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Table Talk: The importance of healthy habits

Table Talk: The importance of healthy habits

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Table Talk: The importance of healthy habits

This latest edition of Table Talk features FC Barcelona guard Kyle Kuric, Spanish break-dancer Ana 'Furia' Ortega, ex-EuroLeague player Patric Young, MotoGP™ star Maverick Viñales, newly-designated Hall of Famer Pau Gasol and Anadolu Efes Istanbul dietician Buket Mamur.

The term "healthy habits" is often related to food and a person's diet, but as former professional basketball player Patric Young puts it, healthy habits are "attached to some type of goal or identity, who we want to be as people, and habits are… they're hard to create. They take discipline."

In the latest Table Talk documentary by Euroleague Basketball Originals, four individuals who are playing or have played sport at the highest level came together to engage in an informed discussion about the importance of healthy habits and how this applies to the wider population at large.

Young, who played 52 total games in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague for Galatasaray and Olympiacos Piraeus between 2014 and 2017 but was left paralyzed from the waist down due to a serious car crash on June 29, 2022, was joined in the discussion by MotoGP™ star Maverick Viñales, FC Barcelona guard Kyle Kuric and Spanish break-dancer Ana "Furia" Ortega, as well as host Mark Hokan, as they offered their opinions on just what a healthy lifestyle means to them.

There was a common consensus about the importance of what food they are eating, yet Kuric stressed how vital it is to be mentally prepared for any changes that are to come: "I think the thing that is becoming even more important now is just the mental aspect of everything."

The group made sure to highlight some little changes that they have made to their day-to-day routines in order to put themselves in better positions to be the best versions of themselves.

Without these healthy habits in place, it would likely be difficult to reach the heights that Young, Viñales, Kuric and Ortega have reached in their respective sports, but they do admit that there are still things that they are working on. From turning off the television late at night to journaling to limiting the amount of time spent on social media, these are aspects of healthy habits that they make sure to work on.

Another icon who understands the importance of healthy habits is Pau Gasol, who was recently named to the 2023 class of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Through the Gasol Foundation, Pau and his brother Marc, the only siblings in history to both win NBA titles, are trying to tackle child obesity by focusing on the need for physical activity, emotional well-being, healthy eating and sleep quality.

"I've always felt that health is the most important thing," said Gasol. "If you're healthy, you're active, you're going to be able to learn more, absorb more and have more energy and so forth, so [the foundation] had to be around health.

"We looked at childhood obesity and how that was alarmingly growing in the world, not just in the United States, not just in America, but all over. What does that mean? Okay, well let's reinforce healthy habits. That's why we started it and that's why we said, 'Okay, let's protect children.' Let's give them the tools, especially the most vulnerable. I think this is always going to be important, no matter what."

One of the key aspects to maintaining healthy habits is having a routine, yet it is not always easy to stay on track, with life often getting in the way. Nevertheless, Young argues that the key to sticking with healthy habits is staying committed to them: "For me, discipline unlocks freedom."

That much was true for Kuric, as back in 2015 he recovered from a meningioma, which is a tumor that forms on membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord just inside the skull. After originally being told that he would be out for at least a year, the Barca guard, who at the time was playing for Gran Canaria, ended up returning after five months, thanks in large part to the healthy habits that he implemented.

"After the injury, I lost so much weight so quickly that I was so skinny and frail that I had to; one, prove the doctors wrong and get back sooner; and two, to do that, I had to build my body back up. So, I went to the extreme," explained Kuric. "I started measuring out the ounces, the grams of the chicken, the pasta, everything, just to get all the carbs, the protein and everything just so that I could build my body back up. Since then, it's come down a little bit, but I've kind of stayed along the same line of making sure I get my protein in, just so that I can feel full and feel strong, because that's when I feel at my best and it's kind of just developed along that way."

As for Young, he does not know when or if he will be able to walk again, but he is staying true to his healthy habits in order to give himself the best chance possible.

"I don't know when that breakthrough [will come] for me… when I'm going to start walking or take my first steps, but in the middle of the process, I can't give up," he stated. "I can't say, 'Oh, man, it might take five years from now, so I'm going to try to shortchange the process.' We're just normal people that are chasing these things to the best of our ability and enjoying all of it, so it's nothing that no one else can't do in their regular lives as well."

"Table Talk: Healthy Habits" is the latest Table Talk documentary produced by Euroleague Basketball. Other features include "Table Talk: Life of a Prospect", "Table Talk: Racism #NotInOurWorld", "Table Talk: Playing Overseas", "Table Talk: Mental Health in Sports", "Table Talk: Athletes' Retirement" and "Table Talk: Women in Sports", all of which are available to watch at tabletalk.euroleague.net.