World No. 4 tennis participant Caroline Garcia has opened up about her “uncontrollable” struggles with bulimia and binge consuming throughout the 2022 season.
In an interview with French outlet L’Equipe on Thursday, Garcia stated she “took refuge in food” when she felt “empty and sad” to “fill a void” when she wasn’t profitable or was bodily hurting, the NY Post studies.
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“Some people don’t go out to eat anymore, but for me it was the opposite: I took refuge in food,” Garcia stated. “Those were moments of crisis. You feel so empty, so sad, that you need to fill yourself up. It was the distress of not being able to do what I wanted to do on the court, not winning and suffering physically.
“Eating calmed me down for a few minutes. We all know it doesn’t last, but it was an escape. It’s uncontrollable. Afterwards, I started talking about it, to my relatives, to friends, to my parents. You start to understand. You realise that if it happens to you, it’s not the end of the world. Sometimes it’s just tiredness that makes your body need sugar.”
Garcia, who reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Open final season, stated sharing her expertise has helped and now she higher manages her relationship with meals.
“Since I’ve been enjoying everything around tennis a little more and taking more time for myself, it happens less,” she stated. “And when it does happen, I accept it more and I feel less guilty. Now, if for two days I feel like having a pizza, I’ll take my pizza and it will stop obsessing me.
“I’m more of a weigh myself type of person, I’m more of a gram person. At one point I was quite hard on myself. I had fallen into excess. Today, it’s better. I can enjoy myself when I feel like it. Sometimes you need proof that it won’t do anything to your body.
“For example, I ate a pizza the day before my match against [Daria] Kasatkina [at the WTA Finals]. I wanted to eat it. I found a gluten-free dough. I was so happy with my pizza! And I lasted two and a half hours on the court the next day.”
Garcia took break day in March and April to deal with a lingering proper foot harm, which she underwent surgical procedure and relearned find out how to stroll.
The 29-year-old appeared reinvented upon her return to the courtroom and completed the 12 months ranked No. 4 on this planet after being seventy fifth in June. She gained 5 titles within the 2022 season, together with the WTA Finals and the doubles title on the French Open.
In a November observe on Twitter, Garcia bought candid about her relationship with meals and binge consuming whereas discussing the silver lining of her harm.
“I’ve had sleepless nights, binge eating, cried in my hotel room, cried on tennis courts, been on crutches, swore, relearned to walk, I struggled to find shoes, I suffered physically and mentally,” Garcia wrote.
“ … This injury allowed me to play more liberated, I learned to let go, I learned to accept my mistakes, the unexpected, to delegate, to trust myself, to follow my instincts, than I can eat a pizza from time to time, it was not ogling to change the result of the next day, if I was dying to eat one ‘that was good too.’”
Garcia is slated to compete on the Australian Open which kicks off on January 16.
This article initially appeared on the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.
