How to feed a Young Athlete - 'A conversation with Kate Shilland and Fran Taylor(Performance Canteen)'

In this episode Sports nutritionists Kate Shilland and Fran Taylor and the founders of 'Performance Canteen' join Gordon MacLelland to discuss supporting young athletes through proper nutrition.

During the conversation they discuss amongst other things:

• Challenges like misinformation and the need for clear communication
• Progress and not perfection in building small, sustainable changes that fit around real family life
• The dangers of fad diets such as bulking and cutting, advocating for simple, consistent nutrition practices
• Nutrition being vital for growth, health, and performance
• The importance of teaching children cooking skills to empower them and improve their dietary habits
• The emotional side of feeding young athletes and the pressure and challenges parents face
• 'How to Feed a Young Athlete' - why Kate and Fran wrote their new book

If you would like to buy a copy of their new book in collaboration with us here at Working with Parents in Sport then click here.

'How to Feed a Young Athlete' isn’t just another nutrition book it’s the resource we wish our parents had had.

It is built from thousands of conversations with parents of young athletes. We’ve listened to all their questions, challenges, frustrations and wins and created a toolkit. You’ll find practical answers and actionable solutions to the nutrition challenges every parent faces, complete with interviews with parents of elite level young athletes and exercises to try.

Talent and training absolutely matter, but what children eat directly impacts their energy, recovery, mood, development and performance, whether they’re on the field, in the classroom, or at home. Nutrition really is sport’s unsung hero, and this toolkit is part of our mission to change that.

Featuring unique insights and nutritional tips from parents of high performing athletes.

Kate Shilland is a leading Sports Nutritionist with over 16 years’ experience, working with youth athletes of all levels from recreational to world champions. She has been head of nutrition at Crystal Palace Football Club for the past nine seasons.

Fran Taylor is a highly regarded Public Health Nutritionist with over 17 years’ experience working in nutrition communication with parents, schools and sports clubs.

Additional Reading

Kitchen Essentials to support our youth athletes with their nutrition

How to fuel around game days, tournaments and busy schedules

Transcript

Speaker 0:12

Welcome to season seven of the Parents in Sport Podcast. I am your host, Gordon Maclelland. I'm delighted to be joined today by performance nutritionists Kate Shilland and Fran Taylor. Thank you both for joining us on the show.

Speaker 2 0:26

Thanks for having it. Thank you, Gordon. Yeah, nice to be here. Thank you very much.

Speaker 0:30

Such a big topic uh for sporting parents, this one. We'll we'll kick off uh today's episode though. If you can just tell uh our listeners a little bit about your uh backgrounds, kicking off with you uh first, Kate.

Speaker 2 0:45

Okay, thanks, Gordon. So yeah, so I'm Kate, I'm um a performance nutritionist. I've been working with um young athletes for over 15 years now, um, especially from really recreational level right up to world championship level, um, helping them understand that link between food and performance, but miss not missing out that vital element of health and growth in the in the meantime. Um, I'm uh I used to do a lot of sport myself when I was younger. I've got teenage kids myself also, so we kind of understand that um the practical challenges of being a young athlete, having a young athlete, um, and trying to fuel a young athlete. So that's that's where I am, really. I've been um head of performance nutrition at um Palace Academy for the last nine seasons. Um I've worked with a wealth of young athletes and their families across loads of different sports, um, and then just really trying to communicate those messages to to a wider audience so we can help as many people as possible.

Speaker 1:43

Fantastic. Fran, over to you.

Speaker 1 1:46

Thank you. So, yeah, I'm a registered nutritionist um with teenage kids of my own as well, um, and was also involved a lot in sport when I was younger. Um, my experience is spans across kind of NHS, education, charities, public health, grassroots sport, grassroots sports as well. So I work across kind of schools and families and sporting environments, um, specialise in health communications and kind of translating the knowledge into practical, doable actions. So bridging the gap between kind of knowing and doing, because knowing's one thing, doing is a very different thing, and as a busy sports parent, we all know that. So helping to understand kind of what works, why it works, and how to spot good information in a kind of quite a noisy nutrition space.

