Sonia O’Sullivan: It’s green for go and a new way of eating

There’s still no avoiding that upside down feeling I get when arriving back in Australia. Off the plane after 24 hours, doing nothing at all, just trying to pass the time as quickly as possible . . . asleep or half asleep . . . reading a book . . . watching a film . . . drinking plenty . . . trying not to eat too much . . .

It’s always such a release to step off that plane, into the fresh air, feel alive again. Still, that fuzzy feeling lingers in my head for a few days, playing around with everything I’m trying to do in order to get back into the normal daily routine.

The simplest way of slotting back in is to find my exercise routine, although that’s not as easy as you might think: the constant battle between the mind and body is like a tangled knot inside your head, and sometimes you just have to sit it out until the knots unravel.

Some of the strangest battles are fought in the head, but once you finally take on the simple challenges, things slowly fall into place again. You start to find your feet, and the mind also starts to clear up.

Energy flow

For some reason I never have these same issues when arriving back in Ireland. Somehow, I can hit the ground running. Is it the energy flow and connection you have with the land of your birth, where everything just makes sense? No matter what, you can find yourself easier, accept who you are and what you are doing.

Part of it has to do with the travelling, where you’re always learning or picking up new ideas. So, as much as you want to return to the daily routine, sometimes new ideas are trying to filter through. All the pieces are scattered in your mind, and the battle between what you know and what you might like to do different creates a sense of mental torture, which often requires putting a plan of action down on paper to work out.

It happened to me a few days ago, in a Melbourne supermarket, of all places. I was simply bombarded with so much choice and decisions to make that I didn’t know where to start.

As an athlete, I’ve always been very conscious of diet. I love food too, and so am always open to new ideas about good nutrition, not just for the body but the mind too.

While at home, last month, I called in to visit my good friend and physical therapist Ger Hartmann for a few days, just before I got back on that plane to Australia. Ger has always been on the cutting edge of what’s new and what’s good in nutrition and health, and loves to share his ideas too.

We went for a hike up Moylussa, the highest point in Co Clare. Starting out it looked like it might be more like a short walk: hailstones were cutting across our faces, although you could see the weather was moving fast, so we trudged on, hoods up, shielding our faces with gloved hands.

It wasn’t long before we could look around and feel the sun beating down. Four seasons in less than an hour.

Once freed of the elements, the conversation flowed. I stopped to point out some wild garlic, which I only recently discovered, and with that Ger started to tell me about this new book he was reading, The Real Meal Revolution, and how it was affecting the way he was choosing what foods to eat.

So, loving my food and loving reading, I couldn’t wait to get back and check out this book, which he said was turning the food pyramid as we know it completely on its head. The essential message is low carbohydrate, which actually resonated with me. When I was running at my best, in the 1990s, I never ate very much carbohydrate. Pasta, rice, potatoes were all kept to a minimum – the opposite of what most people would associate with an elite athlete’s diet.

Hunger threshold

I remember the night before the World Cross Country in Marrakech (before winning double gold) eating a very simple meal of white fish, green vegetables and a little sweet potato. This is the perfect meal, according to

The Real Meal Revolution

, although with a little extra fat thrown in. That’s the big difference for me, as I was more low-carb/low fat, when the guideline now is more low-carb/high fat; that way you reach your hunger threshold quicker, and with that be better able to reduce the amount of food you eat.

Just like I sometimes change my exercise routes to keeps things interesting, I also like to change my eating habits, rather than stick to the same foods all the time.

So you can imagine how I was feeling in that supermarket last week, straight off the plane, having just printed off the traffic light breakdown of foods according to the book: Green – eat plenty; Orange – eat moderately; Red – avoid.

With this fuzzy head of tangled indecision, it was almost impossible to see all these foods on the green list; instead, I was being bombarded with cereals and breads and packaged foods – all “red” foods, staring me in the face, looking to be picked off the shelf. So I picked up a few essentials, and left.

It’s amazing how something that only last week I knew nothing about is now bobbing up all around me, reinforcing the message that it’s always good to make some changes, see what it brings to your life. One thing is clear: I’ll be going to the shops with a list of what to buy until the green foods are all jumping out at me, while all the rest become a distant blur.