BVB defender Mats Hummels has explained that his better physical condition compared to last season is also linked to a change in diet that he made during the summer break. A nutritionist who gave him a clear message also helped.
“Some time ago I realized that I could still get a lot out of nutrition, which is why I started working with Nahni,” explained Hummels sports1 and meant the nutrition expert Nahni Franke, with whom he has been working for two years.
Since Hummels, according to Franke, had “perhaps the most difficult year with injuries”, she had to make it clear after the past season: “Actually, I advise top athletes to treat themselves to something during the summer break, not to stick to strict nutrition plans and prefer to do something for the mind and soul. But this time we had to increase the pressure on Mats. With all due respect to his great career, I said to him: ‘Either you change something now or it can be over sooner than it is dear to you!'”
Hummels “triggered this immediately. The fact that someone who is heading towards the end of his career is so enthusiastic about nutrition again got me hooked.” Nutrition plans were necessary, which also included recipes for energy balls, for example, because: “Mats had a real sweet tooth. He had a hard time avoiding chocolate or ice cream. That’s how we came up with the idea of developing our food balls. One has feeling like you’re munching on something sweet and sinning, but in the end there’s only good stuff in it.”
Hummels enthuses: “Since I’ve known Nahnis Foodballs, I can do without sweets a lot better. I actually eat a lot less fish and meat. Not entirely without it, but a lot less. I leave out wheat. I also eat a lot of vegan dishes. ” Franke comes to his apartment on Dortmund’s Phönixsee once a month to cook live, which “every time is a poem”. She also provides him “with packages of good food that she is convinced of, as well as pre-cooked food and various snacks.”
Hummels also justifies his decision for this approach with his own demands on the field: “I wasn’t satisfied with the last season and that was definitely an incentive to use the longest summer break of my career to be in top shape before the actual preparation for the season . I’m at an age where I want to do everything I can to put the best version of myself on the pitch every day.”
