Eat Race Win

Eat Race Win – chef Hannah Grant's second sports nutrition cookbook, following The Grand Tour Cookbook – is a usable and ultimately interesting read that might help shed light on areas of nutrition that you've yet to optimise.

• Pros: Insightful, incorporates up-to-date science and thinking, plenty of recipes
• Cons: Won't revolutionise you if you already eat healthily

I like cookbooks. They're nice things to own, and if you're not particularly gifted in the kitchen, then a well-written one can not only make cooking seem manageable, but also a pleasure.

In particular, a well-constructed book can also motivate someone to cook better or more often – and that's the lasting impression that I've been left with after reading and trying out several recipes in Eat Race Win.

Instead of the 21-race day structure of Grant's first book, which I found a touch limiting, Eat Race Win is laid out in a far more useful pre-season (winter), training season (spring), high season (summer) and off-season (autumn) chronology, making use of ingredients and – importantly – trends inherent to human behaviours and seasons.

So, you get nutritional profiles with each meal that conform to the work that (could/should) be being done in each time frame. As Dr Stacy Sims (Grant's nutritional expert partner) puts it, 'there seems to be a disconnect between what it means to be nourished, and what it means to be fed', so each recipe is designed to meet the nutritional needs of an endurance athlete training in a given season.

> How to eat right for sportives and long rides

The book even carries a section near the beginning that uncovers some of the latest thinking behind daily and seasonal biorhythms and how they affect appetite and nutritional requirements. From the outset, this is a book that sets out to help you help yourself by educating first, then offering up recipes that you can adopt and customise to your individual need or taste.

Some are simple – overnight oats and avocado toast (with poached eggs) have long been in my repertoire of go-to nutritionally-dense meals – while others will test your finesse a little more: 'Octopus a la Gallega', anyone?

There are also one or two that are pitched right at the absolute beginner – omelette with ham and boiled rice and spinach is worth a double page spread, apparently (as a time trial-specific meal) – while others take more time but not a lot of skill like, well, roast chicken.

My nutritionally-aware, already slightly practised brain finds these examples a bit 'duh', but then the reality is that there are plenty of people out there who want this kind of hand-holding, and to be honest, that's perfectly fine if it helps them get more out of themselves by eating more healthily.

The book is prefaced with more useful sections on key subjects like carbs and protein – incorporating some established but nevertheless current thinking on how each can influence performance, like types and timings – while I'm personally delighted to see a section on 'Ditching the low-fat idea'.

I was particularly interested to read a section on jet lag and how to reduce the impact of it, while aspects like gut flora and health are touched upon in the 'beverages' section. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a reference to Belgian beer or wine in this part, which is a shame...

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There are insightful comments prefacing each seasonal section too. Input from ace triathlete Gwen Jorgensen, alongside Michael Valgren and Peter Sagan, have their place, while the most interesting (for me) comes from Team Novo Nordisk in the off-season (autumn) recipes section, which focuses more on indulging your sweet tooth and cravings while you can in a sometimes depressing time of year.

They're an inspired choice to feature, because the team operates with a complement of riders who deal with Type 1 diabetes on a day-to-day basis, so if there's anyone who needs to know about balancing sugar levels in a high-demand sporting environment, it's them.

After the seasonal core of the book come ideas for breads, cakes and desserts – with options for vegetarians and those with nut and dairy allergies as well as gluten intolerance – where the 'Winning Tiramisu' is just that, and bars and bites that can be taken with you on a ride.

The book-ending sauce section is welcome too, with vinaigrettes, pestos and salsas all present and ready to pep up otherwise boring meals in a fresh and nutritionally-valid way. And there are interesting tidbits on sprouting and what you should keep in your kitchen, all of which adds texture to a well-rounded-yet-directed second book for Hannah Grant.

Verdict

A great follow up to The Grand Tour Cookbook, with plenty of sound advice and recipes to get stuck into