Keeping student-athletes healthy and fed is a full-time job for multiple people. Last week, we heard from Chef Tim Walsh, executive chef for University of Arkansas Athletics. But cooking the food is just one part of the job. Planning what each athlete needs to eat to stay healthy and in peak physical condition is another.
That’s where nutritionists come into play. John Engelman is the host of the podcast Flavors of Northwest Arkansas, and Brooks Gillerlain is the director of football nutrition at the UofA. They spoke before the start of the season this year.
She says a big part of planning meals is simple: making sure there’s always something on the buffet line that the players want to eat.
Brooks Gillerlain: We try and always have around two to three proteins on the line, two to three carbs, and at least something green or a vegetable as well. And then we are really fortunate. Our Jones Nutrition Center actually comes and gives a salad bar to us too, during lunches. So we have a full salad bar, tons of fruit, and then there’s also deli meat and bread. That way, again, at that post-practice meal, there’s always something. If you don’t want something on the line, you can make yourself a sandwich, PB and J, a yogurt parfait, things like that, so that when the appetite comes back, they can eat a bigger meal too.
That’s kind of the big one as well, especially on the days we do have a few days during camp that they lift in the afternoon and have practice in the morning. So on those days, we do try and do really heavy meals. For example, we might have Italian that day for dinner because they’ve burned so much during practice and lifts that we’re trying to get in a lot of calories, a lot of hydration, and opportunities to eat. Those are kind of our bigger, more popular, heavier meals. I try and strategically place them around our heavier training days.
John Engelman: So, and this is for dumb me, for different positions—people in different positions—you kind of have to plan different meal plans for them, I would assume.
Brooks Gillerlain: Yep. So, you know, whenever I’m planning our menu, there’s always going to be a leaner option and a heavier option. A perfect example is mac and cheese and white rice. There’s always going to be a lighter, cooked, less-oil, less-fat carbohydrate option, and then a higher-fat, higher-calorie-dense option for carbs.
Same with protein. I always tell the guys there’s always chicken on our line. Very rarely is there not chicken—it’s going to be turkey—so that way they have a lean option. I try and throw in seafood as much as I can, just because they’re great nutrients, and a lot of our guys like seafood. We try to give them variety because food fatigue is real, especially in camp. I try and make sure our menus are diverse enough that they don’t have broccoli four days in a row or four meals in a row, for example. That way, they’re able to eat and not get tired of the food as much.
John Engelman: So I would think the menus change a little bit as far as nutrition is concerned from camp to the end of the season.
Brooks Gillerlain: A little bit. Not actually as much as you would think. Normally, it’s the same sort of thing where our heavier practice days are at the beginning of the week, so those are our heavier dinners. We might go a little lighter at the end of the week, and that’s based on knowing our team’s preferences and things like that. It’s similar in camp. When we have lift days and practice days, I have heavier meals once or twice, and that’s how it is in season as well.
John Engelman: I’ve always been curious what happens when teams take to the road during the season and how they get fed there.
Brooks Gilliland: Yeah, so we have the same menu every weekend, home or away. It doesn’t change. It’s obviously just different prep styles. We are really fortunate. At our home hotel, we have a caterer come in, and they are amazing. Our guys crush home food. When we’re away, it’s pretty hit or miss. Everyone has their own rendition of mac and cheese, for example, or what blackened chicken looks like. Luckily, our team’s pretty good, and they can find something.
I do travel on the road with a few things—more for the pregame meal—so that if they really aren’t able to eat, we can find something they can get on their stomach before the stadium. Normally, we eat a lot: Friday night dinner, a nighttime snack that’s pretty much a second meal, and then, depending on kickoff time, breakfast and pregame meal. They’re normally able to find something to get in their system even if we’re at a hotel they don’t like.
John Engelman: So the game is your rest time, basically. That’s when you finally take a breath.
Brooks Gillerlain: Yeah, it’s a lot of touch and go, where we’re rushing to do something and then it’s sit and wait. My biggest goal is preparing them as much as I can so that on game day, I’m not really needed. Same thing at practice. I’m there, but my goal—I always tell them—is you shouldn’t really need me. That’s the goal. The goal is that you’re knowledgeable enough, you’ve learned enough about yourself and your body that you might only need me a couple of times if you’re having an off day. But you’ve learned what you need to do to hydrate and eat so that you can make it through a practice performing at your highest level. That’s how game day goes as well.
John Engelman: It’s been somewhat of a mild summer, except for a week or two ago, and now it’s starting to ramp up to get hot again. Tell me about that hydration part you were talking about.
Brooks Gilliland: Yeah. We were very fortunate it’s ramping up because that heat dome was hitting us right before camp. We were lucky that we do outside conditioning too, so they get the summer to kind of acclimate. That way, they’re not in pads or anything like that. They’re just in shorts and a T-shirt, but they are in the heat. So it’s not like we’re just all of a sudden hitting them with it in camp.
I use the summer a lot to test different things. We have certain guys who are on hydration plans that get things in meetings that might be really high electrolyte loads, or I help push things during practice or runs. During camp, we have halftimes built in where they get a five-minute break in the middle. For some of those guys, that’s when we’re really pushing the pickle juice, the extra electrolytes, and extra fluid—when they can drink and have a “catch your breath” moment.
For others, it’s replenishing—they’re fine during practice, but they lose a lot during it. So they have a guide of how many ounces they need to get at every break or meeting. That way, they’re able to get back up to their weight and make sure they’re hydrating adequately.
