KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ A couple hours before the Chiefs headed to CenturyLink Field, Justin Houston walked down the hallway of the team's Seattle hotel in search of a blender to fix a pregame shake.
He stopped when he came to Dee Ford's room and knocked.
When Ford opened the door and let him in, Houston found what he was looking for. And a whole lot more.
Yes, there was a blender. There were also coconuts, leafy greens and berries.
And a knife.
"I didn't know he had all that other stuff in there," Houston said with a chuckle. "It was my first time seeing that."
While Houston dumped the ingredients of his soon-to-be shake into the blender his teammate brings everywhere, Ford, 27, picked up a coconut and the knife. With the same strategy he's used all season, he deftly cracked open one of the brown, hairy orbs. And then he showed Houston how to do the same with another.
Then the pair poured the liquid contents into a couple of cups and drank it.
"He was only there to use my blender," Ford said. "He blended up his stuff, and I showed him the coconuts, and before you know it, we're opening coconuts."
Everything Ford does is intentional, and this was no exception. Known for clean eating, Ford purposely added the tropical fruit to his pregame snacks that weekend because coconuts provide extra hydration. And because he read Tom Brady's book recently and the New England quarterback recommended them.
"He's very big on coconuts, too," Ford said. "Coconuts, not coconut water. It's different."
Ford's been health conscious since he was a teenager. But now, healthy eating isn't just a fun hobby. For Ford, who missed the final games of the 2017 season with a back injury, his diet has been the difference between an early retirement and a 2018 Pro Bowl season.
"At this point in my career, for any of us, you survive with your diet," Ford said. "With your working out and your diet and your habits, that's how you survive. I've been playing football for a long time. So that's the only way you survive, especially the past five years."
