Bernard O’Shea has opened up about the extreme diet he followed, which saw him eating clay in a bid to lose weight.
Chatting with Muireann O’Connell and Ray Foley on The Six O’Clock Show, Bernard got candid about the journey he has had with his physical health and body image, saying that he has been actively trying to lose weight for much of his life.
“I’m always trying to lose weight and I have tried everything,” he said.
Going on to say what does work for him and his health, Bernard says that there is no ‘quick-fix’ to losing weight, and looking after your body and mind slowly over-time is the only method that has benefited him.
“The only thing that has worked is boring long term strategy stuff and I did go to personal training and I did watch my food and really properly eat three meals a day and it worked but it took forever and then you go off the rails.”
“The problem with trying to find a quick fix now is that Google have self-sanitised itself so if you wanna eat a couple of scorpions and walk backwards at midnight you have to go to page 30.”
Bernard described one extreme diet he put his body through, where he ate clay, Bernard said that he was left violently unwell afterward.
“But what kept popping up was this clay and basically this clay was Sub-Saharan clay that people in those regions would put into their stomachs cause they had nothing else.”
“It would fill your stomach and they would find some nutritional benefit,” he continued.
“And I thought that’s a good idea so my strategy was to lose weight and to be more mindful.”
Quickly discouraging viewers from trying the diet, the Bridget and Eamonn star explained how it made him so unwell.
I said I would go to mass, I would wear a weighted vest when I walked, I would eat one meal a day and to fill the void I would put this stuff in my stomach and drink a gallon of water.”
“It really went bad on the first day primarily because the water, to drink a gallon of water is really difficult and I got it wrong I was drinking the US gallon so I was drinking more.
“It went really pear shaped I ended up in Phoenix Park just getting sick for a good 45 minutes and I thought to myself, ‘Oh my god I’m going to have to go further with this’. I just couldn’t stop getting sick.”
Eamonn is currently promoting his book, Manopause: Bernard O’Shea is Having a Mid-life Crisis, in which he speaks about turning 40, his mental health, and his relationship with body image.