The Real-Life Diet of Deion Sanders, Who Tries to Stay Away from KFC These Days

Despite having recently celebrated his 57th birthday, the only sign of age is the gray in Deion Sanders's beard. One of the first things you’ll take note of upon walking into the office of the University of Colorado football coach are some of his most famous quotes emblazoned on the wall behind his desk. In bold lettering and right in the middle? You Look Good, You Feel Good, You Feel Good, You Play Good, You Play Good, They Pay Good!

None of this happened by accident. Sanders prioritizes working out almost every day, and he eats clean—never to the point of feeling stuffed. (Along those lines, he's in the second year of his partnership with California Almonds.)

He spoke with GQ on rising early to kick off his workouts, why a childhood staple will always have a special place in his heart and on his plate, and why the noise around him and the Colorado Buffaloes isn’t exactly loud to him.

For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.

Deion Sanders: Well, I'm the person who coined the phrase look good, feel good. Those words are sitting right behind me now. I would be a fool to look bad, feel bad. That don't work for me. I’m not going to look out of shape, feel out of shape, you know? You look good, feel good. When I look in the mirror, I want to be happy with me. I really don't give a damn what somebody else would think or their perception, but I want to be comfortable, happy and secure with me.

And, I love competition and I love to work. I compete against myself, not necessarily somebody else when I'm training or when I'm working out or I'm walking with a group of my coaches at the practice or we're jogging. I'm very competitive, and I still want to have that look like, you know I played. I don't want somebody to look at me and say, what position did he play? (laughs). I want you to say, he still looks like he could do it. I would say no, I'm past my prime.

It definitely isn’t intense. I get up really early. I'm a 4:15, 4:30 type of guy. I have a sauna in the other room, so I turn that on so I can get warm and heated up. I’ll get on the elliptical and ride on that. I’ll get a good mile in. Then, I may do the Hydrow rowing machine. I’m definitely going to keep the abs and the midsection straight. I’ll have a 10-pound medicine ball, where I’ll go back and forth with because I have to get the lower and upper abs.

I’ll do some dumbbell work, then it's in the office and we’re on the field, stretching at nine o’clock. I’ll get down at 8:35 because the weight room is on the way to practice. I’ll do leg extensions, leg curls, and bench press and I’m ready to go. I’ll go to practice and then some of the coaches and I will walk a couple of miles. That’s normally a typical day for us.

I eat right. I used to eat everything. I used to eat soul food every day. I love it and it’s wonderful, but you got to make some healthier decisions. The snacking is the thing and that's where the almonds play a vital role. It helps me with the snacking. If I'm coming off the football field because I got up so early—I eat breakfast probably around 6:30. Then we’re on the practice field at 8:30 or 9:00. We’re out there for an hour and a half, two hours at the most and I'm getting hungry again. Instead of grabbing some junk food or whatever, I just grab some almonds and they will hold me. They hold me and they keep me straight and they keep me right and they’re actually healthy for me.

I may juice a little bit in the morning and I may have a little like a parfait-type thing. Our chef here is wonderful. He makes me a yogurt cup every day with some wheat and banana. That’s like my morning breakfast. I do that right now, with some juice. For the rest of the day, whatever the healthiest alternative is in there. I'm a chicken, turkey, and fish type of guy. I'll do beef and steak from time to time. I don't eat bad. I try not to do the fried stuff, but I love me some KFC. God, I love KFC, but I I try not to do the fried stuff, tremendously.

I'm really disciplined. The staff already knows me, so they know what plates to make me downstairs because they know I keep it healthy. I also don't eat the huge portions. I eat til I'm satisfied, and not until I’m full.

I don't count KFC as a cheat meal. KFC is a lifestyle. I grew up on KFC and soul food but I try my best to do right.

No. Back in the day, I barely ate for a game. I ate very minimal because I wanted my stomach empty, and I wanted to run like a darn deer.

It’s been phenomenal, and you’ve got to understand—I'm not a youngster by any means. I just celebrated a phenomenal birthday. My whole thing is to stay healthy, looking good and feeling good. Almonds present the whole package to me, man. They got me still feeling and looking like I’m in my prim—regardless of these gray hairs on my beard. So we keep them stocked up and I use them fairly every day. I work out probably four days a week. I want to recover tremendously and I want to eat right. Almonds are a very healthy choice.

The Bible says there's a time and a season for every activity under the sun. It just wasn't that time nor it was it our season, man. I'm not jealous of any of these young men. My son just signed a Nike deal and he's going to be everywhere and then he's going have his own shoe soon. I'm ecstatic about that kind of stuff—that someone thought it and if they could thank it, it can happen. These young men are making it happen. We just got to be the OG’s and give them the guardrails of life to make sure they understand that the oven is hot. To make sure you don't go too far and look over that cliff. To make sure they don't get into nothing they don't need to. That's our responsibility to make sure these youngsters are handling things right.

I don’t have a routine. I’m a coach now, man. I'm just sitting around round like, come on. Lets just get the game on, man. Honestly, the only thing I could say that is different—unlike many coaches, during home games, I stay at night here at the stadium. I like to wake up and see the stadium empty. Then I like to progress through the day and see it slowly getting full until it becomes full. I like that progression. I like seeing nothing turn into something.

I don't know what it is, but I just like the thought process of that, and I like to see it. Our offices are in the stadium. I'm looking at the stadium right now, and it's empty. But I can't wait until game day. They trickle in, and and next thing you know, by the time I go downstairs and get dressed and run out there, we got a packed house for warm ups.

What's noise to others ain't noise to me because this is how it's always been. I've always been criticized, ridiculed and attacked because I've always been different. I've always been unapologetically me. I've always made no excuses and no apprehensions for who I am, what I am, and how I get down. So I didn't allow y'all to tell me who I was. I told y'all who I was, and that's where the conflict came. I don't let somebody sit down and run over me or tell me what I ain't. The media has changed now. You can't you can't tell me nothing about me. I could tell you about me.

What we do here is huge. Our team and what my son does is huge. We can't sit back and let you dictate who we are and what we are. Those days have been over for a long time. So, I'm thankful that now athletes have their own voice. They have their own podcast. They have their own programming, and they're doing a wonderful and phenomenal job. Former athletes that I played with back in the day—I am having some wonderful podcast that make noise. So, if I want to put something out there, I could just pick up a darn phone. I don't have to wait for what they call the mainstream media to tarnish me or say whatever. I don't play that game with them either. I don't do that.