We Are Chelsea - Get to know our sports nutritionist and team chef!

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

This is We are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Skoda, the official car partner of Chelsea Women and proud supporters of women's sport.https://www.skoda.co.uk/On this episode, we sit down with Jodie and Jodie, to talk through all things food and nutrition, and how they got into their roles at the club. It's a fascinating insight into what goes on behind the scenes in getting the players to perform at their very best, and how much goes into it.Comment below your questions and Whistleblower dilemmas! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Skoda, our official car partner for Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. I'm Anne Warbank and today we've got a slightly different episode for you because we're heading behind the scenes at CFCW. We're joined by two very important members of the backroom team, the team chef and the team nutritionist. We're going to be chatting all about the life behind the scenes at an elite football club and the role nutrition players. This is We Are Chelsea with Jodie Smith and Jodie Redgrave. Well, first of all, welcome to the pods. Thank you. Thank you for joining us.

It's so fun. The players often mention the people behind the scenes at Chelsea, but the fans don't necessarily get the chance to get to know you all the same. So I'm really excited to have you both on and give all the fans a little insight today. What's the season like for you guys? Talk us through what that looks like A to B and where you're sort of at now and low.

It's Ketka. chaos to be honest with you. I think there's always peaks and troughs as a player or as a staff member but I think what does go on behind the scenes is so much more than what people would imagine. So yeah, we are ready for a rest. Even when you speak to your family, like your family members and you tell them just like your day or like your week and they're like they don't realize I think what goes into just feeding people on a day to day basis or nutritionally like. Well the team is so much more than what you see on the pitch. Like there's so many of you.

For the people listening who might not know exactly what your role's involved, how would you describe what you do in your sort of day to day at the club? So for me, I guess sort of like in charge of the kitchen here. You make the magic happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You do the execution.

Create the menus. Yeah, we have obviously a kitchen team that we have here that worked with us as well which are great and then travel uh day so basis it would just be kind of like coming in obviously we have breakfast we do like a meeting with the staff in the morning we'll have breakfast we then kind of have like there's just lunch and then but you're just kind of constantly like on your emails or you're like doing other bits and bobs or going into meetings or she's absolutely downplaying herself by the way like she's got like such attention to detail like when it comes to being a chef that like when you when you build a menu together but then to actually make it

come to life like that's what i think separates like performing chefs versus like catering chefs doing for the masses i think so i think you're downplaying the role where a little bit job what was on the menu today it's all this three smash today yeah today we did do a little bit like because it is sort of the end of the part of the season we did we did like a smash burger station lunch we had like chicken hulumi kebabs homemade chips we had strawberry and marshmallow skewers with chocolate chocolate that sounds fantastic oh we need to get in on that we treat them well I feel like they yeah they get they got it good I think I think anyway it sounds like they've got it fantastic I'm going to start becoming I'm going to start my professional football journey

so I can get in on this on this catering menu How did you both get into your respective roles? Talk us through that, Jane. When I was younger, I actually just probably like a lot of the players, I was just good at sport, probably a lot of the staff that sort of work in football as well. I was good at sport and that natural route was kind of to be a PE teacher. So my degree was actually in PE at university and then I just sort of elected more sports sciencey nutrition modules along the way.

complete my master's in sport and exercise nutrition and then sort of expanded into the applied world and started getting jobs within football, within Paralympic sports, within rugby, within universities, many, many different things really. But I was always fascinated by the human body and then how food can impact it. I also did actually, when I was younger,

I ever wanted to own a pick and mix shop. Solid. I used to eat a pound of pick and mix every day. Like my diet was horrific as a kid. It was so bad. I have a picnics shop or to be a chef as well, and none of them happened. It's all right. I wanted to be either a Stormtrooper or a mermaid,

and I've let my parents down on both accounts there. So at least you're still in the same field. Well, my dogs are, was Chewbacca and Princess Leia, so very big Star Wars fans in my family. Phenomenal work. I love it. This is what we need on the pod every week. What about you, Jeter?

To be honest, I kind of fell into being a chef in a weird way. Again, growing up, I was sporty, played football and all that kind of stuff, never quite made it, obviously. But I was just working in, like, a friend's pub, family pub, and just kind of fell into, like, getting into chefing. I like the kind of being in a kitchen, the atmosphere, the vibe and all that kind of stuff. And then, yeah, just through kind of people that you know, I then fell into football.

