Cooking gives you the ability to grow as a person and to give yourself confidence. You can invite people around, you can sit down and eat together and it makes you feel about ten feet tall because you've done it with your own hands.

One of the key things is to encourage people to have a go in the kitchen and not to be embarrassed by it. Try and spend a couple of nights a week cooking something up. It doesn't have to be complicated, it can be something really simple.

I know that some people feel that cooking is time consuming, but cooking is an activity that you can do for yourself and you'll be in good condition to do all the other things that you want to do in your life for a very long time.

Cooking is a life skill. We need to eat every day so why not find out about what you're putting into your body?

I'm never quite sure what I'm looking for in a comic book! It just jumps off the page somehow and hits you square between the eyeballs and you know that's the artist for the story.

If you get vegetables in season, the difference is remarkable compared to vegetables that might have been imported. You can't beat fresh ingredients and seasonal fresh ingredients. There's nothing quite like the taste of a beautiful summer strawberry.

Your skin and hair feel good, you sleep better and you start feeling so much better about yourself when you start eating properly.

I like carrots that have got a bit of personality and have three or four legs! They may look weird but they taste fantastic.

Like anybody else, athletes like to pig out on a bit of junk food every now and then, but they also know that they couldn't do that all the time if they wanted to keep their body in peak condition to compete at the highest level.

When I was working on the Olympic cookbook it was amazing to discover how different athletes need different types of diets. Everybody thinks that an athlete has to eat lots of carbohydrates, however some athletes don't need that. Some sports such as sprinting are explosive so you need a diet that will give you the energy for that moment.

Let's care and nurture our bodies. You are looking after something from a very early stage. Like a plant, you're giving it food and water and when it grows, look at the amount of buds it gives you. Every year it flourishes and comes back time and time again. Look after yourselves and don't be embarrassed about it.

Be ready, be prepared, be alert and then everybody around you will notice and they will want to share their skills with you even more. You're showing that you're enthusiastic, you care and that you're dedicated. It's not always easy, but if you've got a passion and a desire to do something then your natural energy will get you through.

Food is fuel and it keeps us going just like a car needs petrol. When you're running a car it's important to think about what fuel you're putting in because if you put in the rough stuff, what's going to happen? The car's going to slow down and perform badly because you've neglected it.

People sometimes say that it's cheaper to give their kids a couple of pounds to get themselves a burger or pizza. I don't mind people doing that, but not every night. It's like everything in life, you've got to get the balance right.

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