Diego Valeri loves Italian food.

Growing up in Argentina, he regularly ate big, hearty dinners of pizza and pasta with his family - a nod to their Italian heritage. Even after arriving in Portland in 2013, Valeri quickly adopted Piazza Italia as his go-to restaurant.

But recently, the Portland Timbers maestro has been making a concerted effort to change his diet in an attempt to eat healthier and feel better during the long MLS season, as well as take a prudent path toward prolonging his career for as long as possible. Over the last year, Valeri has almost entirely stopped eating gluten and greatly reduced his dairy intake - minimizing his consumption of two staples in Italian food.

"The goal was to be better at the end of the season, to feel better physically because I'm getting older," Valeri said.

Before the 2017 MLS season, Valeri was already a four-time MLS All-Star and had twice been named to the MLS Best XI. But this year, the 31-year-old has incredibly taken his game to yet another level. Valeri currently leads MLS with a club-record 20 goals this season, has scored in an MLS-record nine consecutive games and is a front-runner to win the MLS MVP award.

The increase in production has come in a year where Valeri has actively worked behind the scenes to better take care of his body and continue to improve his game.

"That's what good pros do," Timbers coach Caleb Porter said. "They take care of themselves and they have people around them that help them. All the little things add up."

After turning 30 last year, Valeri started to think seriously about what he could do to better navigate the long MLS season and make sure he was still able to perform at his peak by the end of the year. Along with altering his diet, he decided to put a greater emphasis on his rest and recovery this season and devote extra practice time to adding new skills to his game.

Valeri said he consulted with a nutritionist in making the decision to all but eliminate gluten and reduce his dairy consumption, but he also credited his wife, Florencia, with helping him stick to the diet plan.

"My wife, Florencia, helped me a lot," Valeri said. "She started to work with me more in the diet, eating almost no gluten, less dairy... It's a long season. You don't have a break in the middle, so it was all about that, thinking more about rest and rehab and doing what I could to feel better physically."

Valeri also spent the offseason working hard to improve key aspects of his game in an attempt to be more versatile in the attack for the Timbers this year.

He spent hours on the training field working on scoring goals with his head - something he had never accomplished in an MLS game before this season. This year, he has netted five goals with his head, which is tied for first in that category in MLS.

"It was a part of my game that I wanted to improve," Valeri said. "I had to add that to my playing because before I always wanted to use my right foot. So, it was good for me to add that to my game and good for the team too."

After daily practices, Valeri has made an effort to spend more time focusing on his recovery and rest as well in hopes of staying healthy throughout the long season.

In each of his first two years in MLS, Valeri suffered significant injuries late in the year. He underwent sports hernia surgery in 2013 before tearing his ACL in October 2014 and missing the start of the 2015 season. But this season, Valeri has started in all but two games and said that he has never felt better at this point in the year.

While it's impossible to know exactly what impact the change in diet and routine has had on his performance on the field, there is no doubt that Valeri's historic run this season has been massive to the Timbers.

And he isn't slowing down.

"I'm happy to help the team," Valeri said.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg