Our Approach To Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is of course important not just important for athletes but for life, and we believe it is one of the most crucial things to get right - and sadly something most of the population gets badly wrong.

After decades of being mindful of our diets, of learning, experimenting, researching, and making mistakes (and yes, this is an ongoing journey), we've coalesced our thinking into a few basic rules that work for us.

• Cook what you eat - Just following this simple rule removes so many of the pitfalls of modern diets, because you'll actually know what you're putting in your body. When we know something, we naturally take notice.
• Buy ingredients, not ready-made foods - If you buy processed or ready-made food, someone else has already done some of the cooking for you, so you don't know any more what you're putting in your body.
• Eat a whole food, plant-based diet - This means lots of fruit, green vegetables, salad ingredients, nuts, pulses, seeds, beans, olives and olive oil, potatoes... minimally processed, natural foods; think brown rice not white, wholewheat bread and pasta, no refined carbs.
• Go for 80/20, not perfection - All that said, really a bit of meat, fish, dairy and sugar is not going to hurt you, so when that's what you're craving, follow the above rules and enjoy! (But if you are trying to lose weight rapidly - for a race, say - then do obey the rules as much as you can, because it will work.)
• Otherwise, forget dieting, calorie counting, macronutrient balances etc - If you follow the above rules, you will reach and remain at your ideal weight range naturally, and stay there, without ever feeling hungry. No food group is going to "hurt" you. Loads of fruit won't make you fat. Eating fat won't, either. And guess what? You need carbohydrates - lots of them...

As a family, our diet is informed by these rules, and we eat happy, healthy, filling and varied meals, occasionally peppered with 'treats', 'cheat' meals out and special occasion splurges, all of which everyone genuinely looks forward to and enjoys.

This really needn't be difficult, need lots of equipment, or take a long time (all of which is the exact opposite of what you want when cooking in a campervan, of course). The very best bit about it? You can do it long-term, removing any need to worry about your food - forever.

Diet is incredible emotive and people come from so many starting points. Therefore this is not intended to lay down universal rules or criticise those who think differently, and as I said at the top, even for us it is still constantly evolving. But I think one of the best pieces of wisdom I've ever heard about diet is this: A good diet is not necessarily going to save you, but a bad one is very likely to harm you.