Tag: Pre-Game Meal

Photographer Alice Gao uploads gorgeous images of food and lifestyle.

3. @cannellevanille

Aran Goyoaga of food blog Canelle et Vanille documents eating in Seattle and the Basque country.

4. @davidlebovitz

Chef and food writer David Lebovitz shares images of his life in Paris, complete with fresh baguettes and produce.

5. @jamieoliver

This celebrity chef’s Instagram feed is a mix of gorgeous food photography and personal snapshots.

6. @smoothdude

This Instagram account belongs to professional food photographer Daniel Krieger.

7. @pissinginthepunchbowl

Food photographer Marcus Nilsson can make even the last few slices in a greasy pizza box look incredible.

8. @carrieannpurcell

Carrie Ann Purcell is a successful food stylist who has done spreads for the likes of Williams-Sonoma and covers for food magazines like Martha Stewart Living.

9. @munns

David Munns is a professional food photographer who snaps images of his delectable meals and happy children.

10. @davidloftus

David Loftus has photographed for the likes of Jamie Oliver and April Bloomfield. Follow him for gorgeous food shots and stunning portraiture.

11. @andrewscrivani

The New York Times Dining photographer posts images of food and baseball.

12. @thekitchenista

Angela Davis, blogger at The Kitchen Diaries, shares pictures of all your comfort food favorites, including fried chicken, smoked pork chops and buttermilk biscuits.

13. @helenedujardin

Helene Dujardin is the senior photographer at cookbook publisher Oxmoor House.

14. @rick_poon

Rick Poon is a photographer from Los Angeles. Follow him for beautiful images of food and travel.

15. @timrobisonjr

Tim Robison is a photographer from North Carolina.

16. @vkrees

Photographer Vanessa Rees posts beautiful photos of large, colorful meals.

17. @sonyayu

Follow Sonya Yu for professional food photography and adorable snaps of a corgi named Waffles.

18. @spoonforkbacon

The official Instagram for food photographer Teri Lyn Fisher and food stylist Jenny Park’s blog, Spoon Fork Bacon.

19. @madcapcupcake

Marika Collins’ feed has an antique feel, complete with beautiful, old silverware and paint-chipped tables.

20. @minimalistbaker

Dana Shultz documents her quick and simple recipes at Minimalist Baker.

21. @alxgrossmn

Alex Grossman is the creative director of Bon Apetit. Follow him for photos of cold beer, grilled meat and vegetables and the elusive cronut.

22. @amandasuzannemarshall

Amanda SUzanne Marshall posts pictures of food, culture and her life in Okinawa, Japan.

23. @mrschhoun

Follow this feed for food and lifestyle snaps from the San Francisco area.

24. @marte_marie_forsberg

Marte Marie Forsberg is a food and lifestyle photographer who lives in London.

25. @aprilbloomfield

Follow Chef April Bloomfield for snaps from inside a professional kitchen.

26. @farmert

Tucker Taylor is a farmer who posts colorful images of raw produce.

27. @nicole_franzen

Nicole Franzen posts images of New York restaurants, bars, friends and food.

28. @kyledreier

Kyle Dreier is a commercial photographer who posts behind-the-scenes pictures of professional shoots.

29. @joythebaker

Joy Wilson of Joy the Baker posts behind-the-scenes food styling images.

30. @donalskehan

Donal Skehan is a cookbook author and food photographer from Dublin.

31. @bakersroyale_naomi

Naomi of Bakers Royale is a self-taught baker and blogger.

32. @taraobrady

This food writer hails from Ontario, Ca. She shares simple and irresistibly beautiful shots of high-quality everyday ingredients.

33. @kankana_saxena

Kankana Saxena blogs at Playful Cooking.

34. @theforestfeast

Erin Gleeson of The Forest Feast posts warm photos of friends and family sharing meals in her woodsy home.

35. @_sheenarae

Sheena blogs and photographs at The Little Red House.

36. @reemrizvi

Reem Rizvi is an LA-based food and lifestyle photographer who has a knack for artfully arranging otherwise messy ingredients in her stunning photos.

