875 pounds of fish, 54 dozen eggs: A 
       week feeding an NFL team 
       Through the weight room and down a flight of stairs, a cohort of hungry football 
       players trudged into the cafeteria on a Tuesday in late August to the sound of clinking 
       pots and sizzling pans. 
       Fresh off a morning walk-through, and just 19 days before their season opener in 
       Arizona, they entered the room filled with 15 large roundtables and 10 wall-mounted 
       televisions. To their left was one of their favorites: a smoothie bar stocked with single-
       serving bags of frozen fruits, milk options and kale. To the right was a toppings-filled 
       salad bar, next to rows of six different lunch entree options and trays of pizza with thin 
       Greek yogurt crusts. 
       Jake Sankal, an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Washington football 
       team who doubles as the team's director of sports nutrition, an 
       increasingly prevalent position in the NFL, works with chef Connor McGuire to pick 
       out menu options for the week. It's just one of Sankal's tasks when it comes to 
       completing his main objective: feeding an entire NFL team while keeping the players in 
       top shape before and throughout the season. 
       "What we try to do more than just being the food police is provide them healthy 
       options," Sankal said. "We focus a ton on quality food here. That's really the biggest 
       thing we do. And then we try to educate them." 
       Sankal's job consists of constantly thinking about hydration levels, snacks, proteins, 
       carbohydrates, body composition and meal prep - all of which are part of the dietitian 
       revolution sweeping college and professional football. 
       In 2007, 13 NCAA institutions and one NFL team - the New England Patriots - had a 
       full-time sports dietitian, said Chelsea Burkart, president of the Collegiate and 
       Professional Sports Dietitians Association. Now 84 colleges and 20 NFL teams, 
       including Washington, have one. 
       Sankal has seen an increased interest in nutrition from players since he started talking 
       about it as a strength and conditioning intern in the Cleveland minor league system in 
       2010. He talks with players about nutrition strategies and diets they see on Twitter, 
       Instagram or Netflix documentaries, and uses the conversation as an access point to talk 
       about best practices outside nutrition that can help them. 
       "There's a certain level of proprietary stuff that they do, but the majority of it is all 
       fundamental good nutrition," Sankal said. "I think you'll see more similarities than not 
       between teams." 
       Like other NFL teams, the Washington team creates specialized meal plans for players 
       based on their body composition, and align them with the team's practice schedule. 
       The average food intake for an NFL player varies based on the size and position of each, 
       but the average Washington player this season consumes about 4,000 calories per day. 
       Some players consume as many as 6,000 calories, while others go as low as 3,000 
       calories. 
       Washington running back Rob Kelley, who had the nickname "Fat Rob" earlier in his 
       career due to a relatively thick physique, has transformed his body since the end of last 
       season. Under Sankal's nutrition plan, which focused on cutting out sugary drinks and 
       adjusting food choices based on the time of day, Kelley lost 10 pounds and dropped 4 
       percent of his body fat. He eats 3,800 calories on a training day that includes practice, 
       weight training and other activities. His calorie count drops to 3,000 on non-training 
       days. 
       A typical meal for a player will include 50 grams of protein, plus a cup or more of cooked 
       vegetables and grains or a starch. For breakfast, this can mean a combination of whole 
       eggs and egg whites, plus turkey sausages, cereal or Greek yogurt. At lunch, players will 
       eat 6 to 8 ounces of meat or fish, plus grains and veggies and a healthy fat, like half of an 
       avocado. Dinner is similar to lunch, dependent on the players' plan. Some, like Kelley's, 
       call for no carbohydrates at dinner and more at lunch. 
       Hydration is also key because it complements nutrition in recovery, which is a 24-hour 
       process. Before training camp each season, the team tests players' sweat for sodium 
       concentration to determine which water bottles they need to use during practice. Water 
       bottles with black tape contain a high concentration of tasteless, invisible electrolytes 
       (about 1,500 milligrams per liter), and bottles with white tape have a moderate 
       concentration (about 1,000). Players can lose anywhere from two to five pounds during 
       one practice, Sankal said. 
       With a rigorous meal plan, the team goes through an enormous amount of food. 
       During one week at training camp in Richmond, Virginia, which included about 90 
       people, the Washington team ate 875 pounds of fish, 420 pounds of chicken, 110 pounds 
       of pasta, 54 dozen eggs and 50 watermelons. 
       The man behind the cooking, McGuire, came to the Washington team from the high-end 
       steakhouse BLT Steak, having worked at French restaurants earlier in his career. The 
       first meal he made was risotto with asparagus tips, and he said the player feedback was 
       instant: "What is this? What are you doing?" So, McGuire switched up his approach to 
       more family-style dishes, but grappled with how to make healthy food in a way that 
       players would like. 
       "If they don't like something, they'll let you know," McGuire said. 
       He made quinoa his project last season. This year, it's lentils. Still, the team has its 
       favorites. Players love chicken Parmesan with orzo, along with "Fajita Fridays," which 
       became a weekly tradition after the meal coincided with a win-streak. 
       This season, the kitchen has a variety of stations players can choose from: main entrees, 
       stir-fry, pasta, pizza and salads. Sankal also encourages players to eat a crucial "fourth 
       meal" outside of the cafeteria around 9 or 10 p.m. Some players opt to eat the same 
       meals each day - like guard Brandon Scherff, who has requested three eggs over easy for 
       breakfast the last four seasons - while others like to change it up. 
       In his nutrition planning, Sankal classifies players into one of three different body types: 
       "Big guys" (linemen), "skill guys" (wide receivers, running backs) and "combo" 
       (linebackers, defensive ends, some quarterbacks). For achy-jointed big guys, he 
       recommends fish. Skill guys get generally leaner diets because their body compositions 
       can change quickly. 
       Snacks and drink options are also important, and in Sankal's office in the weight room, 
       he has boxes of nutrition bars in addition to a new kombucha and nitro cold brew coffee 
       machine. Players also have access to a portable cart filled with nutrition bars, yogurt 
       cups, protein shakes, chocolate milk and fruit, and a dispenser in the cafeteria of dark 
       chocolate or yogurt-covered almonds has been a favorite during the preseason. Sankal 
       also delivers various drinks - like smoothies - to players' lockers before practice, all 
       individualized based on player needs. 
       The nutrition check-ins between Sankal and the players is a daily task. From stretching 
       players out on the field, to serving them an extra scoop of quinoa in the kitchen, to 
       running across the practice field to give players their specific water bottle, Sankal is 
       constantly keeping up with players and their gains - or losses. When asked if he ever 
       worried athletes might negate the meticulously manicured diet plan with a night of 
       partying, Sankal grinned. 
       "We hope they don't do it very much," he said, "but the reality of it is that there is some 
       of that. That's always gonna happen . . . really at any level of athletes. So, you just do 
       your best . . . to try to make sure they're always prepared every day." 
       Complete the assignment below -  
       Write a short paragraph that explains the central idea of the article. Use at least two details from the 
       article to support your response. 
       Quiz –  
       Which of the following sentences from the article BEST develops a central idea of the article?