M&F: You’re out promoting the First and Goal cholesterol awareness campaign. A lot of people are going to be surprised to learn that high cholesterol was a problem for an elite athlete like yourself.
KW: I’ll tell you, I was surprised. About a decade ago when I was still playing, I got my annual physical and they informed me that I had high cholesterol [above 200]. Knowing what I knew at the time, I was like, “OK, as an athlete, as a man…I can handle this, change my diet a little bit, obviously continue to exercise…” What I realized was that diet and exercise weren’t enough for me. So I got with my doctor and decided it was time to go on a statin to get that number down. Right now I’m on the latest statin, Livalo, which has helped me maintain my cholesterol. I’m one of 71 million Americans who have high cholesterol. It’s a crazy number.
We don’t steer our guys clear of red meat and whole eggs, because the body uses cholesterol to create testosterone.
It’s all about finding that right balance where your heart is healthy and you’re able to function and do all the things you want to do. That’s really my goal. I won’t say that I eat superclean, but I do make it a priority. My wife does a great job of trying to introduce new healthy foods—quinoa, kale—into our diet, while at the same time we have foods like red meat and eggs. You can learn more at firstandgoalhearthealth.com.
You’re an analyst now. Do we pay too much attention to the Combine?
I don’t think there’s any question that we weigh these Combine scores too much. I’m a firm believer that so much of it is what happens when you get between those lines. How do you manage the high pace? The change in the things that you think are going to happen and what actually happens—how do you react? How high you can jump or how fast you can run doesn’t necessarily affect how fast you can think. These guys are such great athletes, so you sit back and go, “How can that not translate onto the field?” But, as we know, it doesn’t always do that.
At the end of Super Bowl XLIII, you get hit, the ball comes out, one official says incomplete pass, but they rule it a fumble and never call time-out for review. How?
It’s come up a number of times, but I believe that so many things dictate theoutcome of a game. Had we even gotten the ball one more time, it was going to be a Hail Mary chance. What I remember is the Cardinals responding and putting ourselves up with just a little more than two minutes in the game, and then Big Ben and his group making some amazing plays to win. That, to me, is what Super Bowls are all about.
Kurt’s Stats
>> Warner is a two time NFL MVP and Super Bowl XXXIV MVP.
>> He owns the top-three passing yardage totals in Super Bowl history.
