No bread, sugar, or GMOs here…
There are a lot of characters who pass through the Big Brother Canada house. Each season, a new batch of houseguests submit themselves to being watched 24-7 by cameras, a production crew and all of Canada. As the cast gets whittled down, we’ll sit down with each freshly evicted houseguest to learn more about their loves, likes and what makes them who they are (for better or for worse!). This week, we sat down with former MLB player and current yogi Graig Merritt, the fourth player to be evicted from the Big Brother Canada house.
Slice.ca: We’re dying to know how you stay in such great shape. What’s your diet like?
Graig: I just totally cut out GMOs…and it’s hard because GMOs are in everything. Back in the Big Brother house, I had to eat GMOs because I had no choice–it’s not like I could go food shopping for myself. But now that I’m out, I’m on a strict diet and love what I eat. I cut out sugar, too…and sugar is also in everything. And I never eat bread anymore.
Slice.ca: Is it hard to maintain such a restrictive diet?
Graig: No, I love where I’m at with my diet! I eat lots of protein, minimal carbohydrates, I drink lots of smoothies, and I juice at least once a day. My favourite juice consists of:
- 2 grapefruits
- 2 oranges
- half a pint of strawberries
- half a pint of blackberries
- 32 oz lemon water
…if I have one of those before noon, it fills me up, it changes my diet for the rest of the day, and it flushes me out big-time. I urinate a lot which is good because it gets rid of toxins. Fusion water is also a big part of my diet–so I’ll have lemon water one day, cucumber water the next day, orange and lime the day after…it really helps!
Slice.ca: So is diet the way to go in order to become a healthier person?
Graig: For anyone that’s trying to get healthy, I strongly believe that it’s 80 per cent diet and 20 per cent exercise. Sorry U.S. government, but cut out GMOs and you will be a healthier human being.
Slice.ca: So you must have felt terrible after eating the food in the Big Brother house?
Graig: Yes I did. But I still worked out a lot in the house. We did yoga as a group and I did a couple sessions on my own. I also was doing cardio in there daily to try to get rid of the stuff I was eating. It was definitely a challenge though. You just feel down and lethargic; you don’t have the energy you have when you’re eating great food.
Slice.ca: Oh no, sounds awful…
Graig: Yes but when I got evicted Big Brother hooked me up. There was a bag waiting for me with some Vega One bars inside. I had been dying for them because I live on smoothies and Vega One bars in the outside world. It was so cool!
Slice.ca: In terms of exercise, how long have you been an avid yogi for?
Graig: I started doing yoga in 2001 after my first year of professional baseball. The season had just ended, I was flying home the next morning and I had a trainer tell me “Hey you should try yoga!” I didn’t really buy into it but then I flew home and my best friend picked me up from the airport and as we were driving home he said “Dude, we should try yoga…”
So after two very important people in my life suggested I try yoga, I thought why not? I went to one yoga class and absolutely loved it. I was nearly in tears in Shavasana because it felt so amazing… and I’ve done yoga ever since!
Slice.ca: Do you work out a lot at the gym too?
Graig: No, I don’t go to the gym a lot anymore now that I’m not playing professional baseball. I used to weigh 222 pounds a couple years ago and now I weigh 190 pounds.
Slice.ca: Wow, that’s surprising! Do you think more athletes should try yoga?
Graig: For any athlete out there, in any sport (baseball, basketball, football, hockey, etc.), if you want to become a better athlete, do yoga. It works on your agility, stability, strength, balance, core – it gives you everything that an athlete needs.
Big Brother Canada airs Sundays at 7pm, Mondays at 8pm and Wednesdays at 9pm on Global. You can watch Big Brother Canada After Dark every night from 3am to 6am and the Big Brother Canada Side Show Thursdays at 10pm on Slice.
Jennifer Phillips has been writing for the web since 2006 and is extremely passionate about online content. Before joining slice.ca as managing editor, she previously worked at FASHION magazine, AOL and Yahoo! Canada.