Speaker 2:35

Yeah, brilliant. Yeah, and look, that'll be music to a lot of sports parents here that uh we don't need uh hours and hours of information, we could just do with some doing bits that actually allow us to keep our uh heads above water. Now, you've both been involved uh in nutrition, in performance sport. Uh you bring different worlds to your work together. You've obviously teamed up uh to create performance canteen. How's that been uh working alongside each other? Slightly different uh perspectives and backgrounds, or pretty much aligned all the time?

Speaker 2 3:09

Well, you know what? We start sorry, Fran, just we started off as friends like way back. So we didn't just connect through nutrition, we um met, oh gosh, how long ago, Fran? Like 20 years ago or something. When we were obviously about four. We we used to work in recruitment together, so in a totally different world. Um so we've been good to fabulous friends uh beforehand existingly, and then we've connected um on a different kind of level through nutrition. Um but actually they always say don't mix business with pleasure, but I feel like we're doing it pretty well, would you go? Apart from my technical skills.

Speaker 1 3:51

No, I think so. Um, and yeah, I think kind of in terms of yes, we've got different backgrounds and different experiences, but actually we're very much aligned in our message and what we're you know, our practice and also uh what we agree on. Because um, as as Kate was saying earlier, um it's you know, the information that we're giving, it's it's not ambiguous, it's uh a solid bit of information that's clear, and um, yeah, there's not too much to disagree on in that way.

Speaker 4:25

That's gonna make for a boring episode. I was hoping you'd tell us falling out, falling out and disagreeing everywhere. No, I'm only joking. And I and I think one of the I think one of the um big things for me and and the reason that we're delighted to um sort of have you collaborating with us here at working with parents in sport is that lived experience, the fact that you have got the experience of being a sports parent yourself, the practical realities of what that actually means, but also being able to bring um that wide amount of knowledge into it as a starting point from different worlds, I think. Some different experiences is is so important. Um okay, big topic. Um, we're all out and about a lot working with parents all the time in general. What in this space in particular? What what are we seeing? What do you think are the biggest challenges that you see um in your work? So, okay, let's do a bit of your particularly your applied work. Let's have a look at uh football academy to start with, and maybe Fran could do more general general bit.

Speaker 2 5:35

I I think the biggest challenge we have is is communication, getting the right messages out there. There's a wealth of misinformation. Um, there's so much access, you know. Now social media, you you've got the opportunity to be constantly sort of bombarded with messages. Um, and young people are vulnerable, they they believe things, messages are put out there that are pretty compelling and convincing. You've got a lot of influencer market. So the biggest challenge is it is helping people understand what's the right thing to listen to, um, and just uncomplicating it. And I think that we are currently also in a you know living in a time where, for the first time ever, the number of overweight young people outweighs the number of underweight young people, which is a shocking statistic. But so then all the messages that we get as parents are cut this out, don't eat this, this is bad, restrict that. And those are messages that aren't helpful for sporty like parents or sporty kids, because actually those messages don't apply to those kids. So I think the biggest challenge is helping people understand what to listen to and how it relates to them, like take thinking viewing it all in context. Um, you know, like we we all say, yeah, a pack of sweets is a really crap breakfast, but actually at half time it's brilliant. So it's actually what you need and when. So my biggest role on the applied side is actually helping people understand what their body needs and why and when. Um, and making peace with things. And I think Fran will be good to talk about the kind of sort of parent the guilt side, but um, but yeah, just just getting the right messages out there. And also I think it's nutrition is still the the biggest thing that's overlooked in terms of sports. Everyone trains, everyone's got a coach, um, everyone's buying the best kit, but actually no one's particularly investing in how to manage their own body, which is the best bit of kit you'll ever own. Um, so we need to kind of we say you know, we say in our book, it's the unsung hero of sport, and we really tried to change that because nutrition underpins everything, um, and yet it's often overlooked. So that's there's a few things um there.

Speaker 7:45

But yeah, I mean, I think that, I mean, even just picking on that, I mean, I think the thing you say there, we were talking about bodies yesterday with injuries, even you know, that ultimately if you're trying to be a uh a decent sports person, actually, your body's you that the absolute thing you need to look at. If that's not functioning, then you're gonna struggle with with all kinds of different things around it.

