LeBron James may have a sweet tooth, but the Los Angeles Lakers superstar knows when to pause his cravings for the sake of his fitness and health.
During this week’s episode of his Mind the Game podcast with Steve Nash, James revealed that he paused consuming his favorite chocolate chip cookies while he was recovering from sciatica, the New York Post reported. The 41-year-old was unavailable for the Lakers’ first 14 games of the 2025-26 NBA season because of his condition.
“I wasn’t playing obviously as the season started,” James told Nash. “So I needed to give up something. I gotta sacrifice something. And I actually did two things that I very love. And that is drinking wine and my chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I completely took it out.”
The four-time NBA champion said that he decided to quit alcohol and cookies for November, adding that it was because he wanted to be in the best form as he prepared to return to the court after recovering from sciatica. James said that he ultimately decided to abstain from his cravings for December too.
“I kept going,” said James. “I didn’t have my first drink and my first piece of dessert until New Year’s. New Year’s Day. So I ended up going basically two months.”
And though James admitted that staying away from cookies was the most difficult, he said avoiding wine was also a hard task.
“Not playing, being a little stressed, I maybe wanted a glass here. A glass there,” James said. “But it was good to give my body a break.”
It is well known that James is a fan of chocolate chip cookies. In 2025, the 41-year-old recalled a time when Pat Riley banned chocolate chip cookies on team flights. That was when James was playing for the Miami Heat, and his former teammate Dwyane Wade previously said that James took issue with that.