And I've been working at football now for, like, 10. 10 years, 10 11 years, men's and women's, and just kind of, yeah, crept up the ladder slowly but surely, and now obviously here. You get to me. And now we've got Jodie squared in the kitchen. Jody Square, yeah. Jody, we heard that you played football

with one of the current Chelsea players. Do you want to tell us about that? So when I was at university, I went to Leeds Met University and Lucy Bronze was in the university team then so yeah I was reminiscing with her actually at our end-the-season party the other night. What a small wheel?

Yeah, I know, I know. Well, she actually lived next door to me for her time, so yeah. But when I joined Chelsea, I remember looking at her, I was thinking, oh, I wonder if she recognises me because it's been quite some years and we've still got like mutual friends. And a couple of weeks later,

She was like, where did you go to you there? And then I told her and she went, no way. And she thought, she knew she'd recognise my face, but couldn't picture where it was. So yeah, it was, it's quite nice. It's nice to come sort of full circle in football. So yeah. Yeah.

And did I hear that you might have done as well? Yeah, I was with Becky Spencer at Arsenal. Oh my gosh. We were like, I think I was, I'm a couple years older there a year old. So I was like 10 or 12 and she was like 10. I can't remember the ages. But yeah, we were together for like two, maybe two years there. And then she stayed, I kind of got booted out because I went good enough.

She stayed there a little bit longer. And then I think everyone that is weird out of everyone that we played with at that age, I think she was, like I would say, she's probably the only person that I guess you could say, like made it into the women's game professionally. And now she's obviously here. But I was working at Spurs before and she was there also. So it was quite strange. It must be so cool to be apart because women.

football has had such a boom in growth over the past like two years, 18 months or they. And to be a part of that and to have seen other people's part in that, that must be such a huge thing for you guys. Yeah, it's incredible. I think the amount of support that players get these days is you try and encourage them to take advantage of it as much as possible because certainly when we were playing, we never had anything. We didn't have gym sessions. We didn't have sports scientists. We didn't have nutritionists. We didn't have private chefs. You know, we just had turn up to training. 8 o'clock at night, 10pm, right, two hours on motorway back home kind of thing.

I'd love to be that age now with the opportunities that are obviously there compared to, like, when I was 10 back then. Even more than being an athlete, there seems to be so many more jobs and opportunities around women's sport as well. If you had to give any advice to anybody that was that age now and was trying to get into this area, what would you, what would you tell them? mine would be be patient it does come eventually as long as you've got the passion and the drive

just be patient I remember when I finished university it took me a good 18 months to two years to actually fully get something to land a decent role and then three came at once so it's like buses so it was kind of

I just say yes to everything not every experience or not every bad experience is necessarily a bad one. You can learn a lot, probably more from them than what you can from the good experiences. So yeah, be patient, take what you can. And yeah, keep being you. That's great advice.

What about you doing? Yeah, I think, like, just, like, hard work is kind of putting yourself out there sometimes as well. Or doing something that maybe isn't something that isn't in your remit. Or I worked at Southampton, and the only way I learned to do like a travel role is I covered the head chef that was there at the time but I didn't gain anything from it apart from experience that makes sense but it put me right into a step of another job

because they looked at a CV and went oh like you've done that and I just did it for the like experience game and that you walk into another job with it so yeah kind of putting yourself out like doing stuff that's probably a little bit extra than what you should do but once you're in it Like, it's... Be resilient when you're in it.

You obviously work really close together. What does the relationship between chef and nutritionist look like at Chelsea? I always think it's one of like really important relationship to be... Like, you have to get on. If you don't get on, like... You think I'm the bane of your existence. But I'd be serious. She is so messy.

I cannot tell you how messy she is. No. Honestly. Look, you go in our office. She's got stuff everywhere. Okay. I think we have quite, I think we balance each other well in a way in that sense. But you have to have a good relationship.

It's probably the most important role for us, you know, if you're working with a chef who's not willing to go that extra mile for you or not willing to listen to suggestions or are unable technically to apply performance onto a plate, it can be really challenging and we've seen what can be. be done and I guess now we're excited to see what we can do again next season out there. Yeah. Always like to keep pushing. How important is nutrition at the top level of football now compared to what it was like maybe 10, 15 years ago? I think it's a underrated discipline, to be honest with you.

