Villa's secret weapon - Organic Food

Aston Villa have had a great start to the season, they are currently in fourth position in the Premiership, and one of the reasons could be that the club chef is serving up organic food for the players.

Ian Edge is their chef and he told the Birmingham Mail about his ideas.

"Food is very important to sports stars and particularly after a game, there is an hour of opportunity when they need to eat to get optimum muscle strength, so I hand out meals on the coach on the way home," said Edge.

"Footballers know how important food is to their profession and nine out of ten times, they go for the healthiest option. Their body fat is monitored closely.

"If by using organic food, we can make that one per cent difference to the players, then it is worth it."

Fitness manager Jim Henry also backs to the move to organic food.

"I chose to switch to organic food for Aston Villa because I’ve read studies showing that organic food has higher levels of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants," said Henry.

"Our policy is to avoid supplements being pushed on football teams by sports companies which could have been contaminated. The best way to get vitamins and minerals is by better eating rather then supplementation."

There is plenty of excellent organic food available in and around Herefordshire. Perhaps a trial could be arranged for the Hereford United players.

---