The Chef Who Helps Keep Wade At The Top Of His Game
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- When it comes to keeping superstar basketball player Dwyane Wade at the top of his game, personal Chef Richard Ingraham feels his job is most important.
He's responsible for the Miami Heat star's diet that keeps him fit both on and off the court.
"I look at him and I don't look at the game, I look at how he's doing how, he's performing" said Ingraham. "I remember one incident, he caught a Charlie horse in the 4th quarter and I was thinking what is it I'm not doing on my end that he's catching a cramp. So, we added more bananas into his smoothies things like that for potassium."
Miami born and raised Chef Richard wasn't a big basketball fan when 10-years ago someone called and asked if he would cook for Dwyane Wade. He didn't know who he was.
"They said smarty, you go ahead and you google him and tell me if you want to cook for him and I did. The next thing I know, I was cooking for him," he said while laughing.
These days Chef cooks almost every meal for the star athlete and his family.
At a recent afternoon at The Culinary Institute at Miami Dade College, Chef Richard showed CBS4's Lisa Petrillo a playoff dish he planned to make for Wade.
"It's a pan roasted sea bass with pickled jumbo lump crab with tomato relish . Sea bass is the "only" fish Dwyane will eat.
Something tells me Wade is a picky eater," asked Petrillo.
"Oh, he is," said Richard.
"It's been maybe the last three years we've gotten him to eat vegetables. It was all meat and potatoes. I would have to sneak them in. Actually, I would tell him, but if he didn't see them, he was good with it," he said.
Now, aside from a few bad habits, like Wade's hidden passion for "Debbie's Cakes", Chef Richard has shown the all-star athlete the advantages of how a healthy diet does a body good.
"He's really becoming a lot more health conscious and I'm happy for it," said Chef Richard.
Click here for more information about Chef Richard Ingraham.
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