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WNBA rising star Aaliyah Edwards is under a lot of pressure. One key way she stays focused and fuels her recovery for peak performance is diet.
At just 22 years old, Aaliyah Edwards already has an Olympics under her belt, repping Canada’s women’s basketball team in Tokyo in 2021 as the then-youngest member of the team. She’s also racked up accolades as a college forward, helping to bring UConn to the Final Four of the NCAA’s D1 women’s basketball tournament in 2024 before signing with the Washington Mystics for her rookie season of the WNBA.
Now in the WNBA — one of the world’s hottest sports leagues right now — Edwards said it’s a perfect moment of opportunity, and responsibility, to rep women’s athletics. “The momentum for women’s pro sports is building,” she told Business Insider.
Edwards is a plant-based athlete, an increasingly popular choice favored by superstars like Serena and Venus Williams, Alex Morgan, and Kyrie Irving.
Being a vegetarian in pro sports is all about balance for better energy and recovery, Edwards told BI in the interview, coordinated through her partnership with plant-based food company Nasoya.
“I have to make sure I have high-protein meals throughout the day so I can perform on the court,” she said. “It’s not as difficult as you think.”
Edwards said her routine includes nourishing staples like tofu, tempeh, and lentils for meals and energy-boosting, high-protein snacks to fuel intense training.
Her high-protein staples include tofu and legumes
Edwards said tofu is a regular ingredient in her meals because it’s deceptively simple to prepare and it takes on the flavors of any sauces or condiments you add.
One of her favorite dishes is crispy soy garlic tofu — the secret to great texture is in coating the tofu in cornstarch before frying.
“It may look intimidating but it also takes about 30 minutes to make it,” she said.
Edwards said she also eats tempeh, another soy product, as well as lentils and chickpeas.
“I’m always looking for new protein-packed recipes,” she said.
Legumes are a great source of protein for athletes because they’re also high in carbs for energy and fiber for healthy digestion.
Getting enough protein on a plant-based diet comes down to eating enough and eating the right balance of foods, according to sports dietitian Nancy Clark.
Plant sources of protein can have a different combination of amino acids, essential building blocks of protein, so it’s important to get all of them.
“That’s where mixing and matching comes in, like rice and beans. Mixing and matching can happen over the course of the day, it doesn’t have to be at each meal,” Clark told BI.
Athletes need more carbs than sedentary people to help muscles recover after exercise, according to Clark. She recommends adding chickpeas to salad or making lentil soup as healthy, high-protein meal ideas.
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For energy: a pre-workout parfait
Edwards said she makes sure to get a snack before training, since she often has two workouts in a day.
Her go-to snack is a parfait with Greek yogurt, fruits, and granola, offering a combo of pre-workout carbs for energy with protein from dairy.
It’s particularly important for athletes to get the right balance of carbs and protein if they’re working out more than once per day, to give their muscles the best chance to recover, according to Clark.
Edwards said nutrition can be highly personal, and finding exactly what works best for her body has been a process. Her current routine is dialed in to help her keep up with the intensity of the WNBA.
“You can be super committed to what you do on the court in the moment, but it’s what you do in prepping your body and your recovery that’s the biggest thing in long-term performance,” she said.
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