6.02.2020

For P-Squared, Eating Habits is a Focus

December 15, 2008

Paul Pierce was at the center of another photo shoot before yesterday's practice, this time proudly posing with his shirt off as part of a promotion for an in-depth interview with ESPN's Tom Rinaldi.
That piece, and a recent story by Sports Illustrated's S.L. Price, prove the Celtics captain is receiving the most national exposure of his career. So what better time to showcase his new fitness regimen, highlighted by his ability to lose approximately 10 pounds between the end of the NBA Finals and the start of training camp?



Pierce, through his foundation P2, plans to launch a children's health and nutrition initiative next summer. ``I thought it would be a good idea because of what I've done with my own eating habits,'' he said. ``You hear about diseases like diabetes on the rise that affect young children. ``It's great to get something like this going - it's great to affect people's lives.'' The basis, of course, is Pierce's own fitness journey.

``I can't keep eating a lot of meat,'' he said. ``I don't eat as much steak, especially. There's not as much pasta, too, though I love pasta. There's a lot of great Italian restaurants in Boston.'' There's also a great place to eat in Los Angeles - his mother's kitchen. ``Damn, Mexican food, man - I grew up on Mexican food,'' Pierce said of another kind of cuisine he's had to give up. ``My mom makes the best chicken enchiladas.'' And then there's those sumptuous postgame spreads.

``It's hard, especially when you go to Dallas and Mark Cuban puts all of that food out there,'' said Pierce. Though this is the age of personal trainers and professional nutritionists, Pierce said he did much of his own research. ``You always want to improve,'' he said. ``I'm at the stage when I'm not getting any younger, and it just makes sense to do this now.'' Though he contemplated hiring a personal chef several years ago, Pierce instead decided to develop his own culinary skills.
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`I have a rotisserie,'' he said. ``I can put anything in there, which I like. Just set it and forget it.''

Celtics notes

Utah, tonight's opponent, holds a special distinction for the Celtics.

``That's the one game I can really remember because they really beat us,'' Pierce said of Utah's 110-92 win at the Garden last year. ``They outplayed us and outhustled us.'' . . . Pierce was in anguish yesterday over UMass' win against his old school, on the road, no less. Pierce is particularly proud of the fact that he never lost at home as a Jayhawk. ``My record at home was 60-0, something like that,'' he said.

Reminded that the Minutemen also came within three points of winning at Kansas during Pierce's junior year with players like Monty Mack and Jonathan DePina, he said, ``They gave us a scare. But I never lost at home. The only place where I couldn't win was at Missouri.'' . . . The Celtics hosted a party for approximately 90 children from the New England Home for Little Wanderers and the RFK Action Corps yesterday.

Every member of the team and coaching staff led the kids through a series of table games and shooting on the practice court.

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