I think it is still quite up and coming. There's a lot of emerging research in the nutrition space now but it's also a little bit too saturated. So I do think it is still an underrated discipline. You look at the numbers within the staffing team at clubs and, you know, there's one performance chef, one nutritionist for us, whereas you might have five physios, you might have four physical performance coaches as such. But I think the direct impact that nutrition plays on human performance, recovery and sleep, is proven to...

to be impactful. So, yeah, I would say it's, to me, it's underrated, and I'm always a bias. I think it has a massive, massive impact. And I think there's so much on the internet now, and everybody seems to have made themselves an armchair expert on nutrition. Like, you go on TikTok now,

and you'll see everybody in their nan giving nutrition advice. What is that like seeing that as someone who, that's your job, and that's something that you manage and maintain on a daily basis? Are you sort of like seeing the dangers, that now or is that something that's just like ha ha that's funny yeah so there's obviously a lot of misleading information out of there i think it's also good that nutrition information is also so accessible but there is a lot of risks that do do come with that um i think for us as well like

the body image side of things for players on social media tie that in with misleading nutrition information is an absolute danger for athletes. So, yeah, I don't know. We've also, there's also, like, because nutrition really in the women's game has kind of come in in the last sort of five, six years, maybe. So we've got a lot of players that obviously played for a long time that are kind of like, well, this is how I've done it for years, like, and kind of, well, I know how to do this, I've done this for this long, what difference is it going to be now?

but um no like and yeah you get some people like i guess get a bit sort of in their ways but uh no like i think as a group as a group of players they're all very like attentive with and ask questions you always want to i'll take the mic mostly that one but yeah yeah fortunately like as a nutritionist for myself not necessarily for joe but it is like a protected title in the sporting world so we are governed by the Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register and the British Dietetic Association so we do have governing bodies there

to ensure that appropriate information is being related and governed which is so important but not all over the internet it's not what does the relationship between you guys and the players look like and how much say do they have in what their nutrition plan looks like

how much do you work with them to sort of tailor that I'd say that Jody, this Jody, has more of a probably one-to-one kind of relationship with the girls. Obviously for me, they see me when they come up to eat and if we're away at a hotel and stuff like that. I guess I'm like the face that they recognise. So yeah, for you it's a little bit. They just take the Mick out of me, to be honest with you. Yeah, it's just back and forward all the time. but we do workshops.

We'll do obviously what they're being provided food-wise is what we want them to weak. So that in itself is education and the provision that we want them to have. There's a reason that we're putting this in front of you as much as they might think, oh, like, should I be eating that? Yes, you should.

We've done all the numbers. Everything's there for a reason. And I try and speak to them in the sense of, like, nutrition is very tactical. I'll be able to take them out of me for that. But it is, it's just like football, it's like, this is intentional, this is intentional strategy to help you showcase your talent essentially

in the football match. So, yeah, they do technomic. It's very informal. Yeah, we have a great laugh for the girls. I think our relationships are quite, yeah, we have, like, ours aren't as serious. But that's good, like, as well for us and for them that they can have that laugh with us.

I think this morning, I was, I have like, we do like a live station for instance and I just kind of gone to get a bottle of water and Sam comes up and she's like, get behind there. You've not done anything until the season. Come on, make me my omelet. Like that kind of like that kind of stuff. It's funny and you just give it back to them. And it's good that you can kind of have that back and forth to be better. It's a good laugh.

Yeah. Because food can be such a personal experience at having a team that is approachable and that you can have fun with. It's so important. I think trust is the main thing. whatever staff member you are but I think trust I think the perception of if you're having to go see a dietitian or go and see a nutritionist it can be a little bit like be a bit intimidating bit of anxiety so yeah

definitely our mission to try and drop that sort of stigma and just just make it fun make them engage so I did workshop a few weeks ago and I played never have I ever in it but I did it related to nutrition some little personal stuff obviously get the crowd going but then related to nutrition stuff so now I'm gonna say is there anything juicy come up there so at like a half time I'll make these

we call them fuel bombs and basically I was like stand up if you don't drink your fuel bomb at half time so now Kara Walsh every week is always like stand up if you're not drank your fuel bomb that's so lovely to hear that that you have that fun with them.

Does each player have a specific, different nutrition plan? And how specific does that get? To an extent, particularly regarding the fueling, the recovery and supplementation plans, to be able to advise each player what to have across a full day is very difficult.

But at the minute it's more, how can we control as much as we can in our environment, nudge them as much as possible towards good behaviour, give them as bespoke of a plan as possible. And then what they do outside of here is obviously with a little less control. So, yeah, as much as we can, we try to support players with that, but it's not always possible. Yeah, and one of the things I didn't even think about,

because you just don't as well, but one of the things you have to think about with women's nutrition in sport is like menstrual cycle, how does that come into play with, nutrition because that's not even something I've thought about. And I've had one every month since I was 15 and I'm not thinking about, I'm not getting up in the morning and be like, what am I eating today? How does that impact sport and how do you sort of supplement that?

Well, how it impacts sport is huge in general. I think from increasing anxiety levels to wearing white shorts. I mean, I remember when I was playing football and we used to wear white shorts and it would always give me anxiety. when I was on my period because you was always worried of leaking, I think. So how it impacts sport itself is huge. How it impacts nutrition is often through increased fluid requirements. Often you'll find your core body temperature will increase.

Players generally their appetite, so you'll get some who will go ravenous and you'll get somewhere where the appetite will just completely slump, which is not ideal when you look at like our March schedule, when we have back-to-back fixtures and we're constantly travelling, and that's when it can have significant impacts on performance, I feel. So, yeah, we're back going. The research amongst it is still very sort of a bit wishy-washy.

I don't necessarily feel that there's a specific diet or way of eating through each phase, but definitely lots of anti-inflammatory foods. focus on your hydration and make sure that you're fueling your sessions before and after training to make sure you're getting the most out of sessions so I just actually need to start drinking water then and not just being a raisin

God do the players have very different preferences and routines when it comes to food or is there some things that just everyone gravitates towards that's you on that one in it um everyone's like everyone's different you've got some players that will eat

absolutely anything and you've got some players that will be a little bit more particular. Do you want to name and shim who the biggest eater is? No. We're playing it safe. They probably know who they are. But like, I mean, in terms of like ones that kind of will eat, like Lucy eats anything,

CO's pretty, pretty much eats anything. There's a few that Ellie is pretty good. Yeah, Ellie's pretty good. Yeah, Ellie's quite like, yeah, there's a few that kind of just like, if we're doing like a live kind of station they just go oh yeah just put all of it in like it's fine veila she's quite good as well there has been a few times this season

I think as well when the games have got congested where they've kind of gone oh any chance we could get this or like any chance we could get that and we're like yeah like we'll you know we'll work it in but I'd say all in all they're pretty I think it's trying to appreciate the different cultural differences as well yeah oh my gosh yeah I'd not even

considered that I think as well like footballers are very much of a routine, like they've routine people and a lot of them will have the same breakfast every single day. Yeah, Yo-Yo's been on and talked us through her porridge in the morning. Oh yeah. We've had the porridge breakdown. We've now got the one. She loves it that much

that she literally just has it at home and then they'll just come in. She's like, no, I'm not neglecting the porridge. She's like, come in there. She's going to come in. But Ney and Alyssa have a little light and they've got a few other girls on it, but they've got a very specific wheat-a-bix.

yogurt protein kind of thing that they've got going on. And all you hear in the morning sometimes for like 10 minutes, it seems like 10 minutes, but it's not, but Alyssa's like they also break down the wheatabix. Yeah. You can just hear like a, for ages. And you look over and you're like, she's still going. But yeah, I think they got like Vika and I think Aggie did it a couple of.

I've seen a few people do like Wheatabix breakfast tiramisu on TikTok. Oh, I love tiramishu. And they do it with like yogurt and coffee. I don't know. They do something. Yogurt, wheat, a bix, protein powder. They put fruit in it,

cinnamon, maybe a bit of honey. And it's funny, it's quite cute because Ney comes up first, like, first mostly. She'll use, like, half the pack of the wheat, or like one and a half pack of the wheat bags, half the yogurt, half the protein, and then leaves it for Alyssa,

like to when she comes up later. No, that's so sweet. You know they've been, though, because before we left to walk over here, there's five protein shakes on the side where you can just see a little bit of the vanilla protein that's been in there. So girls, clare up half of these cells, please.

But yeah, they're very, like, they can get quite, like, routine. The one thing I found with this group, though, is, like, with other teams that I've worked with, even on, like, a match day minus one, where obviously predominantly we put, like, carbs and we do, like, pasta bars and stuff like that. There's a few that will go down that same route, but there's quite a lot of them that will mix it up each time and change. Whereas when I've worked with other teams, some people are like, this is what I have the night before

this is what I have on the day yeah that's the only bit where they're not quite routine but it's probably because of the amount of pictures that we play is well yeah they don't want to get yeah we very rarely do pasta at Cobham because it's

that sounds like a great way to go that's why we never really do pasta here because they have it like a game all round games that we just kind of leave it out when it's here and they don't need they don't really get bored of it too much. Have you got any preferences that like you love to do when you cook in?

Is there a menu that you're like, yeah, this is my, this is my golden menu? No. Yeah, not a taco number. Yeah, like they just, I like, what I quite like, and I find that, and I find that people tend to enjoy is like eating with your hand, like things of eating with your hands, bow buns, tacos, flatbreads, like wraps. I'm hungry now.

