1. What does healthy eating mean to you?

To me, eating well is all about balance. It’s about eating enough of the healthy stuff, and not eating too many sweet treats, so that your body has everything it needs to function at its best. I know when I’m eating healthily because I feel good about myself, and my body is full of energy during training.

2. What fresh, healthy foods do you need to fuel your day and why is this important for your sport and daily life?

Modern pentathlon is a really difficult sport to train for. During a competition, I have to excel in five different sports, which means I have at least three different training sessions every day! Because I do so much training, I need to eat lots of carbohydrates, like pasta, rice or potatoes, to replace all the energy I’ve lost during my sessions. I also love eating chicken because it’s so easy to cook, and it’s full of protein, which is what our bodies use to build muscle and become stronger. Lastly, it’s really important for me to eat enough fruit and veg each day. My favourite vegetable is tenderstem broccoli because it provides me with important nutrients, which help me recover after training, stop me getting ill, and give my body more energy to train even harder in the future!

3. What fresh, healthy dish do you enjoy making the most and why?

My favourite meal to cook is homemade burgers and sweet potato wedges. You might not think of burgers as a healthy meal, but when you make them yourself, it can be a healthy and really easy dinner! All you need to do to is to combine beef mince, chopped onion, and seasoning, before shaping it into burgers. Then, wash a couple of sweet potatoes and chop them into wedged shaped pieces. Cook them both in the oven for 20 minutes and that’s it! You can even add some salad leaves on the side or put them in your burger to make it extra healthy!

4. What can make eating well and cooking challenging for you?

The hardest thing about eating well consistently for me is time management. In the evening, I am often exhausted after training, and even if I have the energy to cook a meal, I definitely don’t want to be doing the washing up! When I feel this way, I’ve got a list of ‘10-minute meals’ that are really easy to prepare and cook, and create minimal washing up, too. As long as I plan ahead to have the right ingredients, these recipes are a life saver!

5. What helps make eating well and cooking easier for you?

Generally, I really enjoy cooking, but sometimes I can get bored of making the same things all the time. I’m really adventurous when it comes to food, and I’ve found that trying new foods and flavours makes cooking more exciting. I love to go online and look up new recipes – recently I found a great recipe for a lamb biryani that was really simple to make and only used one pan, so washing up afterwards was easy too. 
 
Having good kitchen utensils is also essential if you’re cooking a lot. Nothing is more annoying than fighting an onion with a blunt knife – it makes cooking a pain and isn’t very safe, either. I find that looking after your cooking equipment saves time and effort in the future, which in turn makes cooking a much more enjoyable experience.

6. What does healthy, sustainable food mean to you?

To me, healthy sustainable food is all about minimizing the environmental impact of the food you eat, whilst still making sure you get all the right food groups to keep your body functioning at its best. Locally sourced fruits and vegetables are fantastic for this because not only will they provide my body with the vitamins and minerals I need to perform at my best, they’re also kinder to the planet.

7. What are your ‘super six’ fruits and vegetables?

Tender stem broccoli (it's way better than normal broccoli!), aubergine, carrots, apples, oranges and lychees.