Inside mad diet of World's Strongest Man competitor with £12,000 food bill, ‘Monster Mash' meal and NEVER drinking water

Scottish Sun

16-05-2025

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STRONGMAN Mitchell Hooper claims that he NEVER drinks water as part of the crazy diet that costs him over £12,000 every year.
Hooper, 29, was the World's Strongest Man in 2023 and finished second in last year's competition - and his bonkers diet helps him remain one of the best strongman competitors in the sport.
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Strongman Mitchell Hooper spends a fortune on food to keep his World's Strongest Man physique
Credit: Instagram @mitchellhooper
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Hooper easts almost three times the daily recommended calories
Credit: World's Strongest Man/Joe Martinez
Candian Hooper, nicknamed 'The Moose', eats almost THREE times the daily recommended calories for an adult male in the UK on a daily basis.
And his diet is made up of his special "Monster Mash" meals and "Creamsicle" drinks to drive up his protein intake and get him in the best shape possible for competition by eating over 6,200 CALORIES.
On an average day Hooper consumes around 440g of protein, which is EIGHT times more than the recommended protein intake for a male in the UK, according to the British Heart Foundation.
Breakfast is either six eggs, a protein shake, avocado and banana or a giant bowl of Reese's Puffs cereal with protein shake poured over the top instead of milk, with protein balls and raisin bread.
However, whatever breakfast he chooses it will always be accompanied by his drink of choice - the 'Creamsicle'.
His own invention, the Creamsicle is a full glass of orange juice mixed with 3/4 of a cup of Greek yoghurt to boost his protein intake.
On his YouTube channel, where he boasts 428,000 subscribers, Hooper said: "It's as much plain Greek yoghurt as I can get diluted into the orange juice.
"I aim to eat one tub of Greek yoghurt every day. It's really good for your gut health, really good macronutrients and it gets your protein in".
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Hooper mixes yoghurt and orange juice together to make his 'Creamsicle' drink
Credit: YouTube/Mitchell Hooper
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Hooper sinks a Creamsicle drink with his breakfast and his lunch
Credit: Youtube/mitchell hooper
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The extra protein helps him to build muscle for competition
Credit: World's Strongest Man/Joe Martinez
Most people would move on to lunch after their breakfast, but Hooper moves onto his FIRST lunch of two.
That would normally be his "Monster Mash", a mix of ground beef, white rice and beef broth.
The less you can chew the less full you're going to feel
Mitchell Hooper
Wesley Derwinsky shows his strength with the moving medley at the Magnus Classic
It's not the easiest task to keep down beef and rice every single day, so Hooper adds broth to help things go down a little better.
He explained: "The Monster Mash is really good with the beef broth because it just makes the food a little bit moist.
"The less you can chew the less full you're going to feel. There's processes in the body that means that chewing can make you feel full.
"Also, the faster you eat the less full you'll feel and this helps get the food down relatively quickly".
Hooper chows down on an astonishing amount of meat during his weekly intake, eating one steak and 450g of ground beef every day.
Which means the reigning Arnold Strongman Classic champion is stomaching a whopping 3.2kg of ground beef and seven steaks every single week.
Over the course of a year, that equates to roughly AN ENTIRE COW'S worth of beef, with Hooper admitting that even he gets sick of ground beef from time to time.
Both lunches will of course be accompanied by a Creamsicle drink.
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Hooper eats ground beef, white rice and beef broth for lunch - twice
Credit: Youtube/mitchell hooper
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He eats the equivalent of an adult cow per year in beef
Credit: World's Strongest Man/Joe Martinez
Throughout the day Hooper snacks on rice cakes to make sure he's taking in low-fat high-carb food, explaining that finding that balance is "one of the hardest things" for him to do.
Dinner will depend on what's being made at home by Hooper and wife Ashley, but generally pasta, chicken and tomato sauce will bring his meals for the day to an end.
I don't drink water, ever.
Mitchell Hooper
Unbelievably, Hooper revealed that alongside all those foods, he NEVER drinks water.
He said: "I don't drink water, ever. Diet Coke, milk and orange juice - that's it".
Hooper also makes sure he necks a protein shake every day too.
While he also has a weakness for ice cream , and admitted he will often eat TWO TUBS in one night.
Hooper said: "Four tubs won't last a whole week, but I pretend I'm not going to eat ice cream every day, and then I usually eat two tubs".
Incredible cost
The Ontario-born Strongman admitted that cookie dough is another one of his vices.
But explained that keeping weight on is only going to benefit him when it comes to competition.
He said: "I need to maintain my energy and fat stores because, in the end, being heavier helps you move more weight."
The crazy amount of food would bring Hooper's average weekly shop - just for himself - to around £230.
Which means he spends about £12,000 on food every single year - almost a third of the average UK salary.
Even he admitted that being a strongman isn't particularly profitable when you talk into account the cash splashed on simply maintaining the right physique.
He said: "Strongman isn't the most profitable thing in the world, so if you want to become a strongman maybe think twice about the cost that it's going to be to feed you".
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Hooper has a weakness for ice cream
Credit: Instagram @mitchellhooper