Speaker 1 8:06

Um yeah, I think that's the thing, is is injury um risk, you know, um underfueling is one of the biggest risks for injury. Um and actually young people are going through a period of, you know, they're not just using their bodies to do sport, but they're also using, you know, they're growing and they're developing. And I think we quite underestimate that energy need. Um, and we've got one chance to build the best version of yourself when you're, you know, in that crucial period. Um, and it's I think that's the thing. It's it's really important that parents understand that and understand the energy needs of young people and are able to put aside any guilt and understand that the message around if they're hungry, let them eat is is a really important one.

Speaker 9:02

Yeah, and I I think the the all that stuff you've talked about there about being it's uh you know essential to look after our bodies. I think there's also that bit around um context and information we listen to. Um, I think even there, Kate, listening to you, you know, put when Kate's saying you the sweets at half time are a good idea, she's talking one or two, she's not talking the packet, uh, for example. And I and I'm not saying everybody would get the packet of sweets out and eat the whole thing um at half time, but I I do think where you get your information from, what you're listening to, we talk to parents a lot about that because I also think parents spend a lot of time together. Um, I think they can feel like they're doing a really good job, and then they can even just stand and have a very casual conversation with another parent and immediately doubt everything they're doing and throwing it up in the wall. And it's like who you're listening, who you actually where's this information coming from?

Speaker 2 10:03

That's such a good point. We we run a uh a course, an online course for parents of young athletes, um, and we do like group Zooms to create a community. Um, and one of the discussion points on the last one was exactly that, or comments from other parents, or making you feel a bit guilty for how much you're feeding your child, or oh, what you know, how why do they need that much, or just those comments, and it you're right, it does make you doubt yourself. But our our biggest message is if in doubt, if in doubt, give them more because, like fan said, you know, we do underestimate quite how much energy they need just to grow and be and do school and friendships and learning beyond before you even consider um sport and and um adapting to the training. Um, so yeah, it is tricky. So that's that's exactly why we created this to be that voice of reason, to be that safe space for parents to go, okay, if they've got a question, they know here's a good art, here is an answer that's evidence-based, but it's also practical and realistic. Life-based, yeah. Yeah, because that's the challenge. Like Fran said before, we know what we should be doing, but actually, when you're driving around from school to training and you've got another kid doing another training session somewhere else, sometimes it's like ah, help. So we kind of create those, give those practical suggestions of like what you can eat in the car or what you can buy from the service station, but don't beat yourself up about it because something's always better than nothing.

Speaker 11:30

Yeah, brilliant. And look, we're gonna come on to that because I think that's that that's that lived experience again that we were talking about. So obviously, your new book, um, which is very exciting, you know, how to how to feed a young athlete, I think brings all of this um together. Um, and the and the best thing for me, with without a doubt, is the fact that we took questions from parents on the ground because the reality is how many times do we present stuff to groups, and actually half of it to relevant before we even start because we think it's important um because we know a bit more about a topic, but actually it carries no relevance whatsoever um to the end user. So you you got obviously asked the most you know, certain number of questions which you were tempted to answer in the book. Could we just pull out a couple of those most popular ones um just to give people a taste of of what it is that's been put together, you know, in this book, because there's obviously definitely some um common questions that probably crop up more than others.