Yeah, look. The king prawn linguine. Oh yeah. That's a good one. That does go down well. That's a good one. The thing is about Joad is that she makes a food and she never eats it herself. Do you?

Yeah, but when you're around food. Yeah, I suppose. Sometimes you just don't like, you're just not hungry. Do you cook a lot at home? No, not really. No, I don't really. When I'm outside of work, I mean, I do like cook for myself and my girlfriend at times, but like it's more like convenience.

convenience. Like jacket and potato kind of thing. Yeah. Just like something easy. Bins on toast. Yeah. Whereas like when I'm here like if we've got something on I'll just grab a little bowl, put a few bits of thing,

go sit in my office and just quickly eat it like. But I'll stand there all day making stuff for everybody. When it comes to me, I'm just like, oh, I'm just not hungry. Yeah, your entire job is making sure everyone else is well-fueled. And then you're like, oh, what can I scrape together? If I eat breakfast sometimes, song, he's one of our physical performance case, She's like, oh, you're eating breakfast today. I'm like, yeah, I know.

Yeah, I've had five minutes to believe. You were cooking for some of the players before you started at Chelsea. How did that come about? So, Stefan, who is the performance chef for the men's side. I worked with him when I was at Tottenham. And he came here whilst I was finishing. I was working with a male player in Germany, finished came back here and I was kind of going down that like self-employment route and I got a

role with the lionesses under 23s and then he got contact from the nutritionist who was here before Jody um basically saying oh we've got a female player that wants some meal prep like she's just joined she's just about to move into her own play blah blah blah and he just kind of put it my way um when that that was where it kind of all started that was with lucy and then uh girls just kind of like saw it obviously i was kind of putting things on social media and things and then girls were asking her about it and i think i ended up she was a one of the real regulars i did erin quite a lot kira was on it a little bit i did stuff in ney get the couple of bits of myra um yeah it just kind of went from there really started with one and then just went to more but yeah and then ended up here

full time that's so good because we obviously touched up some of the inconsistencies with social media, but how big is social media for something like what you do? Because I imagine that's how you sort of reel them in. It's like a virtual CV, isn't it? It's like, oh, look at my linguine. Because I never, I don't know, I can't remember who it was, but like when I started working with,

and obviously Lucy is such a, like, big name in the women's game. And someone, like, said to me, like, oh, you know, you should, you should, like, post it. And I did the first one and the views and the likes were like unbelievable and I didn't quite at that time realise how much people were so interested in what like... I love watching meal prep videos

I watch an American woman do it for her kids and she's just doing it just to feed like three, seven year olds to then watch it for someone who might you might get somebody that is a fan of Lucy Brown coming and watching new content so people are so interested in like every facet of their life. It's massive. And yeah, it just went.

And then I just kind of like, I'm no joke. Like, by post stuff, I'm no like wizard with it. It's very basic. Oh, come on. No, it's basic. Come on. It's basic, though. Like, compared to the other stuff you see and you're like, oh, that's really cool.

I can't really do that. But, yeah, it is basic. But it's, oh, that's really cool. I can't really do that. I cook for Lucy Bruns for a living. But, yeah, people love it. And I just never thought that. people would be so interested, but they were.

And yeah, it's given me a little, like, I guess a small little platform on social media that people are interested and follow, and I've kind of brought that into obviously coming here and doing bits here and I post certain bits and box. Do you want to plug the socials now? No. Didn't someone stop you in us, though?

No, no, that was like, yeah, that was a while ago, though. Yeah, I got... Are you chef Joddy? I did get stopped in a situation. supermarket once and I found it so awkward and so strange I was like nah like I couldn't I couldn't do it I couldn't be like spotted all the time whenever anybody recognizes you it's always when you lock you worse it's always when you've just come out of the gym and you're like uh I walked into a Tesco and someone was like this woman was like staring at me and I'm like I don't know this woman like

I don't know her and then the next I down I don't even know what aisle I was down and I saw all her like at the corner of my eye come around the thing and I was like Chomota she was like excuse me can I just ask you question are you the chef that cooks for the Chelsea for girls I was like yeah yeah yeah I'm interesting yeah thank you it's just an awkward feeling like when it's something that you're not like yeah used to it's an awkward sort of like oh

I don't know I feel about that yeah it's the first time we've had a celebrity chef on the show Quaking. This podcast is brought to you by Scudder, the official car partner of Chelsea Women and proud supporter of women's sport. It's football season. It's time for after-wake training, muddy boots and early morning weekend games. Whether you play five-aside after work,

