Q: John, what was your situation like before you started working on your nutrition with Jon?

A: My main problem was making poor choices with food. I work long hours with added travel time to and from work into London and tended to be quite lazy with my food intake, convincing myself that I haven’t got time to make my own food up for the following days.

Also, added to that, I tend to use food as a stress release mechanism as many people do nowadays. So, a stressed-out or unhappy me resulted in poor choices and bad food!!

Triathlon

Basically, I was snowed under with all the different contrasting reports of what was good food to eat and what was bad. Through social media and various tri/cycling magazines it’s really surprising how contradictory food and diet actually is.

I’ve tried all sorts of sports nutrition which I’ve either bonked on during training or races or found hard to keep down whilst riding etc.

Q: Did you have any reservations about working with Jon?

A: When I first met Jon, I thought: “Here we go. Some young kid who’s going to be condescending and have a laugh at my expense, probably been on a three-week course and is now an expert.” WOW, how wrong could I be? From the outset it was clear how passionate Jon is about nutrition and the values of eating and drinking healthily. At no point from our conversations did I feel uneasy discussing nutrition as he worked in a professional and mature manner. More fool me for thinking this!

Q: What has the process of working of me been like for you?

A: It’s been great. I have always enjoyed cooking anyway and consider myself as half decent (the wife will back me up on this). But from the first batch of recipes Jon gave me it’s reignited my fondness for cooking again. It got me back into the routine of making food from scratch and not buying cheap and easy to cook processed food.

Quite a few of the recipes have become firm family favourites and have also opened my eyes up to lots of different blogs, web pages etc. for food ideas. I also found Jon extremely encouraging when I have posted photos of food that I have made and has always answered any questions that I have asked him. No matter how stupid or trivial they may have seemed.

Q: What is the one best result you have got from working with Jon?

A: The best result is probably, that after the first time that I made the spicy meatball dish, my baby boy was conceived! Only kidding.

Triathlon-wise, I think you’re always striving for that best/perfect result.

But on a personal level the initial process of the food plan actually brought me and my wife closer together. Cooking together and preparing food for the days ahead was really good and meant we spent quality time with each other. She really got on board in the initial stages, but the early stages of pregnancy for her somewhat changed her taste buds etc. She did however come full circle after a short period.

Only time will tell with the ‘best result’. As I mentioned above re: my son, it’s made us look more into making sure that he gets fed properly with good wholesome food. So, by us making and preparing our food it’s given us that spur to make sure that he gets the best and hopefully from the small seeds that Jon has planted with us, will help grow my boy into the best man that he can be.