Common diet mistakes: Getting healthy "Not-to-do's"

Since I was a young boy I always wanted to be the best. It didn’t matter to me if I was playing soccer, Monopoly, cards, basketball, Scrabble, or swimming. The consequence of not being the best would eat me up inside…I hate losing. Losing a game of Monopoly would ruin my night. Luckily, as I’ve aged my brain has taken a more logical approach to many of the things I compete or participate in. Realizing I simply can’t be the best at everything, I now have a much easier time letting things slide. I’m much happier for it too!

In my younger years, I often had a chip on my shoulder about feeling that I couldn’t lose at anything. I slid into a routine of being an absolute freak for all the little things, thinking they were the real difference makers in whether I’d win or lose. While I do believe the little things are truly what make the difference in most cases, I’ve also realized I need to pick which things I focus on most. Some little things to focus on have more positive affects than others.

For instance, the past several years I’ve been extremely disciplined about stretching for 30-45 minutes every night before I go to sleep, hydrating with electrolytes throughout the day, getting in bed by a certain time before big meets, eating something within 20 minutes post exercise, being on-time to the weight room everyday, and making sure I always focus on refining my technique in the weight room and the pool. In my mind, these have all been extremely positive things to be a freak for doing. In doing them all I’ve seen great results.

On the other hand, there are a couple things I’ve had to take another look at. Many times before big meets I would deprive myself of all desserts, and not go out to eat for months leading up to a competition. My ‘black and white’ mind thought, “desserts and restaurant food aren’t helping fuel my body for the goal I dream of attaining so there’s no reason to eat them.” In the most literal sense this might be true, but I’ve come to realize we don’t always live in the most literal, nor black and white world.

The past six months I’ve done a little experiment. Instead of depriving myself of all desserts, I allow myself to have a small dessert, once or twice per week. Just enough to satisfy my hunger for sweets. To my astonishment, I was so unbelievably fulfilled by having a small desserts that I believe my swimming was positively affected by my pure elation. My extremely excitable personality was taken to an emotional high, which carried over to my training. In the same manner, going out to a restaurant often had a very similar affect on me. I didn’t completely splurge and eat a whole pizza or chicken fried steak with all the fixings. Moderation people. More and more restaurants are serving somewhat healthy items, and I always try and pick them when eating out.

Over the course of my six month experiment, I kept track of how the occasional dessert and rare restaurant food affected my body. Conclusion, I saw no gain in weight, no additional body fat, zero detriment to my physical training ability in neither the weight room nor the pool, and certainly no negative affect on my racing. The climax of my study happened at the Short Course World Championships, which were in Dubai this past December. One day at the meet I spotted a delicious looking carrot cake in the dining room. For a few minutes, I pondered whether or not to get a piece. In years past I would never have even debated such an issue, the resounding answer would have been NO. I went for it. What a better way to test my experiment, right? Less than 36 hours later I won a Gold medal on the 400 Medley Relay. While it wasn’t the carrot cake that made me win Gold, I can confidently say it didn’t negatively affect me. I guess for this study, the proof is in the pudding.

I urge you to test this theory on yourself. See if you can have similar results. Most of what we learn about how to fuel ourselves for success comes through trial and error. Test yourself and find out what works for you.