John Engelman: Boy, you got to keep an eye out.
Brooks Gillerlain: Yeah.
John Engelman: She’s like—she’s like—yeah, at least. Right. So I have to bring this up because we were all in college once. We were all kids. Sweets?
Brooks Gillerlain: Yeah, that’s a big thing because I know there are people with sweet tooths, and they’ll kind of curtail around and get their gas station candy or whatever it is. That can be an issue sometimes. I’ll say camp is probably their favorite time of year with my snack selection. That’s the time I kind of let them go a little crazy.
So we do have, you know, at nighttime snack, we’ve got honey buns and cookies and Hot Fries and Hot Funyuns. No one’s touched my Simply Mix or my popcorn this year that I got, but we’re constantly replenishing the oatmeal cream pies and honey buns. They run off the field or from meetings to get to that cart. That’s their treat during camp.
During season, we do throw some in every once in a while. For example, on Saturday after our scrimmage, we’re going to have ice cream from a local place. Sometimes when we cater, we know the restaurant has a really great dessert—like Walk-On’s does a really great bread pudding—so we’ll have that with ice cream. We throw it in there every once in a while.
John Engelman: Stories of big eaters.
Brooks Gillerlain: Yeah, I know we were talking earlier, and I mentioned 7-foot-4, 520-pound André the Giant sat down and had 12 steaks and 15 lobsters—not to mention his tolerance for beer, but we won’t get into that.
John Engelman: Big eaters that you can think of?
Brooks Gillerlain: I’ll be honest. Our team definitely struggles to eat. We aren’t a huge eating team. Our guys love food, don’t get me wrong, some position groups more than others, but nobody wants to make themselves miserable.
We do have a couple guys that—our home hotel does a great job with their steaks, for example—and one guy, when he’s really feeling it, will do five steaks at dinner, and his stomach is still fine, luckily. I’ve had players—he’s not on our team anymore—but last year, he just knew he had to eat a lot. It was really cool to see him take ownership of that. He was a transfer and told me, “No, Miss Brooks, I know I need to eat a lot, and so I have to eat this meal and then this meal.” He did it without me pushing. A little discipline too. That’s probably the easiest story I could think of—the steaks at Friday night meal.
John Engelman: That’s big. That’s a week’s worth of food for us mere mortals.
Odd combinations that people on the team like?
Brooks Gillerlain: Yeah, I think salmon with ketchup or hot sauce is still probably my top.
John Engelman: I think hot sauce I can kind of see, but I can’t see ketchup.
Brooks Gillerlain: Yeah. Some guys just really like that one.
John Engelman: I’m assuming it’s baked salmon maybe.
Brooks Gillerlain: Yeah, it’s pan-roasted or oven-roasted, baked salmon.
John Engelman: That’s a shiver down the spine right there. Weight loss or gain stories—success stories?
Brooks Gillerlain: Yeah, I’m not going to hit on a weight-loss one because I have a really big one. You know, Cam’s going to be on here too. He and I worked really closely after his surgery, and his biggest goal was actually maintaining. When you get a surgery and have some immobilization, the biggest thing is maintaining your weight. Normally, losing weight during that period means you’re losing muscle.
So our big emphasis was focusing on a lot of whole foods and nutrients, getting them through his diet, and making sure he maintained that weight. I joke with him—chia seeds were a new thing we tried because of a certain allergy he has. It’s how he gets his omega-3s. He adds chia seeds and flaxseed to his oatmeal and loves it. He’d never had that before. He’s been really open to trying new things and diversifying his diet. It definitely made a difference in how he came back post-injury as well.
Weight gain—Coach has talked about this in his press releases before camp—our defensive backs have done really well. It’s hard because you want them to eat nutritious food, but sometimes they don’t want to do that. My biggest goal, my first priority, is getting them calories. If it’s got to be some fried food, it’s got to be some fried food. That position group, honestly, has done really well.
Some of them have reminders on their phones that I’ve set up to make sure every three hours they’re eating something.
John Engelman: You set up alarms on phones?
Brooks Gillerlain: I do. We use Teamworks, and I have access to their calendar. Some of our guys who need that extra reminder, I’ll go in and say, “Time for breakfast,” and they’ll get an alert or a text message on their phone.
John Engelman: That’s awesome. Technology, everybody. Right. So what is this team’s favorite meal?
Brooks Gillerlain: Favorite meal? I would say a catered meal is probably Wright’s Barbecue. They crush it—of course. They crush a lot of our caterers, I will say. But Wright’s Barbecue is probably their biggest. Close second, at the nutrition center when we’re not having catered meals, is probably Wing’d.
John Engelman: Okay. I’m sure Chef Tim will hit on that. They will crush some wings over there.
Brooks Gillerlain: Yeah, I’m sure. That’s great.
John Engelman: I understand there’s a bit of a hot sauce loyalty between brands on this team. Tell me about that.
Brooks Gillerlain: Yes. So every preseason, and sometimes in season too, we’ll stock up on a bunch of sauces because we eat a lot upstairs. We have Texas Pete, RedHot, Tabasco, Louisiana, and we’ve got to make sure we have all four because certain guys are really particular. They only do Louisiana, or some will only do Tabasco. Cholula’s a random one that gets thrown in there too.
Brooks Gillerlain is the director of football nutrition at the University of Arkansas. You can hear her full conversation with John Engelman, host of Flavors of Northwest Arkansas, on YouTube or your podcast app of choice.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