37. @citrusandcandy

Karen Low blogs at Citrus and Candy.

38. @jehancancook

Guyanese food blogger Jehan, from Jehan Can Cook, posts photos of homemade food inspired by Gyuanese and Carribean culture.

39. @sarah_kieffer

Sarah Kieffer is a self-taught baker who posts simple shots of her sweet confections.

40. @savorysimple

Jennifer Farley of Savory Simple posts pictures of giant peaches, miniature watermelons and cats. Lots of cats.

41. @littleupsidedowncake

Only a talented food photographer like Sanda Pagaimo could make used lemon rinds look so beautiful.

42. @ashrod

Ashley from Not Without Salt started her career plating desserts in a high-end restaurant. Now she shares her food styling skills through photographs on her Instagram feed.

43. @mikevfmk

Michael Lewicki is a food blogger for Verses From My Kitchen and The Boys Club.

44. @ohladycakes

Ashlae of Oh, Ladycakes develops simple, from-scratch vegan recipes, that are also often gluten free. Follow her for gorgeous food and breath-taking travel shots.

45. @goodbeerhunting

Follow writer, photographer and craft beer industry specialist Michael Kiser as he travels the world looking for the best beers available.

46. @meetakwolff

Meeta K. Wolff is a freelance photographer, food stylist and writer living in Germany.

47. @careynotcarrie

Carey of Reclaiming Provincial posts images of the food and farm culture in Vermont.

48. @local_milk

Beth Kirby of Local Milk hails from Tennessee, and posts photos with a wam, country feel to them.

49. @behindfoodcarts

Follow this unique blog’s Instagram feed for photos of the people behind some of the best west coast food trucks.

50. @gourmandeinthek

Sylvie Shirazi is a food photographer and blogger for Gourmande In The Kitchen.

51. @carolineoncrack

If you’re hanging out in Los Angeles, follow blogger Caroline Pardilla for tips on locating the best cocktails available.

52. @pastryaffair

Kristen Rosenau blogs about her baking adventures at Pastry Affair.

53. @heatheralanna

It’s all about meals and family on blogger Heather Hands’ Instagram feed.

54. @idafrosk

Food artist Ida Frosk has a knack for arranging simple ingredients into adorable, edible scenes. Her Instagram feed boasts delightful pictures of her work.

55. @drizzleanddip

Sam Linsell is a food stylist, photographer and cookbook author.

56. @jchongstudio

Photographer and designer Jennifer Chong posts colorful shots of fresh meals and California coastlines.

57. @farmgirlsdabble

Brenda of posts images of kid-friendly foods, like cookie bars filled with M&Ms.

58. @passportsandpancakes

Megan Fleiner photographs food and travel for her blog, Passports and Pancakes.

59. @rapo4

Follow Bon Apetit Editor-in-Chief Adam Rapoport for snaps from behind the scenes at a major food publication.

60. @heatherchristo

Heather Christothoulou is a cook book author and blogger.

61. @averiesunshine

Averie Sunshine creates recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth and snack cravings. Follow for recommended products, sugary desserts and savory snacks.

62. @kitchen_door

Kate from Katie at the Kitchen Door shares frosty drinks, heirloom tomatoes and photos of friends and family.

63. @yossyarefi

Yossy Arefi has photographed for Bon Apetit, Saveur, Paste and other food publications. She shares photos of baking and seasonal fruits on Instagram.

64. @sundaysuppers

Karen Mordechai is a photographer and the creator of Sunday Suppers, a cooking-class company in Brooklyn, N.Y.

65. @cooksmarts

Jess Dang’s feed is full of vegetable-heavy dishes from her blog, Cook Smarts.

66. @thefauxmartha

Shot against stark white backgrounds, designer Melissa Coleman brings out the beauty in simple foods.

67. @eeddbbmm

Dylan James Ho is a travel photographer who shares beautifully-shot images of his meals from around the globe.

68. @vegantreats

This popular vegan bakery’s Instagram feed will knock the doubt out of anyone who thinks you can’t make a great cupcake without dairy products.

