Liver, beef heart and 6,000 calories a day: discover Haaland's diet

The star's diet includes around 6,000 calories per day - the recommended amount for an adult man varies from 2,200 to 3,000 calories per day, depending on age and physical activity.

As the player himself revealed in the documentary "Haaland: The Big Decision", the diet is based on fresh and little or no processed products, such as raw milk and dairy products. It also includes a lot of meat, with emphasis on offal, such as beef liver and heart, rich in iron, zinc and vitamins A and B12.

For experts interviewed by the report, the food can be consumed by the majority of the population (except unpasteurized milk, the sale of which is prohibited in Brazil due to the risk of contamination), but the quantity is only recommended for young high-performance athletes like Haaland, who is 1.95 meters tall and weighs between 88 kg and 94 kg.

For Ellen Cristini de Freitas, professor and responsible for the area of Nutrition and Physical Exercise at the Ribeirão Preto School of Physical Education and Sports at the University of São Paulo (EEFERP-USP), it is necessary to think about the context.

"An athlete's diet is a work strategy, not a universal health model. In elite sport, nutrition is calculated to sustain performance and recovery under very specific physical demands", he assesses.

For the general population, the best path is "a balanced, individualized diet compatible with real energy expenditure."

"What should be avoided is the literal reproduction of the diet. Excessive consumption of calories, the idea that offal or milk are mandatory for performance, and any practice without considering age, sex, body composition, exams, objectives and level of physical activity", reinforces Freitas.

DIET FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE

Rafael Pitta, Physical Education professional and specialist in Health Sciences at Albert Einstein Instituto Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa, says that nutrition affects energy availability, recovery capacity and health maintenance throughout the athlete's season.

In football, this impact is relevant. "The modality combines intermittent high-intensity efforts, repeated sprints (short, maximum-intensity efforts), quick changes of direction, physical contact, cognitive demand and a competitive calendar with little recovery time," says the researcher.

A diet like Haaland's contributes to the recovery and maintenance of muscle mass. "It can promote glycogen replacement and energy availability for training and matches", says Freitas.

Another essential point is hydration, as sports that lead to water losses of more than 2% of body mass are enough to compromise thermoregulation - which becomes worse in hot environments with high humidity or in sequences of trips and competitions. Dehydration, according to Pitta, "increases the subjective perception of effort, reduces cognitive capacity, decision-making and neuromuscular performance." For UEFA (Union of European Football Federations), elite football nutrition must be centered on the concept of "food first", which only uses supplements after investing in quality food.

The analysis considers training load, field position, body composition, season phase, match times, environmental conditions and time available for recovery. "Two athletes from the same team can present completely different nutritional strategies, even performing the same training," says Pitta.

GENETICS THAT FAVORS

Haaland is one of the tallest players in the Premier League (professional football league in England), where he plays for Manchester City, and in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. According to Freitas, the diet he follows is good for his profile, but "it could easily lead the vast majority of people to gain weight and increase metabolic risk."

The result depends on a set that includes training, genetics, sleep, recovery, body composition, professional monitoring and individual adjustment of the diet. Therefore, it is also necessary to be careful with the idea that excellent performance happens because he eats liver, beef heart or another specific food.

"His success is the result of genetics, training, recovery, a multidisciplinary team and a well-planned diet", says nutritionist Ney Felipe, creator of the Advanced Nutrition clinic, in Curitiba.

In the office, the ideal is to seek personalization. "Isolated foods have much less impact than the dietary pattern as a whole and that is precisely why models such as the Mediterranean diet have accumulated so much evidence over the last few decades", highlights Felipe.

AVOID ULTRA-PROCESSED ONES

Haaland's diet is known as primal, paleolithic or ancestral and focuses on minimally processed foods.

In Brazil, the Ministry of Health warns that the sale of unpasteurized milk has been prohibited since 1969, due to the risk of transmitting diseases caused by microorganisms present in the food, such as Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli, which cause severe infections.

Although the raw items consumed by the player are seen as an unnecessary risk, the reduction of ultra-processed foods, on the other hand, is a strategy considered coherent by science.

"Fresh or minimally processed foods have greater nutritional density, a better profile of micronutrients, fibers and bioactive compounds, contributing to recovery, metabolic health and overall quality of the diet", considers Pitta.

The consumption of offal such as beef liver and heart also draws attention. "They are rich in proteins, iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and other micronutrients important for energy metabolism, oxygen transport and muscle function", says Freitas.

Even so, for people in general, liver intake should be moderate (about once a week) to avoid intoxication due to excess vitamin A. Haaland's teammates have already reported that the star has a real concern about what he eats.

In the documentary, the player calls raw milk a "magic potion". He usually drinks the ingredient blended with curly cabbage or mixed with coffee.

The daily menu also includes eggs, naturally fermented bread, potatoes, chicken, pasta prepared without salt or oil and fish such as swordfish, sea bream and sea bass.

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