Kelvin Beachum Shares His Healthy Living Tips

Every month, Fuel Up to Play 60 holds a call with the Youth Advisory Panel, a group of students who take time out of their schedules to talk about the Fuel Up to Play 60 program and give their ideas for future Plays, campaigns, and the student Dashboard. On the March Youth Advisory Panel call, students were joined by Pittsburgh Steelers tackle Kelvin Beachum, who talked with them about breakfast, team work, and leadership. Below are some questions and answers from the Panel and Kelvin:

Zhanna, MD: What is your favorite breakfast food to eat on big physical activity days like game days to get moving?

Kelvin: Fridays are my hardest days of the week, whether in season or out of season. I have oatmeal and I have a lot of berries like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and then I have some turkey bacon with egg whites. I always have yogurt on the side. I always drink milk, either whole milk or 2%, and I have a smoothie to drink on my way to the facility, which takes me about 20 minutes to get there, so I drink it on the way.

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Alaina, MO: I was wondering how many times you have to stretch and exercise every day to perform at that level.

Kelvin: I just finished stretching for about an hour. Being fit and flexible is something I do every day. I do this thing called Restorative Yoga where I sit in different poses for minutes at a time to restore my body and open it up. I do Pilates with my wife, and I did them before I met her too. I do them to work on my core when I’m not lifting all the time. I do a lot of chiropractic work, a lot of stretching, a lot of Restorative Yoga and Pilates to maintain my flexibility and make sure my body is in tip-top shape. I’m a 300 pound man; I need to make sure I’m as flexible as possible.

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Heaven, LA: What is the most important lesson you have learned in life?

Kelvin: The most important lesson I’ve learned in life, I learned from my dad, and I learned from one of my coaches. The advice is to take pride in everything you do. I think if you take that advice you can be successful in anything you choose to do. Pride can branch out into many different facets. Take pride in tying your shoes, take pride in brushing and flossing your teeth, take pride in saying hi to everyone you happen to encounter, take pride in being the first person running sprints, take pride in being a leader. If a guy or girl is lagging behind, stay with them until they finish the course. Go back and run and help that person to the finish line. Take pride in your team. Taking pride in everything you do is one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in life.

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James, NE: When you were in high school were you a natural leader, or did you get into leadership when you got to SMU and got into college football?

Kelvin: My coach in high school actually told me that I needed to start leading my sophomore year when I was voted captain of the team, and I didn’t know how to lead. My way of leadership was leading by example and showing people the right way to do it. When I got older and matured I learned how to lead in better ways. I also read a lot of books on leadership from different authors that had a lot of different leadership strategies and techniques on how to lead. It’s something that’s cultivated over time and as you mature. You’re not going to get it overnight. Just like building strength and endurance, your fitness level is not done overnight; it takes time to cultivate.

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Brett, NY: My family likes to travel. I like to stay healthy at home. What do you do to stay healthy when you’re traveling for a game?

Kelvin: On away games, they do a great job of making sure we have fruit cups. We have different restaurants and grocery stores that prepare healthy meals for us, so when we’re traveling, we have healthy meals like club sandwiches and turkey wraps. One that I really enjoyed this year was a turkey wheatberry wrap that they had during away games. The Steelers provide a wide variety of healthy snacks and foods for us. Even when I’m traveling by myself I like to pick up a banana at the airport. You see the cookies but you have to make sure you take care of your body especially when you’re traveling. You’re sitting on the plane and your body is stalling, so you have to make sure you get your nutrients when you’re traveling, and make sure you’re drinking your water. I know kids like to indulge in pop and sodas, but instead, drink your water because it does your body good.

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Abby, IN: I was wondering how you find a way to lead and motivate people who don’t have the same interests as you?

Kelvin: That’s a tough question! To be honest, I’ve dealt with that at the high school level. Some people don’t want to play football. You need to find out what that person likes—what drives them. Some people are not driven by winning games or winning championships, so you need to find out what motivates that person individually. Everyone has a different drive. Maybe you say something like, “hey, what drives you? What’s your passion?” If someone’s passion is family, you can say, “play for your family—play for your mom, play for your dad.” Sometimes that is a way to connect with people with different interests to play the sports you’re playing.

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Bobby, FL: Who inspired you when you were a child to be healthy, active, and care about this topic?

Kelvin: To be honest, I grew up in a very unhealthy environment. Where I come from its very rural, very “country,” so a lot of the foods we ate were fried fish and fried chicken. It wasn’t really until I got to college where I started to understand how important healthy eating was. The person that really influenced me was a guy named Adrien Clifton who played for the New England Patriots at the time. He had won three Super Bowls with New England and was coaching us at SMU. He talked about how important eating right was because he went through some of the things in the league from not eating right, and it caused his career to be cut short. So when I got to college I started realizing how important healthy eating was. It’s good that I caught it then because I’ve really changed my diet and changed my lifestyle. As I’ve gotten to the NFL it’s escalated and gotten more serious especially since I’ve started with Fuel Up to Play 60, because I’m not going to talk to you about eating healthy if I’m not eating healthy. Eating healthy isn’t something you do one day and stop; it’s a lifestyle, and you do it every single day because you have to eat healthy every day for your body to perform like it needs to perform.

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Alyssa, CO: How do you think a nutritious breakfast can influence leadership skills?

Kelvin: For one, if you eat breakfast you won’t be cranky as a leader. Nobody wants a cranky, grumpy leader, or someone who is miserable. Some people who are miserable don’t eat breakfast. As it pertains to leadership, make sure you eat breakfast. That’s pretty practical.

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Kelsey, IL: If you don’t have time to sit down for breakfast, what’s something that’s easy to grab and go?

Kelvin: Yogurt is easy to grab and go. If you have some fruit and some granola, that’s a very easy grab and go meal. Take the yogurt, put a little fruit on it, throw some granola on top, mix it up, throw a spoon in it, and put the spoon in your mouth as you walk out the door. That is a very easy meal, I do it all the time when I wake up late or I’m kind of behind schedule. I go in, have yogurt in the fridge, throw in some blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, take a banana on my way out, and eat it in my car.

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Brett, NY: I’m meeting weekly with my principal to get a triathlon at my school. I’m showing adults and my peers that kids can eat healthy and exercise a lot.

Kelvin: I like it! Are you partaking in the triathlon as well?

Brett, NY: Yes.

Kelvin: Awesome. I like it! It’s good for a leader to put together the triathlon or event and also partake or work in these events. One thing I want to leave you all with is, don’t forget to be a servant leader. It’s a small part of being a leader that people forget about. What I mean by servant leader is that you can be a leader and also serve your constituents and peers. Sometimes that goes a long way. If you’re able to lead people and at the same time serve them, you can make a long-lasting impact on your peers.

Interested in having your voice heard on the Youth Advisory Panel? Email StudentAmbassador@FuelUpToPlay60.com!