Rugby Legend Jonny Wilkinson Says Food is No Longer 'Just Fuel' For Him
Jonny Wilkinson is one of the most decorated and recognisable faces in rugby history. He scored 1,246 points from 97 Test appearances – the most famous being his drop goal that won the World Cup for England in 2003.
After returning from a career in professional rugby, Wilkinson launched his own kombucha brand – One Living – with a mission to help people understand how a healthy diet can boost mind and body. Here, he talks to Men’s Health about how his outlook on food being fuel has evolved over the years and why he now takes more of a holistic approach to managing his health.
MH: We always begin these interviews with the same question, so Jonny what did you have for dinner last night?
JW: I had salmon and a ludicrous amount of leafy green vegetables, plus some sweet potatoes and bean sprouts. I’m fortunate enough to get our vegetables from a local farm – so I’m eating a lot of green beans and sugar snap peas at the moment.
MH: So this is a fairly normal go-to dinner?
JW: Yeah, I typically have something centred around chicken and fish – with lots of veggies.
MH: How different is that from what you’d typically eat when you were playing rugby professionally?
JW: When I was younger, I was really unadventurous when it came to food – because I was scared of a lot of things in my life. I found a lot of security in eating what I liked and being able to control my diet. I was one of those kids who if you offered me something to try, I’d immediately decline and say ‘I don't like them’. So it was a real challenge for my parents, and later playing sports, I was quick to latch on to what worked and what I liked, and I’d eat the same thing on rotation.
It's amazing to think about how what I eat has changed and evolved now. The diversity, the experimentation, the openness. I even make my own kefir yoghurt. But the biggest change with me and my attitude toward food is the definition of what it means. Food is life. You have to connect with what you’re eating, or else it just becomes fuel. I’ve realised that we – as humans – are no more important than anything else around us and that the food on our plate deserves every part of our attention.
MH: Nutrition is a key part of any athlete’s performance. What was the emphasis like around fuelling yourself for games, back when you played for England?
JW: We did have nutritionists and loads of great cutting-edge advice at that time. We were really good at functional fitness nutrition because we understood the rules of the game that we were crafting our diet around. So it was all about fuelling enough for your muscles and getting enough of the right things – the essential fats, amino acids, protein, energy and hydration.
All of that is great if you’re ‘doing’, but not so great for just ‘being’ – because we just don't know what the rules of that particular game are. When you’re training for a particular sport – and you’re on a mission to reach a certain goal – you can feel good knowing that what you’re eating is putting you on the right track. But what about when you shift your outlook from fitness to health?
Sport is all about numbers. What’s on the scoreboard? What time did you run? What’s your PB? How much do you weigh? How much weight are you pushing? It’s all about numbers, competition and comparison. Eating for sport is not the same as eating for just living.
MH: Can you give us any specific examples of what you used to eat?
JW: Just lots of protein, lots of carbohydrates for energy. It was very routine and I guess that was because you’d have massive unrest and butterflies before a game and having to eat around that is tough.
You start to rely on foods for security – you think: ‘I always eat the same thing and my performance always goes well’. So people stick to what they know food-wise, the same way that you put your left boot on first before your right boot.
I’d always eat at least two hours before a game – maybe a little bit more – I’d eat chicken, half a sandwich with a bolognaise-type dish too, and then I’d have a protein bar on the coach on the way in.
What was in and around the changing room was brilliant at that time – we had fruit, lots of snacks and bars which were very scientific and performance-based foods. There weren’t many ingredients I recognised on the back of the pack.
MH: What was your go-to meal post-match meal? Did you ever crave something after a game?
JW: I've been quite fortunate, if you want to call it that, in that some things – like alcohol – have just never really agreed with me. I also haven't got the sweetest tooth in the world, so I never really craved that.
When I get nervous and stressed, I lean towards it. You can tell by my food choices what sort of state I'm in. But, on the whole, I’ve never been one that's been desperate for a cheat night.
After the game, after having been out there and giving it everything, that was enough. And the older I got, the more I wanted to savour these moments. I didn’t want to waste that feeling running around going drinking and searching for the nearest fast food restaurant. It just wasn’t my thing, I was just happy to be there.
As part of recovery after playing in the World Cup semi final in 2007, which we won against France, I sat on a spinning bike for nearly an hour. Everyone else had got changed, showered, moved on. I was just like, leave me here. I'm still in the stadium. I was trying to prolong that space – to soak up the permission I've been given by the game, that everything had gone okay and everything's alright. And I just stayed there until people were walking past me in suits.
But that moment afterwards, where there’s this sense of completion and fulfilment, that space was really important for me to just sit in, to have a cold, refreshing drink and sit there with a bit of a bashed body, full of fatigue.
MH: And what about before a match?
JW: Right before a game, food has never brought me comfort. That's when I’m in my hell. I'm someone that holds a great sense for the unknown and all this threat and doom – so when you're just two hours before a game, when that unknown is going to be watched by lots and lots of people, and lots of big people who are well trained, very talented, are going to try and make sure everything goes wrong for you. You start feeling like you need something to anchor yourself. So you look for those things that make you feel a bit more comfortable – a little instant gratification – I've got a little bag of chocolates in my bag and I can just have one of those.
MH: What’s the best health or fitness advice you’ve ever received?
JW: I’ve had so many key figures and influences throughout my career, and also within my life, but the key has always been to recognise your own power. Your own responsibility. That’s where the secret is. Otherwise, you just end up living by accident – when things go well, you’re happy, when they don’t, you’re down. When people feel a certain way about you, life’s great, when they don’t, you’re down. Giving out that power to everyone else is just an endless stress. And stressing just accelerates you to the end of your life very quickly. All the coaches I’ve ever had have never told me what to do, but said ‘this is what might help, but you need to join in and do your own work’.
Quick fire questions:
MH: What’s your death row meal? Starter, Main, Dessert?
JW: I would eat something to remind me of the planet I’m leaving – something incredibly green and fresh and vibrant – probably raw – to remind me of what I am, and the fact that nothing dies. And I’d drink it down with a One Living kombucha.
MH: Who would be at your dream dinner party?
JW: My family. There are all kinds of people that I would love to invite, but at the end of the day, when you put that much heat on someone, they’re going to disappoint. No one can live up to that kind of expectation. But being with my family always overdelivers.
MH: Give us a dinner recommendation?
JW: We don’t tend to eat out much – I like cooking from scratch at home. But when I was living in France, there was a restaurant called Le bard’o in Sanary-sur-Mer, right by the sea, and whenever my family came out to watch a game, or my wife and I had time off, we’d head to the south coast and have lunch listening to the sea in the background.
More Like This
Spencer Matthews on Fuelling for 30 Marathons in 30 Days (in the Desert)
The UK's Fittest Man Explains How He Fuels 6-Hour Training Days
Umbrella Academy Star Tom Hopper Had to Build His Ripped Physique in Secret During Drama School
You Might Also Like
