Ronda Rousey's diet and workout secrets

Try the Dolce Diet

Before switching diets, Rousey ate one large meal a day, only at night. Now that she's adopted the Dolce Diet, created by former UFC fighter Mike Dolce, she was able to make weight at 135 pounds easily, while recovering from illness and her painful hand injury.

Rousey, like many other athletes, is a strong proponent of The Dolce Diet, which focuses on organic lean and green food.

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Don't lift a single weight

Ronda Rousey's workouts are focused on functional strength rather than weightlifting. In fact, Rousey says she actually doesn't lift "any weights at all." The former Olympian works out two to three times a day, which include wrestling, striking, boxing, cardio, judo, swimming and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

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Don't take anything made in a lab

Rousey doesn't take chemically-formulated supplements like many athletes do to gain an advantage. Instead, Rousey subscribes to anything organic. "If it was on earth 10,000 years ago then I will eat it," she explained.

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Challenge yourself

When asked about her strenuous workouts, Rousey's advice to people trying to get in shape is to challenge yourself. She believes that if a workout is too easy, then you aren't challenging yourself enough. Rousey is still waiting for a challenge in the Octagon, however.

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Get uncomfortable

For Rousey to truly challenge herself, she ensures that every time she trains, she's putting herself in an uncomfortable position. Rousey purposely puts herself at a disadvantage because it forces her to improve in every workout.

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Her training diet isn't for the weak

During a recent interview with ESPNW, Rousey divulged her training diet for her fights. At 8 a.m. she eats two teaspoons of oat bran, two teaspoons chia seeds, two teaspoons hemp seeds; noon: one whole egg, two egg whites, two sides of turkey bacon; 4 pm: one apple, one-fourth cup raw almonds, one-fourth cup raw cashews; She caps it off at night with some chamomile tea.

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Drink her giant shakes

Along with her training diet, Rousey supplements vegetables by downing two giant shakes every day. According to Rousey, her shakes are made up of a beet, an apple, two carrots, four strawberries, one cup of blueberries, two handfuls of red grapes, a lemon, a handful of spinach, a handful of kale, one-fourth handful of parsley, two stalks of celery, two tablespoons of hemp seeds, two tablespoons of chia seeds, one tablespoon of coconut oil, one chard leaf with no stem. You'll need quite the blender for that smoothie.

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Eat grass-finished beef

When it comes to protein, Rousey is, of course, very particular about what she eats. Red meat must be "grass-finished beef," not just grass fed. "Grass-finished beef" means the animal has eaten grass at least 80 percent of its life, making the meat higher quality and healthier.

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Coffee is her vice

Despite how healthy Rousey eats in her everyday life, her cheat drink of choice is coffee. In fact, she told her nutritionist that no matter how healthy she eats, she still needs her coffee. To combat her java addiction, Rousey grinds up wheatgrass, parsley, cilantro and sprouts every morning for a "green shot."

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Force yourself to be motivated

One theme shared between elite athletes is their motivation. To remain a top-level athlete, Rousey believes you have to "force yourself to be motivated." Once that motivation is gone, you've already lost your edge. Fortunately for Rousey, she's been able to keep her mental edge over every competitor.

(Photo: USA Today Sports)