HEALTHY WINTER RECIPES

Chilly outdoor sessions call for hearty dishes to refuel. But how to warm up and fill up healthily? BBC Good Food’s James Collins offers his top tips

At this time of year, when you’re still knocking out the odd hard training day, you need to make sure you’re fuelling up with enough carbs to match your energy needs.

Depending on your training times and goals, this means including carbs at lunch, dinner or both, to refuel muscle and liver glycogen. Meal options should focus on nutrient-rich, low-GI carbs where possible, plus a serving of protein for ongoing muscle growth and repair.

Including polyunsaturated fats can also be beneficial to promote the function of muscle cells, while iron-rich foods should feature in

three meals per week, as iron is vital for carrying oxygen to the working muscles and supporting energy production during training.

Luckily for you, we’ve picked out these three winter warmer recipes, which not only tick the above nutritional boxes but also pass the all-important tinglingtast ebuds test.

The protein-packed veggie chilli, for example, is also high in carbs, delivers a good serving of protein and iron, plus a hit of vitamin-C to promote iron absorption.

The chicken meatballs dish, meanwhile, provides a balance of low-GI carbs to refuel the muscles and protein to kick-start the repair and remodelling of muscle tissue. An added bonus is its antioxidant content, which fights muscle damage (from ‘free radicals’), helping to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) over the following days. In short, enjoy! James Collins is head of nutrition at Arsenal Football Club. He’s worked with some of the world’s best athletes over the last decade within Olympic and professional sport. His performance nutrition principles are now helping everyone to look, feel and perform better each day. Find out more at: www. jamescollinsnutrition.com. And find more food and fitness recipes and tips at www. bbcgoodfood.com/ food-nutrition.