Former Preston North End fitness coach releases book to help eat like an athlete

Little, who spent eight years at PNE before leaving this summer to Sheffield United, developed his method during his time with the Lilywhites.

He found engagement with dieting plans was difficult and set about making it easier to get the correct nutrition for the North End players. It culminated in a full nutrition programme and app, which was then used in the top flights of England and Scotland, by the Welsh rugby union team and even as far as Australia.

Now Little is releasing a book, filled with everything required to get nutrition and training right. It is available now and contains his ‘Colour-Fit’ method, which is what started him along the road to releasing his work.

It is a simple way of finding meals that support dietary goals, whether it be for best health, body shape or performance. All meals are colour coded to help with selection, with images of the meals, calories listed and even videos demonstrations on how to make the meals.

"It came about from trying to solve nutritional problems at PNE and that I've faced throughout my career,” he told the Lancashire Post.

"Obviously nutrition is a huge part in any role, it affects the performance on a matchday and in training, injury risk and all lifestyle matters. It's something that is high on my agenda.

“Colour-Fit is something that has taken off within elite sport but the whole concept of simplifying nutrition is a problem that everyone struggles with, and to take it out to the general public I thought a book was the best option.

"I reached out to a publishing agent and he loved it straight away, it's been a four year journey and the publishers have done an unbelievable job with the book.

"It's got the Colour-Fit methodology, it's got over 150 recipes in there and every one of them has a video link that you can access via a QR code.

"It also contains numerous training and nutrition plans for a variety of goals, like losing weight and optimising health, as well as performance in numerous sports from amateur to elite level.”

Little, who boasts a wealth of professional experience as a fitness coach in football including time with Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Burnley amongst his former employers, is not just aiming his book at those at the elite level.

He wants the wider public to be able to use his book and has included features such as meal building to it to make it easier for families to cook good meals whilst being able to keep costs down.

“The simple nature of the meals inherently makes them economical,” he said.

"If you want them for the feeding your family point of view, making your own meals is without a shadow of a doubt is the best way to go about it.

"There will be less wastage from things you haven't used during the week. It's where the meal builder application comes in, sometimes you can't just follow a recipe exactly and you have to use what's in your cupboards.

"That's why the knowledge of how to shape a meal from basic ingredients will end up saving you lots of money and keep the family happy when it comes to their tastebuds.

"Economising is important for everyone, especially in the current climate and how expensive food is getting.”

The ‘Colour-Fit Method' is available now from amazon and all good book stores.