Speaker 1 12:35

Um and one of the questions that we get asked is kind of what's the deal with carbs? You know, as a parent, especially as a parent of maybe a teenager, you've probably grown up in an era where carbs are seen as uh bad, and you talk about insulin spikes and you know upsetting your blood sugars, and uh there was the Atkins diet, and then there was keto diets, and so carbs are quite demonized in in and not seen as potentially the best thing to give your kids, but the reality is is carbs are essential, um, they're essential for growth, they're essential for health, and they're essential for performance. And carbs are our main source of energy for our brains, which account for maybe 20% of our body's entire energy needs. So, to sit in a class and think and learn, you need to have a good, steady source of carbohydrates to grow and develop, you need that, and also to move, like your carbs are your main source of energy. So, um, and obviously, you know, people talk about good carbs and bad carbs, um, and what are good carbs, what are bad carbs. But the reality is there isn't any such thing, like you know, there are no good or bad foods. Foods don't have a moral value, it's just as Kate said earlier, it's about context and about what's good when. So you've got your carbs for your life and everyday health, which are the ones that are more whole-grain and unprocessed, and it gives us energy, but also gives us fibre and vitamins and minerals and those kind of things. And we should be having those in our main meals across breakfast, lunch, dinner, and then you've got carbs that um provide quicker sources of energy, so things like fruit juice and um sweets, as we talked about, or a cereal bar or something like that. And they are like we call them like our performance carbs. So they provide quick energy that digests quickly in our stomach, gets to our muscles, and give us the energy that we need to perform and move and be the best when we're uh doing a sport that we love and help us enjoy it as well. Um, so it's about yeah, context is important. So all carbs are great. Um, we want to have a variety and we want to have the quicker sources of energy um in and around training.

Speaker 2 15:13

Another question we get asked so often is do they need a protein powder? That's probably, I think if we got a pound for every time we got that question, we could retire, right? Um so actually, the sort of brief answer is no, they shouldn't need a protein powder. It's it's perfectly easy to get enough protein in your child's diet just from food alone. And we'd always promote a food-first approach because a food source of protein doesn't just contain protein, it contains the other um vitamins and minerals and and um sort of nutrients packaged in with that, which are which are important. Sometimes though, it can be a handy way if you're like on the go, you're rushing from one, you know, one training session to the next, or your your um time is short and you haven't got access to proper food, it can be a handy way to bridge that gap. So it can be a good backup. We wouldn't ever promote it as like your first kind of port of call, we'd also say food first. And actually, ideally, young athletes want to have a roundabout sort of one and a half to two grams of protein per kilogram per day, which obviously means nothing because we eat food, not numbers. And and even as nutritionists, sometimes you think what does that even look like? So, but things like um you know, like uh um eggs, Greek yogurt, yogurt, those squeezy yogurt pouches, those are brilliant, they contain the same amount of protein as a protein shake, um, but are cheaper, they're equally portable. So there are things like that that are good to have. Um, so yeah, not essential, not just a good old glass of milk before bed is a great option for um for the protein too. And I think we have to be really careful that there's so many products that are really easily accessible, and a lot of young athletes can just buy things online, but these products aren't designed for young athletes. Um, and so that's where parents need to be really sort of quite um vigilant on if their kid is looking at protein shakes or protein powders. Is it regulated? Is it batch tested for safe use in sport? Because that is so, so important, particularly if your your child is competing at a high level, you need to make sure that it's batch tested by informed sport. Um, so there are risks that come with it, and I would always say like if you are thinking of taking a protein powder, then check with a registered sports nutritionist first just to check that it's okay and safe for your child to use. Um but if you don't want to take those risks, things like yeah, the Greek yogurt, baby bell cheeses, um you know, chicken fish, um, eggs, um, tofu, mummy beans if you're a plant-based, there's loads of alternative or loads of great sources of um food sources of protein that can allow your your child to get sufficient protein in their diet without having to go down the kind of more expensive route of a of a shake. And I think the problem is that protein has a really good PR agent, like every every shelf in the in the shop has got a protein branded version of Wheatabix or Mars bars or Snakers or something. Um, but actually when you you break it down, they've got only a real marginally uh a fractionally more bigger amount of protein, but a much higher price tag. Um so sometimes it's just kind of yeah, being keeping your common sense head on on it when you're looking at things like that.

Speaker 18:30

Yeah, brilliant. Thank you. I think that context one's one uh I think the other one that sticks out for me, we spend a lot of time, particularly in the youth space, um, trying to just encourage everyone, not just parents, but you can't just copy and also paste straight from the adult the adult world into youth. Yeah, totally either. And some people think, oh, well, if it's good enough for ex who's playing at that level, actually, if I just do that, that's what's right for me. And everything's individual, everything's got to have context. So um I think that's really important. I'm glad you've you've brought a few of those um messages to life there, Kate. Fran, do you want to pick one more?

