A 12-time Olympic medalist reveals her eating habits during training

Need some motivation? Look no farther than five-time Olympic swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres. Torres has teamed up with SHOW MORE OF YOU from Calgene and Otezla — a campaign that is shining light on the psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis.

Torres was diagnosed with psoriases in the middle of her Olympic career, but that didn’t stop her from competing and making history as the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the US Olympic team. Here, she explains some of her eating habits during Olympic training.

To learn more about psoriatic disease, visit the campaign’s website. Following is a transcript of the video.

My husband makes fun of me because we’d go to breakfast and I’d order like 4 eggs, a little bit of bacon, some pancakes, and a bowl of fruit.

I’m Dara Torres and I’m a 5-time Olympic swimmer. I’m here because I’ve teamed with Celgene and Otezla for the Show More Of You campaign.

When I was training, I ate a lot. Everyone makes fun or teases about Michael Phelps having eaten like 10 or 12,000 calories, which is ridiculous. I don’t think he ate that much.

But when we go to training camps, I would sit with him at breakfast and I could eat just as much as he could. We had early morning workouts at 5:30-6:00 am. My breakfast actually came after I got done training. So I would try to eat maybe a couple bars before I’d go and swim.

It doesn’t seem like a lot. And you don’t want to eat too much because then you get sick to your stomach. So, you kind of had to find a balance.

The bars would sustain me through my training and then when I got done I’d get out — I’m not saying this just because I did a “Got Milk?” campaign — but I always had chocolate milk every time I got out of the pool or before I went to the gym. I just think it’s important to get those proteins in you and it helps you recover.

My husband makes fun of me because we’d go to breakfast and I’d order like 4 eggs, a little bit of bacon, some pancakes, and a bowl of fruit. And I would definitely out eat him under the table. He always jokes about my breakfasts, but I definitely ate a lot when I was training.

I’m not a big calorie-counting person. I don’t go on a scale. I don’t count my calories. I just kind of go off good portions and just healthy eating.

If you suffer from psoriasis or psoriatic disease go to Showmoreofyou.com

You can upload your photos and share your stories.

Follow Tech Insider:On Facebook