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Slim Pickins

Ike Taylor's refrigerator looks empty, but the man knows how to fuel his body

STEELERS CORNERBACK Ike Taylor starts each morning with a cocktail of vitamins B12 and D, fish oil and an athletic multivitamin from GNC, and chases that with a yogurt. A reasonable start, but after that his nutrition gets dicey. "I've been living the bachelor life for so long, all I have in my fridge is water and yogurt," says the 34-year-old two-time Super Bowl champ. It's not quite that bleak because Taylor often eats fruit and healthy leftovers that he gets from dining out every night—"every night," he stresses.

Taylor also counts sleep as part of his nutritional regimen. "That's a heavy part of my diet, napping during the day," he says. "It rejuvenates your body. If you go to New York City, they have nap cocoons where people can go nap for lunch. Some basketball teams are putting naps into their workouts. People have started to realize that sleeping is an important part of your diet."

Taylor has more to say about doggie bags, yogurt and drinking.

Leftovers

Taylor rotates nightly through the same five or six steak restaurants (where he orders mostly fish) near his Orlando home—a routine he's maintained for the last eight years. "My leftovers are asparagus, salmon, soggy salad. And a lot of mac and cheese," he says. These reasonably healthy remnants make up the bulk of his daytime intake.

Wine freezer

Taylor has an actual wine freezer, where the cornerback chills up to 200 bottles of red wine at a time. "I don't know why, I just threw [red wine] in [the freezer] one time, popped open the cork, and it went down smooth," says Taylor, who enjoys a cold glass every night. "It puts me in a mellow mood, and they say it's good for you."

Yogurt

"For the most part it's pretty bland," the 6'2" 195-pounder says of his Greek yogurt. "It's light on your stomach. I've always been a yogurt fan."

Water

"I'm an old-school guy," says Taylor. "I don't need bottled water. I can drink faucet water and water from a hosepipe." So what's with all that Dasani? Taylor got a pallet as a gift from his strength coach. "I got to be in the mood to drink it out of the bottle," he says.

Fruit

"Fruit has good sugar—it's natural sugar," he says. "It burns faster because it's natural, and I get hungry more throughout the day, but that's a good thing." Taylor's fruit of choice is anything darkly hued, mainly blackberries and blueberries. "I might add some flavor with strawberries and pineapple," he says, "but I can eat blueberries and blackberries all day."

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