Speaker 1 19:07

Uh yeah, so another one we get asked about is um like sports drinks, for example. You know, like, oh yeah, we see, you know, ex and footballer or person drinking sports drinks, but as a parent, you know, the people are they're not sure if that's a good thing or not. And actually, Lucas Aid Sport, isn't it, really processed and full of sugar and something that's actually not a great thing. Um, and the reality is is again, I mean, we sound a bit like a broken record here, but it's about context, and that's really important. So a sports drink um sitting at your desk in class is obviously really not a great thing. But if you're playing um sport for over an hour um and uh you're you know having to you're burning through energy, sports drinks are great because they provide rehydration and they provide energy. Um, so yeah, context is is important, and I think the other thing to just be uh point out on this really is it's a sports drink, like a Lucasaid sport, not energy drinks. We absolutely wholly do not recommend an energy drink because an energy drink is essentially um false energy, it contains caffeine, um, which is a stimulant, it's not an energy source. So it um it's absolutely not recommended for under you know 18s, um, and we would wholly not recommend that. Whereas a sports drink is actually okay if you're you know doing exercise for over an hour, but you can also make your own sports drink by filling half a bottle with water, half a bottle with juice, not squash, and a pinch of salt, and then you've got your own um sports drink, and obviously it's cheaper and you know, you're not buying lots of plastic and that kind of thing. So that can be a good practical tip for parents that aren't that happy about buying a Lucas Aid Sport or something similar.

Speaker 21:17

Fantastic. And Fran Taylor's just brought down the entire sports drink uh bit.

Speaker 1 21:21

Yeah, exactly. On its knees, on its knees.

Speaker 21:24

So that's brilliant. So well done, Fran, because there'll be lots of parents saying, Oh, thanks, Fran, for the far cheaper version uh of that drink than what I currently have to pay for. So that that's that's excellent as well. Now, I think we've already dispelled uh a few myths um already. We've already talked about a couple. If we've got any others, I I think like we've already touched on so much information. We've obviously talked on the challenges of protein, um, how it's marketed. We've obviously talked about the good and the bad carbs. Um, again, sports drinks, I guess. What what are any other myths where we're just like This just can't be real. I can't believe this is being publicised, or people are going with this, or potentially listening to it.

Speaker 2 22:07

It's fads, really. And what we see a lot with with young athletes at the moment is the bulking and cutting fads really educate kids and parents to move away from. Um, because it's kind of encourages it's a it's a form of well disordered eating potentially or a risk factor to potentially um encourage you to think about food in perhaps or your body and not the right way. And we want to view food as fuel, food is your part of your toolkit to make you awesome. It's not something that should be restricted, it's something that more is more. And when you're young and growing, your weight should ever only go in one direction. Um, we have lots of these bulking and cutting um fads and phases that we're seeing um that actually are not health, not healthy, not um good for growing young bodies. And we really want to kind of dispel that yes, they're popular, but that doesn't mean they're okay. And there's a lot of those things that are they're normalized, but it doesn't mean they're right. We try to educate parents and kids on how to be a good critical thinker. When you are when you see a message or you see something that sounds really appealing, actually stop for a moment and think, okay, who is giving out this advice? Is it for their benefit or mine? Um, what are their qualifications? How much money are they making out of this? Just actually step back and think before you press go on anything and actually understand you know, is this going to be any of any benefit for you? Because really, it's very boring. But sports nutrition is basic and simple. We want to nail the basics, do the basics to an elite level, then you don't have any need for any fad or potion or lotion or anything like that. It puts you in control because you understand, and that's where education is really key. You we don't want to just tell people what to eat, we want to help them understand when and why. So they can make those long-term great decisions for forevermore. Because, like, for instance, what you do now isn't everything you do is an investment in your future self. Um, so but the problem is basic and boring and moderation doesn't really steal a headline. Um, so that's not very fancy or it's not very appealing on on social media or anything. Um, so that's why kind of the good advice gets overlooked for being too simple because the bad advice convinces us that it has to be complicated. Um, so we're kind of trying to uncomplicate it basically.