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Have you noticed players becoming more interested around nutrition in recent years? Because you were saying it is now more research and more talk about than it has been. Is it something that they're a lot more mindful of? I think some are quite old in the tooth. No, I don't want to say they don't necessarily care. but like George was saying earlier, they've had the routines for 10 plus years. They know what suits them. It might not necessarily be the best to take them to another percentage level,

but then it's also a case of people like familiarity and comforts and sticking to what they know. They're very much creatures of habits, footballers. So I think you've got a certain group who are probably there, and then you've probably got a growing group who are interested in asking about gluten-free diets, vegan diet, plant-based diets, any with allergies and intolerances you often find generally have a bit more of intuition towards nutrition just because sometimes they have to. But yeah, I think so.

And I think it's hard to escape it, right, with social media, as you say. It's just you want to try and target it towards the health and performance side of nutrition rather than the faddy side of stuff that's online. Is there any of the fad you've seen that you've been like, oh my God, this is dreadful? Yeah, like pre-season, I expect it. I'll come back and be like this in my ear and I'm going to be like, just shaking my head and rolling my eyes probably.

But yeah, you often get that. Sometimes you often get about intermittent fasting or like fasted training and you get all sorts. At the end of the day, they're still human beings and they're still exposed to the same social media that everybody else is. So in a way it's positive that they are showing interest. You just got to try and,

steer them along the right direction. And at the end of the day, the position I'm trying to take now, which I probably want to talk years ago, is they're adults at the end of the day. So often with nutrition, until something happens or fails, people don't do anything about it.

So it's good for them to learn themselves, I think. Yeah, because we all do it. Nobody takes anything seriously until you hurt yourself or get ill. And then you're like, oh, it's like when you get a cold and you're like, oh, I remember what breathing normally was right. Exactly. few of the girls like we've made like we've had things go out and they'll ask for like the recipe

or like how did you make it or uh some of them will come in and go oh this is what i made to like a show picture what they made their dinner and or oh i've got like a friend coming around like what do you think i should do with this and stuff so yeah there's a few of them that get quite quite a get quite interesting they also want to wind you up like they actively want to delight they're like naughty kids It's like we're the parents and they want to do everything but what we say to them sometimes

like they just want to keep you on the toes as well so yeah right we've got some quick fire questions for you and I just want you to give me the first answer that comes to mind are you ready? Yeah sweet or savoury

sweet sweet sweet oh there was no hesitation there once you go to sweet treat I'm a sucker right no hard for night Do you know what I had last night? I had a bit of tiramisu gelato. Did you?

Yeah. Oh. That feels like Italian Prime that, doesn't it? Tiramisu gelathe. Yeah. That's right. That was the first thing that was on my mind. I like it.

Coffee or tea? Tea. Neither. Neither. What's your beverage of choice? Just drink water. Coke zero. Coke zero.

I'm just not a hot, like a hot drinker. Like, I just don't. I'm with you on that. I am with you on that. What's your go-to meal recommendation before a game? Depends on the time we kick on. Stair fry. Say fry.

Stere fry. Pasta. Death by pasta. I like it. What about afterwards? Very similar. Yeah. It's carbs that they need.

But it does, it's more of a... We try to make more street. I can eat a whole loaf of for catcher. I can do an exercise. We try to make a bit of like, like street food vibes, don't we? On the coach, especially on away games. Yeah.

Yeah. So like Vietnamese rolls. Yeah, or we've done like loaded, like loaded potato wedges with like Hulumi, chicken and all that kind of stuff. Oh, I went into... Loaded nachos. I'm saying that like I had the option to go into women's football.

Absolutely not. What's the most underrated healthy snack? It's not quick fire. We're going to have to cut this silence otherwise there's going to be no... Nobody's going to buy into eating. I'm underrated, healthy snack. I can't get Toblerone out of me.

I'm the wrong person. Strawberry and marshmallow skewer, isn't it? Yeah. A little bit of everything. A little bit of everything. Because it's about balance, isn't it? It's about balance, we like it. It depends on the context.

What you're passing as alpha. Nutrition's tactical, isn't it? It is, yeah. It serves a purpose at that given time. And strawberries and marshmallows, it has got a bit. It's got a bit of carbs going on. It's got a fruit. It's got a vitamin's minerals.

But please, he's the mind. at the same time. Oh, I'm going to start using an excuse for anything. I'm going to eat this because it pleases the mind. Is it going to impact my health in that given moment? No, probably not. This family size of ice cream Sunday pleases the mind. That's what I want.

