‘Doctors don’t know a lot about nutrition’

RUGBY union flanker James Haskell is not one to keep his cards close to his monstrously large chest.

“I think the media talk a load of crap about diets,” he declares, “and doctors don’t know a lot about nutrition.”

We’re discussing his new book, Cooking for Fitness, which he co-wrote with chef Omar Meziane. “It’s not rocket science. Every time you go online and ask about diet, suddenly there’s 17 different ways to skin a cat.

“It’s just not the case. You just have to understand a few rules – calories in, calories out, – and to look at your plate as a pie chart,” he says.

Alongside sleep and hydration, it is this pie chart that sustains Haskell’s punishing gym routine and his famously big hits on the rugby field. So what does a pie chart contain?

First, there’s the protein, second is an energy source and third, “decent fats and vegetables”.

Three meals, three basic food groups: in the gospel according to Haskell, it needn’t be much more complicated than that.

And there is something agreeably grounded in his approach to, well, everything, but particularly cooking. Ask him what his food guilty pleasure is and his response is instant: “Pizza”.

Cooking for Fitness contains not a speck of the austere asceticism so common in diets, and is filled with recipes that tickle the tastebuds just as much as the tendons.

“I’m an absolute foodie,” Haskell insists. “I love going out to nice restaurants, having nice wine and having nice food.”

All the dishes are divided by meal and carb count – high carb lunches, low carb breakfasts etc – and Haskell is clear that he wants his book to work for everyone, whatever their goals. It doesn’t set portion sizes and recommends tinkering with recipes to suit individual goals.

For muscle gain or fat loss, the underlying message is the same: track your food intake, select some suitable sustenance and remember that sustainable results take time.

Even if you question Haskell’s credentials as a nutrition expert, there’s no doubting the know-how of his collaborator, sporting chef to the stars Meziane, who catered for the British rowing team and Gareth Southgate’s England World Cup squad in Russia.

Cooking for Fitness by James Haskell and Omar Meziane is published by Haskell Publishing, £19.95. available now TOMORROW: TRY JAMES’S ZINGY FISH SUPPER AND BACON OMELETTE