69. @tracyshutterbean

Food blogger and photographer Tracy Benjamin posts shares rustic images of outdoor meals and breath-taking landscapes.

70. @lindaspeakeasy

Linda of The Tart Tart posts images of homemade macarons, fresh pasta and the sites around her Brooklyn neighborhood.

71. @loveandlemons

Food blogger Jeanine Donofrio shares photos of her own cooking, as well as cooking from restaurants around the world.

72. @letmeeatcake

Eat doughnuts, croissants and ice cream vicariously through blogger Nastassia Johnson’s Instagram feed.

73. @darindines

Darin of food diary Darin Dines documents fantastic meals from top restaurants, including the very trendy Ramen Burger.

74. @acozykitchen

Blogger Adrianna Adarme posts snapshots of exotic fruits and vegetables among other delicious foods.

75. @thedomesticman

Blogger Russ Crandall, of The Domestic Man shares his experiences eating under the Paleo diet, a diet heavy on meat, vegetables and fruits.

June 18, 2008: In our May 2008 feature on Celtics guard Ray Allen, the seven-time NBA All-Star talked about the pressure to stay strong during the rigorous NBA season.

In Game 6 all his hard work paid off, as Allen sunk 26 points, tying a Finals record with seven three pointers, en route to his first championship. Here’s another look at how he got there.

Find Out How Ray Trains

Guess which of the Celtics’ trio may be the “fittest”? Wrong. That would be sharpshooting guard Ray Allen. With an old-school work ethic, the All-Star employs a diverse workout strategy that just may earn him a championship ring.

Four pounds. Four measly pounds. For Ray Allen, a seven-time NBA All-Star and sharpshooting guard, the weight felt like an anchor each time he drove to the hoop and tried to explode at the rim, each time he chased an opponent from one side of the floor to the other, each time he weaved and bobbed through screens in an effort to elude a defender.

A pound or four doesn’t matter to most of us. But to Allen, a veteran who had already defied the standards for athletic longevity, the extra ounces felt like another teammate hugging his midsection. “People always say, you don’t need to lose weight, you look good, you look in shape,” Allen says. “But when you’re running up and down the floor and have to run from one sideline to the other, stop on a dime, and shoot a jumper or get to the hole and explode, you really feel the weight that shouldn’t be on you.”

That was two years ago, when Allen decided to lose his extra weight. The results today are obvious. At 32 years old, Allen is enjoying a renaissance as one-third of Boston’s new Big Three, joining Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce as the core of the Boston Celtics’ sudden revival. One season after losing a near-franchise-high 49 games (and enduring an 18-game losing streak), the Cs may now be the NBA’s best team not named the Los Angeles Lakers. Playing unselfishly on offense and stifling defense, Boston surged to the league’s best earlyseason record and established itself as a favorite to reach the NBA Finals.

While much of the credit for the resurgence has been laid at the arrival of 11-time All-Star Kevin Garnett from Minnesota in an off-season blockbuster trade, and Pierce’s revival and influence, Allen, who arrived in a draft-day trade with Seattle, has contributed his share. He’s averaging nearly 20 points per game and offering more-than-solid numbers in field-goal shooting, rebounds, and assists. Even so, the Cs vowed since the start of the season that this year isn’t about individual glory. “It’s not a stat-sheet season for us,” Allen says. “We came together and said, ‘Look, we’re not going to average 28 or 30 points. We just have to do things to make the team better, and when we win, we’ll celebrate winning.”

The key to making that happen is all about fitness, especially for Allen-a workout warrior and nutrition fanatic who spends his time off doing things like biking 30 miles through the Seattle hills, just for fun. “As far as dedication to his body-stretching, massage, working out, all that stuff-as long as I’ve been in the league, Ray’s the best I’ve ever seen,” says teammate Brian Scalabrine. “He just does what needs to be done.”

For Allen, whose pregame meal always consists of chicken and rice, that means maintaining 4% body fat, and working out year-round, including during the season when most players are simply trying to survive the debilitating 82-game schedule. To put it bluntly, he simply will not allow those four pounds to return.