Speaker 24:29

Excellent, brilliant. Yeah, I love that. Uh but basic, boring, and in moderation. Yeah, if we could all do that, yeah, we'd be in good name. And I guess there's a consistency element to that as well, isn't there? You know, as you say, a lot of these fads, you know, people sort of last with for a while and then thinking actually it would have been better just doing something that was good consistently, and you'd probably end up in just as good a well.

Speaker 1 24:52

So I mean, because that's consistency is absolute key, I think. Um, and you know, and that's where getting, as Kate said, getting the basics right. If you can nail the basics and you can do things can and I think what's important as well is you do it consistently enough, but not like we're not perfect, we're human, and we're not going to do things perfectly. Um, and as parents, we're busy and lives are busy, and you might not, you know, get the shop at the right day, and everyone's like, Mom, we've got no food in the house, you know, and it's about being consistent enough, but having tools that you can kind of rely on that mean that you yeah, kind of nail those basics.

Speaker 25:35

Yeah, that's uh that's a very similar quote from our house that I enjoyed that. I've heard that somewhere.

Speaker 1 25:40

I've heard that food in the house, and you open the cupboard.

Speaker 25:42

I've heard that somewhere this week.

Speaker 1 25:44

Yeah, yeah, and you open the cupboard and you're like, um, there's a whole cupboard worth of food, but you just have to make it.

Speaker 25:50

Yeah, yeah, there's no, yeah. Well, I want something easy.

Speaker 1 25:52

I want something totally I don't want to make anything, yeah.

Speaker 25:57

I'm only a teenager, which actually lends itself. Go on, sorry, Kate, go on.

Speaker 2 26:02

No, I was just gonna say as well, um, another thing like that that we um often hear about thinking about that is like the the fuck eaters, but thing about like consistency, I think the problem that we have is that we have this like instant gratification generation, everything's like a touch of a button, you get a result, but with with food and performance on your body, it it is a process you make yeah, like small steps get you a long way, but it it takes a while. Yeah, that's really true. Um, so we that again it comes to education of actually, yeah, we're we're investing, it's like putting the pennies in the bank for for you know your long-term self. Um, and that's what we kind of want to try and get people's head around as well. Um, but yeah, we have the it's never food. It's a long game. It's a long game. It's a long yeah, you get then we've got a really nice graphic, it's like how you get really far in small steps. It's that you know, the ladder with the big runs and the little the small ones. Do you know the one I mean? Gorgeous.

Speaker 27:01

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, excellent. And look, and that actually lends itself on to the next one, actually. The ne the next, I guess, area I want to tackle with this because I'll never forget this. I'll never forget this, Dan. I do tell this story in some talks of I was sat in a performance programme. I think I'd done a talk and I was listening to the nutritionist who gave out some recipe books to young players. I think the players were 17. And this boy near to me, he literally went white. He he literally, I thought he was going to keel over. I thought he'd had a funny turn. And I was sat nearby and the workshop was nothing to do with me. And I just tapped him on the shoulder and I said, Are you okay? And he said, Not really. And I said, Why what's up? And he said, I can't even cook a bowl of pasta. So this book that had just arrived with steamed salmon and bok choy was mind-blowing. And you know, I think he thought ginger was a sort of haircut rather than an ingredient. But he was terrified by this, and it got us thinking about, well, actually, what is our role as parents? We want them to be good with their nutrition. How do we make it something that the whole family are involved in? So, you know, what stages or in busy schedules are we should we be involving our children in thinking about their nutrition, perhaps even being involved in the shopping and even getting in the kitchen? Because one day they're going to have to provide it um for themselves in a lot of cases.

Speaker 1 28:28

Yeah, I I think I think cooking is is key, and a part of what we do at Performance Canteen, um, and clues in the name, um, is around cooking and providing those skills because essentially uh we believe that you should be cooking from, you know, it should be taught essentially as a as a good skill from a very young age, and involving kids in the kitchen and getting them involved in cooking gives what wins on so many levels. A, it provides them with really important life skills, um, b, it helps them, you know, be uh aware of ingredients um and aware of you know how to put stuff together. Um, and also within that, then it means that they are more likely to eat those things, um, and it also gives them control. And you know, as a child, as a as a kid, you know, you don't have control in lots of areas of your life, but helping control what you're eating and understanding and being involved in that process is really important and can help with fussy eaters as well. If you're making stuff, you're much more likely to eat it, and so it's a yeah, it's a really important skill, I think. And but also just it doesn't have to be perfect, and I think that's the thing is like we're the stuff that we make isn't necessarily picture perfect, um, but it it's not about that, it's just about getting involved and trying stuff and making it easy, and and we do lots of simple like five-minute, 10-minute um recipes, and in our online course, all our all our stuff is under 20 minutes, yeah.