Why do you want it? It pleases the mind. One food that every athlete should have in their diet. This is less quick fire and more medium fire. just carbs you can't say me because then plant-based people are offended

there's obviously there's a known stigma isn't there around female athletes and carbs but I think there's just a stigma around women and calves because they were villainised

for so long in like magazines and stuff because I remember growing up and hearing oh I'm not doing carbs this week and that was just like a normal thing to hear but like you need carbs to exist and that's quite scary that that's the information that's out there.

We obviously, it's pushed more around the day before a game, the day of a game and after a game. Like that's when we... It does transpire though. Like the athletic population, um, that's still transpires into them. Those like,

I don't know what you call them. The stigmas though. Um, so they do still face, face them issues. So I'm not getting enough carbs in often. And I was constantly having to tell them, you need that to physically go and perform on the PSA

from the PSA from the Chelsea, nutritionists, eat your carbs. Everyone must eat their carbs. If you had to eat one meal every day for a month, what meal are you choosing? Currie. Oh yeah. What curry? Talk us through. Quite like a chicken curry.

Right, yeah. What sides? We're going to go, Popa Dom's, get a look. We're going to specific. This is real journalism, hard hitting. I'm going on. Chicken Booner. Are you thinking about my booners? Yeah, full works. Garlic nine, garlic and coriander narn, Papa Dom's, Chutney Tree.

You're like that really, that sweet red sauce that you get in a curry house with then the mint yogurt sauce, oh yeah. I was not expecting to leave this podcast starving today. What about you doing? Yeah, no, I do like, to be fair, curry. I reckon I could eat curry. We should call for a curry.

Yeah, let's go for it curry. Chelsea curry, we love it. What's your Nando's spice level? Medium. medium. There was no hesitation there. Absolutely not. We did have a debate on here. I think it was it with Ney and Alyssa about Nando's being a date spot? Where do you stand on that? A date spot? Yeah like, can you go to Nando's on a date?

I think so. I think I actually have done in the past. I feel like I have as well. Are you northern? Yeah. Yeah, that's why. Can you tell? I know. Because whenever I've said it to my northern friends are like, yeah, that makes sense. And then you say it If anybody else, it's not northern, they're like, no. Yeah. Yeah, I probably wouldn't do it now, now that I'm a southerner. I'm not a southerner, actually. I'm not a southerner. Nandoes were posh when I were growing up.

Nandoes is where you went when you got good pocket money. So Nandoz was a date spot, as was Frankie and Benis. Yes. And they play the music for you. Yeah, they do. Yep. They sing happy birthday. Yeah. Yeah. Then did it advance to Chiquitos? Oh, was it?

Tijos. TIGOs. It were on the old liquidation when I were. Yeah. There were less and less of him We just started getting the Wagamamas Yeah the Wagamamas Because I thought Wagamamas were posh until about 18 month ago

Yeah then five guys I think I've been to Wagamamas once Wow Yeah There's a lot of carbs at Wagamamas Good old noodle situation They do a nice ramen And you know what you get free green tea

You do? I don't drink tea No wasted That is true It's luke warm Yeah It's not you concerned about it. It does come out tepid.

No beef to Wagammer's. What is your favourite cuisine to cook? Mexican. Right, talk me through you, Mexican. We are getting the specifics today. No, I just like Mexican. I think you can be so, there's just so many different,

like, you know, like in Indian, it's curry in it. But like, with like Mexican, you've got tequitos, tacos, casillas, enchiladas, burritos, like, there's just so many different. I am ravenous. Absolutely, my stomach's going. And this sort of love tacos, yeah. They love a taco.

Are you a hard taco or a soft taco? I do prefer soft. I think I'm mad. I saw a hack where you eat your hard taco with a soft taco underneath it, so you catch the remnants of the hard taco in the soft taco, and then you've got two tacos for the price of one. I've seen that before, yeah.

Great hack. It does work. can confirm. Does it mop up the juice as well? It does. It does. That's the issue in it with the hard one is it just seeps out of the end. Yeah, and then you end up wearing it.

You can't wear white. No. Because otherwise you will be covered in it. It's just not fun, is it? What are some really simple habits that people can start building that actually make a difference into their nutrition, into their cooking, to sort of spice things up there?

What tips you're giving people? I think one is the early start, then the most success you're probably going to have with the habits. So like if you, if it's not within your family's nature or culture to sort of have everyone cooking together, eating together, actually eating a meal together at a table instills a lot of good habits and positive relationships with food. Yeah, so like, so I think like that gives people an appreciation for food and the social side of eating together. I think that can then positively influence habits. So the early you start that, then the better in my opinion. I love that.

