Professional basketball player Elijah Bryant explains why he eliminated bread and dairy from his diet and how he maintains this habit while traveling. He cites scientific reasons—blood‑sugar spikes from bread, poor digestion, and casein‑induced inflammation from dairy—that can impair steady energy, breathing, and recovery for athletes. Bryant shares his personal system for meal planning, including family considerations and cooking for kids, and mentions using a hyperbaric chamber as part of his seasonal performance optimization. The video then follows a day in his life preparing for a EuroLeague game against Olimpia Milano, covering film study, scouting notes, and on‑court performance, interspersed with live broadcast commentary. He also references Novak Djokovic as a high‑profile athlete who follows a similar gluten‑free, dairy‑free regimen. The narrative blends personal nutrition advocacy, practical lifestyle tips, and competitive basketball analysis, encouraging viewers to consider individualized blood‑work testing and to adopt incremental performance‑enhancing habits.
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As a pro hooper, I have to stay in the best shape in order to perform the best on the court. Over the past year, I've cut out bread and dairy in my diet. I actually cut out bread and dairy this year, and the reason I cut out bread and dairy is because honestly bread doesn't really do anything for you in terms of nutritional value for your body. Okay, you can say carbs. And dairy, because they said it's inflammatory. When it comes to doing that, especially on the road, it's not as easy to develop that habit or system. So I'm going to show you what I and what I've done to get there. And also I'm going to show you, take you on the day in life of preparing to play against Olimpiano Milano. Do you eat bread or dairy? Yes, dairy bread bandit. Dairy bread, man. This is the type of stuff that I respect. This made my day. Back to the topic we're talking about is no bread, no dairy. And the reason I tried it is because every single year I'm trying to optimize. I don't care if I had a great year last year. I'm trying to optimize to be the best Elijah Bryant I can be every single year. So in the summer, I break down what I want to work on and actually do it during the year when I'm watching the games. In terms of diet, how can I be better? And next year I'm going to have something else I'm trying to implement. This year I added the hyperbaric chamber. If you haven't seen that video, go check it out, because one of the biggest things in life is you can't be complacent. No matter if you're a McDonald's worker, which the job is very important, they serve a lot of people. Eat breakfast, or you're the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, you have to get better every single day at your craft, and it's not going to be easy. Okay, so from your perspective, what is the hardest part about— since you cook for us in the house— about no bread, no dairy?
The hardest part would probably be— so I don't want to cook like 3 different meals because we have kids. I do plant-based, and then Elijah does meat, so we all kind of like follow the same kind of dietary. So like the hardest part about the no bread would be trying to find meals that my kids would eat, but making it a lifestyle has really adopted them to like they don't even notice that there is no bread in the meals.
Yeah, I can sit here and tell you why I do it, but instead I'm just going to let the science speak for you. So bread literally spikes your blood sugar, and it's hard for your body to digest. So what does that mean for you as an athlete? If your blood sugar is spiking always, that means your insulin is going up and down, which means you don't have steady energy. And if you can't digest your food well, then we know more blood is being rushed to the stomach, which is causing more energy to be used to digest food and not used to exert on the court. So for dairy, it has something in it called casein, and casein can break down into peptides, and these peptides can increase mucus production, they can irritate the gut, and they can trigger immune responses. For an athlete, that means more inflammation, worse breathing, and slower recovery, and less consistent energy. And honestly, that's why so many athletes have been cutting it out of their diet. And to be quite frank, one of the best tennis players in the world doesn't eat bread or dairy. But stay till the end, I'll tell you exactly who it is, or maybe guess in the comments. Now, everyone's body's different. This summer I got my blood work done to see what my body responds to in terms of inflammatory. So maybe your body doesn't respond well to dairy or bread, maybe it does. So maybe you should get your blood work done to see exactly how your body responds and how it feels. Because at the end of the day, I base it on how my body feels. Now, when it comes to Milan, this is a very— like I said before, a dangerous team. Marko Guterić, the shooter, has brains on his name. Uh, Shavon Shields. And they're missing a lot of guys right now, like Alonzo Brown, Josh Nibo, Sistina. And those are the most dangerous teams, like a wounded lion. Like, they know they're down, so they're going to play harder. People are going to have longer leashes. So It's not going to be an easy game. It's going to be a fight the whole night. So watching film, let's get to it. All right, so when it comes to watching these games, I just don't mind the quality. I just want to see what plays are being run and what they're doing on defense and how everyone's responding to the start of the game. So they have a mismatch. They're not helping on the mismatch in the post. So that's good to know. If Dio gets a mismatch in the post, then what? Now they're running their first action here. Brooks. I'm running Brooks. This guy can shoot the ball really well, trying to get him a shot early. Good defense by Fournier.
Tonight we are in Milan at the Unipol Forum where 3-time EuroLeague champions Olympiacos Milano host reigning EuroCup champions Hapoel Tel Aviv. Ball's in the air, we are underway. First possession possession to the visitors in the white uniforms. It's Olympia Milano in the red. Rich inside out play. Lede can stretch the floor. It won't go, and Bryant with the rebound. I love this matchup between Bryant and Shields. 2024. Bryant, no-pass offense, that rattles the rim. Maturu, he says, fellas, I can do it on my own. Under the basket, Bryant gets to the dots, a little runner, the floater, directing traffic. Shields, that's a bomb from Shavon Shields, off the mark. He saw something he liked He couldn't make it. Bryant, Bryant. Oh my goodness, Elijah Bryant, that one comes down from the rafters. Woes continue as you see the 5 that we identified already Bryant, the little leaner, got it just like that. Shields, he'll try his hand, and that's no good. And the 3-point shooting— Bryant got it off. Bryant, perfectly measured. Shot clock goes off as he pulls the trigger, runs into Quinn Ellis. The floater from Bryant. Let's fly with a 3, no good. Did he settle for a jump shot there? I think he did. Bryant, Wainwright, and Motley. Chris Jones, a bullet pass. Two coaches beat up midcourt. I tell you what, you got to tip your hat to Coach Attunis. He has gotten this his team playing and firing on all cylinders. 105 points from them, much to the elation of those fans. And look at this, players pay tribute to the fans who somehow, by hook or by crook, got themselves here.
Okay, so as I promised, the player that I was referring to is— and what about this gluten-free diet? It's great, it's great. Yes, you lose weight and you feel better. Novak Djokovic, the number one tennis player in the world, doesn't eat bread, doesn't eat dairy. And why is that? Better energy, better digestion, better breathing. Now, when it comes to the game, obviously we won. Two things I did well, one thing I can do better. I need to be more assertive in the first half. And two things I did well is keep matching my emotions to my desired reality and Continue to play hard, rebound. As always, faith plus consistency, love.
