Ronnie O’Sullivan is hopeful that adoption a fasting diet will help him to make history at the World Snooker Championship.
O’Sullivan is chasing a record eighth Crucible crown in Sheffield as he bids to move one ahead of Stephen Hendry. He will continue his quarter-final match against Stuart Bingham on Wednesday afternoon with the score locked at 4-4 after the first session on Tuesday.
The Rocket has been open about his personal struggles, which have hindered his performances and caused him to fall out of love with the game. The 48-year-old has worked with sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters to help him deal with the “horrible murky world” of over-thinking and has taken medication to help with anxiety.
And now he has implemented a new approach to try and secure another title and the £500,000 winner’s cheque. “I just do what’s right for me," he explained after beating Ryan Day in the previous round. "It’s not like I sit down with someone and work out what’s right, what’s wrong and how to peak.
“A lot of people think I do. What I do is I try to eat right. I’m intermittent fasting for this tournament because it gives me more energy. There’s certain things I do and it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to win, I just need every little advantage I can get at this stage.
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“This is a tournament of endurance, stamina and concentration. For me, intermittent fasting just gives me a bit more energy. Once the tournament’s over, I’ll be back to eating 24 hours a day. There’s times when you have to work out what’s right for you. I go a certain period of time where I won’t eat and it’s just amazing the energy you get from it. I’ve always found it works really well for me.”
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The idea came to O’Sullivan after a period of illness and has stuck. “I got ill and the only way to give my stomach a rest was by not eating,” he added.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is taking on Stuart Bingham in the quarter-final (George Wood/Getty Images)“My nutritionist said ‘the only thing you can do is not eat’ but obviously you have to eat. I was doing it and I went ‘you know what, I love this, it’s great’. I just felt it worked for me.
“That’s 16 [hours] at the moment, 17 sometimes. I try to stop at about 7pm but it’s hard obviously when you’re playing matches. Last night was 8.30pm so I didn’t eat again until about 12:20pm today.
“It feels great, I feel good. I’m 48 and I feel energised. If I eat too much I get really sluggish. Animals in the forest apparently go days without food and then all of a sudden they get hungry, get their prey, eat it and just digest it for a while. They’re not having three meals a day – it’s just eat when you’re hungry and give your body a rest sometimes. It works for me anyway.”
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