Maybe that dedication is the reason why the 6’5″ Allen’s pro career, which began in 1996, has lasted so long. Most players can’t survive the rigors of the NBA for more than a decade, overcoming numerous injuries like the double-heel surgery that sidelined him for 26 games in ’06, without doing everything they can to maintain their bodies. But Allen has learned enough lessons over the years to ultimately become his own trainer. “I witnessed Michael Jordan talk about the need to stay strong over 82 games,” Allen says. “You have to take your hits and be able to absorb them -not only so you don’t get hurt, but so you don’t feel beat down the next day.”

Four years ago, Allen stopped losing weight after each season, as he had done in his youth, and began gaining those four pounds and 1.5% of body fat. “What that showed me was my playing weight versus my living weight,” he says. So he dropped playing basketball in the off-season and focused on maintaining cardio while limiting wear and tear on his aging frame. Biking became his new “game,” with running as a complement. Allen lived outside Seattle, in Snoqualmie Ridge at the foot of the Cascades. He limited his running to a pair of two-and-a-half-mile treks a week. The other three days he embarked on brutal 30-mile rides through hills and valleys near his home. “It was gruesome,” he said. “Those hills were tough. But when you were done, the feeling was great.”

In addition to limiting the pounding on his tendinitis-scarred knees, the jaunts also provided Allen with valuable time to unwind. “It was beautiful,” Allen says. “The trees, riding down thesecluded streets, the countryside. You see farm animals, the mountains in the background, rivers running through. And it just gave you peace of mind. When it’s just you and that bike, and you’re 15 miles from home, you’ve got to put your head down and work. You start thinking about things you need to do in your life, goals you have. It’s great mental therapy.” Cardio was only half of the new regimen. Allen built his strength work around what he considers basketball’s two most important muscle groups: the abs and glutes.

He labels one- and two-legged squats his “best exercises,” with six-pack-producing crunches not far behind. “Squats are a way of letting me know where my power is,” he says. “When I have my butt low and parallel to the ground, that’s the single most important position in basketball. Everything you do starts there. If a dog’s chasing you, that’s the first position you get into. So you’ve got to be able to explode.”

In the weight room, Allen starts with 135-pound squats, progressing to 225 during the season and 315 in the off-season. He follows with a circuit of leg curls and extensions, keeping the weight below 70 pounds. For upper body work, he benches 135, occasionally pushing to 185. He adds dumbbell curl to presses of 35 pounds on each arm. Between each exercise, Allen does 20 pushups and 20 crunches. He scoffs at guys who grunt through 200 of each. “If you’re doing 200 crunches, you’re doing them wrong,” he says. “You want to do the least amount in the most efficient way. Be very specific in the areas you’re trying to hit and train those muscles to keep them strong.”

The less-is-more approach derives from college, when he lifted like a football player before realizing he needed to tailor his workouts to flexibility, stamina, explosiveness- and the core. “When someone pushes you-and people don’t realize this—your abs are the first thing to kick in,” he says. “So if you’re weak right there, you’ll fall over for anything, especially while you’re running up and down the floor.”

“I keep my body strong so it doesn’t break down,” Allen says, “as opposed to putting on muscle every single day.” He has imparted these lessons to young teammates like point guard Rajon Rondo and center Kendrick Perkins. “I just always tell them to be in better shape than the guy you’re playing against,” Allen says. “I tell Perkins, all you have to do is beat your man down the floor, outrun him, and he’s going to get tiredand you’re going to get six to eight points a game just from being in better shape.”

Thanks to Allen, basketball is back on the map in Boston. Beantown’s new trio of stars evoke memories of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, Hall of Famers who keyed three titles in the 1980s. With none of them having won an NBA title, they’d like nothing more than to hang a 17th championship banner alongside those won by previous Celtics greats from Bob Cousy to Bill Russell to John Havlicek to Bird.

As they prepare to seek that goal (the NBA playoffs tip off in April), they seem to each be having the time of their basketball lives. “When you’re on a successful team winning championships, it’s not a stressful lifestyle,” Allen says. “It’s easier to play basketball, enjoy your teammates, and have a good time. You don’t get that everywhere, so you shouldn’t take it for granted when you do.”