Bucs' Clayton offers health advice to kids: Just eat

If you're an NFL fan, you've likely seen the league's ads for its Play 60 program, which promotes 60 minutes of exercise a day for children. They'll be on display again this weekend during the Super Bowl XLIV broadcast.

A side effort by the NFL, the Fuel Up to Play 60 program, asks players to get the message out that healthy eating is important, too.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Michael Clayton, in a sponsorship with the Dairy Council of Florida, is speaking to local students about eating and exercise.

Clayton talked earlier this week about the importance of food in his athletic career.

You have to worry about your body and your fuel when you get ready for playing. Tell me a little about your food regimen.

During the season, it's high protein. You eat a lot of fish, a lot of chicken breasts. Rice, a lot of broccoli, a lot of vegetables. In the off-season, I get a relaxed diet and I kind of dibble and dabble a little bit. I don't watch it too much in the offseason, January through about May. I worry more when the season kicks off because the proper food allows your joints to not ache as bad.

You can't be like these guys 40 years ago where they were chugging beers and walking out on the field after eating a steak. It's an instrument and you have to take care of it.

Guys used to smoke cigarettes on the sidelines. They didn't really care about body types. But the game has changed night and day since then. It's about longevity, and if you feed your body the correct foods and take care of your body, the longer you're going to last.

What does your own family like to eat?

My wife is an excellent cook. We help her out and get her a chef during the season, but during the off-season, we enjoy her getting her hands dirty every day. But she can throw down, man. She loves to cook salmon. The fish, the chicken, the pork chops. Everything.

With the NFL Play 60 ads you see on TV, it's easy to think, "That's great, but you can't run around if you don't have a belly full of something."

Exactly.

So what would you recommend kids eat? Obviously fruits and vegetables, but is there anything they ask you about?

You know, with kids I like to tell them that they should just eat ... something. As a kid you burn off so much energy playing that it's just important to eat something.

I was raised on Chicken McNuggets from McDonalds. [laughs] Three times a day, twice a day, but at least it was something.

I think kids go wrong when they .. skip breakfast. They have so many easy-fix breakfast tools now that you can just pop in the microwave. A toaster strudel or a breakfast sandwich. I'd definitely encourage the sausage biscuits in the morning, just to get something on the stomach.

A full belly lets them concentrate more in school and really settles kids down. My kids, for sure, if they don't eat, they get grumpy and are all over the place. Food really does something to help calm them down and regain control. Food is more than just energy building. It helps everything.

Who's the crazy eater in the Bucs locker room?

It would have to be Stylez G. White. He's a pretty nasty guy. Every Friday he comes in and does this dance, this Freaky French Toast Friday Dance.

What?

Freaky French Toast Friday. You have to ask him about it.

What does he do?

He does everything, man, just over this French toast. The caterers only fix it once a week, on Fridays.

What does the dance look like? It's not like a Warren Sapp bunny hop, is it?

It's crazy. It's like a shimmy shake, tongue licking out. I don't know, man. It gets nasty. Guys get into work early just to see the Freaky French Toast Friday Dance by Stylez G. White.