Speaker 2 30:09

Yeah, also I think there's so much more to food than just like the nutrition part, like in terms of family and communication and sitting down together and actually culture and all those sides, it's really nice to encourage kids from as as young as possible, I think, to get involved in that for the the nourishment side, the growth side, but the skills side, but also just creating something together and sitting down and eating it together, because that does encourage much better habits and and um you know good good eating. And like Fran said, but one of the other questions that is in our book that we get asked Lowe's is help, I've got a really fussy eater. But absolutely, if they're involved in the process, it's much more likely that they actually end up eating the outcome.

Speaker 30:51

Um, yeah, yeah, I can I can vouch for that with a teenage daughter with a without a doubt. Um, I think the other key there is not to tell her what's actually in it as well and see it. It's funny how it's all right then as well. But once we actually mention the ingredient, it's the worst thing in the world.

Speaker 2 31:07

Well, we did that. We did a blindfold taste testing. I think we've got that uh an idea for that in our book. And actually the kids were happily enjoying eating foods until they took the blindfolds off and realised what they'd just eat and were like, oh, I hate kiwi, I hate pepper, but actually they're just happily eating it when I didn't know what it was. Um, which is actually quite a good exercise if anyone listening has got fussy kids, that's quite a fun one to do. Yeah.

Speaker 31:32

Excellent, excellent. Um, one of the things, just we'll let's just do one challenge before we talk a little bit about the new book and all the exciting things we've got uh coming up in the future. Um that probably that time restraints, I guess, on sports parents, running around like idiots all week, every week, parents going in different directions, people getting home from late, minutes to spare every time, taking their kids home late, struggling for motivation to cut all of those things. Obviously, a huge challenge. Um any quick fixes. You don't have to go into detail about recipe, quick fixes on the on that busy parent, what with a few practical tips.

Speaker 1 32:19

Um well, I think firstly, I think it's important to to for parents to feel like drop the guilt and know that you don't have to cook everything from scratch, and convenient food is fine, and I think that's an important one. Is it's you know, we're we're again bombarded with images of what a perfect life should look like, and the reality is quite different from that. So, yeah, we don't want to be reliance relying on convenience foods all the time, but when time is tight and life is busy, then they're actually okay. So something like grabbing something from you know your local local thing and bunging it in the oven quickly is an okay thing to do, or when you're going on the way home from training or something and you're at the supermarket and you want um to pick up something just to fill the gap, that's okay. And actually, we always say something like a like chocolate milk after training is a really good thing to help kind of start the re rebuild and repair process and refuel process um before you then get dinner on, and that's quite a good thing to do. Yeah, if you've got anything, yeah.

Speaker 2 33:29

Also, things like bolt cereal, cereal's brilliant. It's yes, uh energy dense, it's it's um fortified with vitamins and minerals, they're really good things to stock your cupboard up with those, and they're not just for breakfast, they're good for pre-bed, just good for snacks. Um, but yeah, dinner time, like big um one you know, one tray kind of bakes that you just bung it in and sort of leave it in the oven, and um, you can cook multiple meals in one go with that. Um, just like pasta bakes, things like that that don't take long. Again, we've got some good recipes for those kind of things. Um, or egg-fried rice using microwave rice pouches. It's again using the convenience things, like yeah, you don't have to cook your rice from scratch, those pouches are a godsend. Um, things, things like that. Um, yeah, it doesn't have to be sort of sport specific, it's just food. Um, and yeah. Everyone have things to say.

Speaker 34:26

Brand, did you have anything you wanted to add there? You look like you do, or you were just about to help Kate out.

