they should structure their plate.
Depending on what they are trying to accomplish they will be told” this is how much of your plate should be the protein and what percentage should be the starchy carbs”. I break it into “starchy carbs” and “colors”. I mean really carrots are carbohydrates but I have them separate them differently on their plates. If it isn’t “colored” it’s one thing…rice, pasta, potatoes, it’s all starchy carbs. Then the colors are separate… Lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, etc.
We’ve also put in a “fueling station”, which would be the best way to put it. There are snacks available that are calculated for specific protein content throughout the day while they are in meetings and throughout the day. Most of the guys have a work load and a metabolism that three meals-a-day is just not sufficient.
We also have a smoothie station that we have expanded. That is probably where we get the most specific to the players.

Q: How does the smoothie station work and how do you tailor them to each player’s needs?
Michele: So in the NFL anyone affiliated with the team is not allowed to provide supplements. So, if I have a guy who is deficient in Vitamin C I’m not allowed to give him a capsule with Vitamin C. But I can give him foods rich in Vitamin C.
All of these guys need, because of the demands on their bodies, high levels of anti-oxidants. I’ll typically incorporate anti-oxidant rich super foods into the smoothies. We have six kinds of protein powders. We have foods that are up there because they’re rich in certain nutrients. I then customize the smoothies to his taste and if he has any known food sensitivities. We have some guys who are sensitive to dairy.

Q: Could you describe what a typical day for you is like? What does a normal work day look like for you?
Michele: I get here about 6:15, do some set-up. Between 6:15 and 7:30 I make roughly 30 smoothies, customized smoothies. We have guys coming in staggered for breakfast and [I am] checking in if they need anything; soreness, aches, any pains, if they are recovering from something. If they feel like they are battling a cold or something.
Then 8 o’clock I am dropping off smoothies. I am then stocking up on the fueling station. It varies from day to day. At 10:15 I am on hand before they go into defensive or offensive meetings to get them anything they need.
Then it’s writing up plans, ordering super foods, doing research, that type of thing.
Just prior to lunch, which the time varies depending on the day of the week, I do about 8 to 10 smoothies for lunch. We have guys who are avoiding gluten, so it depends what the entrée is. I might be putting rice on making sure that anyone who has certain food sensitivities is clear with what they can and can’t have on the line. Then they go to practice. While they are at practice I am making the recovery drinks that they get when they come off the field. That’s about another 30 to 35 smoothies.
They are very specifically for that 30 to 35 minute recovery window between practices.
It’s a specific ratio of carbohydrates to protein. Then in the afternoon I am available to consult guys.

Q: Could you describe any specially calculated snacks that you are working on right now?
Michele: Um, well let me see, I’m trying to think how to keep it pretty general, I don’t want to get too specific. Right now I am working on a snack that has 24 grams of protein in it and we are trying to make sure that 3 grams of that snack are sourced from arginine (an amino acid).

Q: On the website for your own nutritional company, Meant To Be Foods, bone broth is mentioned extensively and its nutritional benefits as an “old world food”. How instrumental is broth in nutrition?
Michele: It’s huge. They make a broth here and it’s available for the players here.

Q: What makes the bone broths that you prepare here so special?
Michele: It’s the old fashioned way of making stocks. Where you simmered bones… whether it be chicken or beef that’s commonly used as a soup base. It’s very different from what you will buy in a can or a carton at a store.
The production is different.
So, you are extracting all of the cartilage, the glycine, the gelatin and collagen out of those bones and putting it into the stock.
Well, those are the building blocks that you need for joint and connective tissue, and bone health. It’s very healing to the digestive track. The make-up of it helps you utilize other proteins you consume more efficiently.

Q: Do you know if this is a popular food among any other NFL teams?
Michele: I don’t think so, I mean I haven’t worked with other teams, but I don’t believe it’s very popular. We are really going at things and trying to create a program that is feeding them with whole foods and that is how we have evolved.

Q: Can you explain your goals with your own company, Meant To Be Foods?
Michele: We want a production kitchen; we are right now trying to finance a production kitchen that will produce therapeutic foods both for athletics and for healing illnesses.

Q: Are there any tips that you can offer our readers on how they can eat healthier even on a budget?
Michele: I mean eating in season is big. Obviously tomatoes in January are going to cost more and have less nutrients in them than tomatoes in the actual summer tomato season. Making your own food.

Q: Are there any food brands that you would recommend?
Michele: No, I’m not big on processed food at all. Knowing you farmer is one of the best things that you can do for your health, knowing where your food comes from and how it’s produced.

For those interested in actually eating like a Seahawk, Michele was kind enough to release one of her many smoothie recipes that she makes specifically for the players:

“Stealth Green” Smoothie
½ cup almond milk
1 cup kale
½ cup pineapple juice
10 pieces pineapple chunks (frozen)
1 small banana
1 teaspoon spirulina
Optional additions;
½ teaspoon bee pollen
Protein powders of choice, favorites are hemp or goat whey. Blend all ingredients, starting on low and switching to high once vortex has started.
For stealth effect, place in solid colored cup with lid and black straw.
Supports- Antioxidants, immune, blood sugar, cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory