Denise Wilson, the chef for Artemis Racing, has the large task of feeding hungry, super fit sailors meals that are healthy, protein packed and delicious.

In the team’s most recent Road to Bermuda episode, Denise discusses how she keeps the team fed and happy.

Having worked with the team since 2009, she knows a thing or two on how to keep sailor’s bellies full. She works in conjunction with Peter Cunningham, the team’s exercise physiologist.

“I’m responsible for looking after the team, keeping them happy, keeping them fed and watered really,” she said. “I’m in charge of the nutrition side. I work alongside Peter and we look after the nutrition for the sailors.”

Cunningham, meanwhile, talked about why nutrition is so important for the sailors.

“Nutrition’s crucial,” he said. “It’s crucial for everybody. We’ve got a lot of people working here.

“If you look at just the sailing team here, we’re trying to do three to four sessions a day and it’s really important that they recover from one session to the other session.

“Nutrition is a massive part. Denise does a fantastic job. For example, she does 150 eggs for breakfast. That’s just for breakfast.”

Wilson added: “I try and cook everything fresh for the sailors on the sailor side of things. When they finish in the gym, they need a lot of nutrition in them because they’ve just spent two hours working out so obviously they need to eat to keep them going. The food’s like the engine for them.”

Cunningham discussed the sailors and their regular calorie consumption.

“The guys as far as calorie intake is concerned, on a fairly average day, it’s around 5,000 calories,” he said. “The average person is around 2,000 to 2,500.

“On the big days, I should image we’re really close to 7,000 or 8,000.

“Losing body weight isn’t hard. The hard part is making sure we have enough calories in the body weight stays where it is.

“In particular, lean muscle stays where it is. It’s not just a matter of getting the carbohydrates in, it’s the muscular recovery.”

He also said why the food the sailors eat is important, the high quality protein powders and supplements are equally important as the healthy food Wilson creates for the teams.