I think you've got to, as to say to the players, you've got to try and make habits attractive and you've got to make them habits which you want to engage with. And you've got to make them easier. So you've got to almost put things in front of the players, hence why we nudge them in our environment. But make it as obvious, attractive and as easy for you to. to succeed, then that's the way.

If it pleases the mind. Yeah. Yeah. But the more you do it, then obviously that's how I have it is formed. It's by repeating the action over and over again. So if it's leaving your pills out on the site, pills by, I mean, general supplementation. Let's just have that clear, you know, your omega-3,

your vitamin B. Your protein powder. Just have it somewhere obvious. dress it up if you want to put it in a smoother as an example that's that's going to make you drink it so yeah that's right so that's all right but what about you jane uh i think obviously a lot of people nowadays kind of will say that they don't have the time and stuff like that but that's where like things like meal

preps are if you've got a day or an evening and you can just do some meal prep for yourself like then it kind of sets you up for the next sort of like and if you are a busy sign of person at least you're just you're a busy sign of person at least you know you're getting what you need and stuff. I know there's obviously all the like gustos and stuff like that, which I know people find easier because it comes, it's all there. You haven't really got to go to the shop and buy it. Yeah, it's weighed, it's measured.

Yeah. It's charmed. A lot of people, you know, a lot of people, I think a lot of footballers use all that kind of stuff because it's, they can pick it, they can then pick it. So, um. Go on, plug your Instagram handle. Meal prep. No.

They should know what it is already. I like it. It's Beyonce, no last name. If you could give one piece of advice to anybody wanting to work in elite sport behind the scenes, what would the advice be? I think you've got to be quite thick-skinned, quite strong. Resilient, yeah. Yeah, because there's, you know.

It's never personal. Yeah, no, you're dealing with, you know, even just, just, looking at players, you're dealing with 25, 30 individuals that, you know, someone's gone and had an amazing game one weekend, but the other person's had a really felt like I've had a really not so good performance. So you get different moods and, you know, that mood isn't necessarily like, it's not taken out on you, but it might kind of, you might get a bit of it, if that makes sense, but you don't take it personally.

Oh, energy is so contagious. Yeah. And you're just like, for us, we're just there to have fun, cheer people up. with food with their rubbish jokes Erin did say to me before she said, you're not just food,

you're entertainment. Well, if Erin's saying it then. Stick that on a t-shirt. Yeah, I think just willing to like, like the season's long, it's a long time. And yeah, it can be quite, you know,

when you're doing a Champions League game on a Wednesday, and then you're playing away at Manchester United on the Saturday. Like it's, yeah, it's long, it's busy. But, and I think as long as it as well, like even if your people around you understand your role and stuff as well. But, you know, I'm not. And just to wrap this podcast up, because we had such lovely chat,

it's been very wholesome. What do you think is the most rewarding part of your jobs? I just like, I just quite enjoy it when, the girls are eating and they'll go, oh, like this is, this is great. Like this is banging, love it. I find that quite, that's quite a reward, to be fair. Just people, like, I think in a, as a chef just kind of compliments a nice, like, and it's quite rewarding, to be fair.

You know that people are enjoying the food. I think that's probably one of the best things. Oh, that's so sweet. What about you doing? I think for me, I get quite a bit of passion from the performance data side of things. so when you can see where you've put an intervention in place to see that athlete then increase the high speed running by a certain percentage or increase a number of axles, d cells or whatever it may be,

increased counter movement jump, you've been working, supporting them with body composition goals, etc. I think that's really rewarding and you find that you get a lot of buy-in that way when you can directly show them the impact it has on the performance. I've never wanted to see a spreadsheet before now. and now I'm so intrigued. Well, thank you both so much for joining us. It's been genuinely lovely to get to chat to some of the behind the scenes at Chelsea.

And enjoy your summer break. Have you got any plans? Yeah, I've got a couple of holidays. Oh, where we're going? New Yorker and then the Dominican Republic. Oh, lovely. Jolie what you're up to? Driving to the Dolomites.

As you do, very random, top gate. Very different holidays. Yeah. Pop off, I like it. That's me how I'm getting there. In my camper van. Now I don't know the route. Well, thank you both so much.

That was so cool. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women brought to you in association with Skoda, the official car partner for Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport.

Remember, if you want to get involved in the podcast this season, comment below your whistleblower stories and any questions. See you next time. Thank you.