Speaker 1 34:31

Uh no, I I I I think that's it. I think the key message is um something's always going to be better than nothing. Don't stress. Um, convenience food is fine. Um and uh, you know, we're not perfect. So make it quick, make it simple. Like beans on toast. Beans on toast with a fried egg. Pretty pretty great meal to be honest. Quick, easy scrambled eggs on toast with uh uh some chopped up pepper or something. You know, it doesn't have to be you know like really fully complex. It can be quick, it can be easy. Um, and that's really okay.

Speaker 2 35:07

Yeah, and we created our sort of store cupboard heroes thing, like things like you know, not like you keep them in the store cupboard, but fish fingers always have a stash of those in your freezer because they're brilliant, they're nutritious, they're really quick and easy. Tins of tuna, um, tin fish, really high in nutrients but super easy and also good value. Just bung them into a um stir them into pasta with um, you know, some tomato sauce or something. It's it is very easy. And that's also something that's very easy for your kids to make too.

Speaker 35:35

Yeah, excellent. Now, uh exciting news uh for this year to to finish off today's episode. So um really excited to uh uh obviously not formally announced, but announce our collaboration together because your new book is now out, How to Feed Um a Young Athlete. We're really excited to have you uh on board um offering workshops and webinars to um organisations, families, um, and young athletes. Um it's been a real pleasure collaborating with you on the um on the book. Um we've already touched on this, but I do want to give you a chance to talk about the passion behind it, which you both undoubtedly have, and why you wanted to make this different and why you felt after all your years working in nutrition that this was so vital um to bring to market.

Speaker 1 36:30

Yeah, thank you. We're really excited to be, you know, to work with you as well and and you know be on board with working with parents and sport. Um the reason you know we we created this book um is because we don't really think there's something out there that is like it, and and we know that there is a need for it. As we said, we can get asked these questions all day, um, you know, every day by parents across a whole range of sports. And they're the same questions and they're the same concerns, and people and parents want um, you know, an answer that's quick, that's um, you know, gives them an idea, makes them feel um confident, releases the guilt, and gives them some quick ideas, and and that's what that's what we've done by creating this book. Um we don't you don't have to kind of read through the whole thing from beginning to end, you can dip in and out um the question, you know. So if you think, oh god, my son's just asked me about a protein powder, you can go to that question in the book and look at you know, are protein powders okay, or actually you could probably listen to this episode as well. Um or you you know you can dip in and out of it. So it's it's there as a handy guide to uh support you um on those kind of pinch points or tricky questions that you get asked.

Speaker 2 37:59

Yeah, absolutely, and that's the thing, it's meant to just be like a practical go-to handbook. You've got a question, okay, here's the solution. It's almost try to be like a conversation with us on paper, if you like. Just um we know the challenges um because we've worked with hundreds or thousands of parents, but we also lived through those challenges ourselves with our own kids. Um, so it's like, yeah, we get it. Um, it's not easy. Here's here's an option, here's a solution that will make your life easier because there's enough stresses um dealing with parenting a teenager. Um we feel like food shouldn't be one of them. So we want to try and take away some of those challenges um and find solutions. And you know, the the better nourished your kid is, the better fueled they are for sport, actually, the better they enjoy sport. Um, and that's our goal to like keep kids enjoying sport for as long as possible. Um, and food is such a key part of that. Um, so hopefully it's uh provides yeah, a nice helpful resource with realistic practical solutions for people that takes away a lot of that noise.

Speaker 39:00

Yeah, excellent. And and to all the parents listening, if you do buy a copy of the book and you think, God, there's a question here uh that they've missed, we'd be desperate to hear what it is. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely, because we then will carry on developing this to I guess fit the realities for sports parents across the world in in trying to navigate um these challenges. And the parents are the best source of information for us if we give them those um chances to speak. So uh Kate Fran, um thank you for joining us. Um huge pleasure to have you on the show. Really excited uh about what lies ahead. And we probably at some point um may end up recording another one to talk about some different bits and pieces that we spot over the next couple of years. But for now, thank you for joining us on the show. Thank you for having us on the show. Thank you for listening. Check us out at editonsport.co.uk.