Gordon Ramsay has revealed that he once weighed 18 stone and feared his poor shape was putting his marriage to wife Tana at risk, but he now credits swapping butter for olive oil with helping him lose 20 pounds.
Speaking to Business Traveller, Ramsay described his love of olive oil, saying: "I fell in love not just with those olive groves, but with what olive oil means in Italy. It's like what Petrus means in Bordeaux."
He further credited the change with his weight loss, stating: "I feel incredibly healthy. I'll take a tablespoon of olive oil over five knobs of butter any day."
From poor shape to endurance athlete
Ramsay's sporting ambitions were ended by a torn cruciate ligament, which sent him into the kitchen. Despite enjoying keeping fit, he has admitted there was a time he was in poor shape, weighing 18 stone. He told the Mail in 2018 that he "looked like a sack of s**t" and asked himself, "How did Tana stay around?" He claimed his wife got "better-looking and more gorgeous", while he was a "fat f**k".
He decided to take action and started training, combining cardio, strength work and recovery, according to Men's Health. He has since become a committed endurance athlete, taking on marathons, ultra-marathons and Ironman competitions.
Olive oil and the Mediterranean diet
A 2018 review reported that people on olive oil-heavy diets lost more weight than those eating little, and it remains a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet, an eating pattern consistently linked to better weight management.
Speaking to Jason Fox from SAS: Who Dares Wins during a Men's Health feature two years ago, Ramsay emphasised that nutritious food "doesn't have to be boring food". He said: "We have a protein shake in the morning, scrambled eggs for lunch, and then something poached for dinner, whether it's poached chicken or fish. We don't do lots of salads, but it's finding that balance."
Discipline in the kitchen
When it comes to resisting temptation in the kitchen, Ramsay adopts a strict approach. "The role of a chef today is way more prolific than it was 20-30 years ago and we need to be fit, we need to be smart, and we need to set that example to the team. We are super disciplined as well. I'll eat two mouthfuls of a delicious dish and then ignore it, and it's painful.
"You sit there like a green-eyed monster desperate to devour that whole plate and I'll discipline myself to two mouthfuls, then I'll get out of that plate and it pains me because I know if I eat a fourth, fifth, or sixth mouthful, then that's it, it's game over."
Ramsay appears in Rise of the Rockstar Chef on BBC Two on Thursday, November 5, from 9pm to 10pm.
