Mental Health

Overcoming The Orthorexic Identity

January 11, 2023 By Rachel Fine

What is The Orthorexic Identity? Dancers who experience a history of disordered eating, including orthorexia, commonly face the struggle of overcoming the orthorexic identity. Perhaps family members have labeled you as “the healthy one”. Or friends consider you the “good dancer” for eating “right” and keeping up with your demanding cross-training schedule. For dancers who […]

Should dancers eat less when not dancing?

December 20, 2022 By Rachel Fine

Rest days provide your body with the time needed to recover; this means your muscles heal from intense training, your energy replenishes to prevent chronic fatigue, your mindset resets to prevent the onset of burnout, and ultimately, you reduce your risk for injuries (especially chronic overuse injuries). Here are key strategies to effortlessly navigate time away from the studio.

Understanding RED-S in Dancers

December 14, 2022 By Rachel Fine

With at least 10-12 percent of dancers weighing below ideal body weight for health, it’s critical to take steps to reduce your risk of RED-S and thus, your risk of injury. Here are 3 effortless strategies to ensure your meal plan supports energy balance.

5 Tips to Enjoy The Holidays (Without Guilt!)

November 15, 2022 By Rachel Fine

Healthy holiday eating tips for dancers. Consider these 5 tips to not only build confidence around your dinner table but to also find more freedom and enjoyment throughout the season.

Dealing With Diet Talk- Your Ultimate Guide

October 5, 2022 By Rachel Fine

Since we cannot control or prevent all instances of criticism, it helps to equip yourself with the tools to educate and set boundaries as needed. But how? The first step is to decide if it’s worth the energy to educate others about your lifestyle decisions.

Raise A Healthy Dancer

September 18, 2022 By Rachel Fine

As a dance parent, your role in fundamental to the success of your dancer’s career. This article provides first-hand experience and 5 key strategies to consider to support your dancer’s passion.

Mindful Eating For Dancers

July 28, 2022 By Rachel Fine

When you begin to utilize the tool of mindful eating, you add back a major nutrient to your balanced plate: experience. From that experience, whether it is positive, negative, or neutral, blooms a unique learning opportunity that allows you to move forward with building trust with your body’s intrinsic cues of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction.

How To Create A Healthy Relationship with Food

April 26, 2022 By Rachel Fine

Dancers can create a healthy relationship with food by using this 5-step guide. As a dancer, your relationship with food plays a key role in the sustainability of your career. Learn how to ditch the dieting mentality, give yourself unconditional permission around food, use food neutrality, practice food flexibility, and integrate mindful eating.

Body Image Support for Dancers

April 6, 2022 By Rachel Fine

How can dancers build a supportive body image? They need to consider tools that will support the journey. But with terms like “body positivity,” “body neutrality,” “body acceptance,” and “body image resilience” being tossed around social platforms, it can be difficult to decipher which to focus on. This article will deconstruct these various terms to help dancers strategize their journey towards body confidence.

Dancers & Disordered Eating

March 1, 2022 By Rachel Fine

Has your interest in healthy eating become more of an obsession? Dancers are at risk to perfectionism, which can drive rates of disordered eating and eating disorders. Orthorexia describes the unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. Learn more about orthorexia and disordered eating among dancers.

How to Handle Rejection at Your Dance Audition

February 22, 2022 By Rachel Fine

How can dancers navigate audition disappointment and rejection? With diet culture especially prominent in the dance industry, the urge for dancers to regain any semblance of control often translates into unsustainable behaviors like restricting food intake or partaking in excessive cross-training routines. But using food as a tool for self-control, rather than self-care, quickly backfires as restrictive dieting leads to exhaustion, burnout, and even injury.

Dancers and Overeating

February 6, 2022 By Rachel Fine

Whether you call it “overeating” or “binge eating,” you may be familiar with the experience of eating to the point of physical discomfort. Eating past fullness can result from a variety of reasons, and before we discuss how to stop “overeating,” we should first identify why you’re “overeating.”

Dancers and Emotional Eating

February 1, 2022 By Rachel Fine

Society often views emotional eating negatively. A healthy relationship with food means that we honor personal preferences that often stem from emotionally pleasant memories and experiences.

Dealing With Dancer Burnout and Joyful Movement

January 19, 2022 By Rachel Fine

Dancers can feel burn out from a high-pressured environment that is unfortunately coupled with impossible food and body beliefs. In this instance, a dancer’s relationship with movement feels less joyous and more punitive. Learn more about how to prevent dancer burnout.

6 Myths About Intuitive Eating

January 7, 2022 By Rachel Fine

I’ve previously discussed what intuitive eating is and how dancers can implement these principles into their active lifestyles. In this article, we’re debunking the six most common myths associated with intuitive eating, including how those with chronic illness can still benefit from a non-restrictive approach

25+ Sustainable Non-Diet New Year’s Resolutions

December 24, 2021 By Rachel Fine

We know that diets don’t work within a year of starting and that weight cycling comes with countless negative health implications. In this article, I’m sharing my favorite non-diet resolutions to start your New Year in a way that supports YOU. The goal is to feel confident in your body, competent with your food choices, and supported mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Ideal Height Weight Chart for Dancers

December 4, 2021 By Rachel Fine

Using a charting system such as ideal weight charts to determine a dancer’s performance potential is extremely harmful. Dancers have a three times higher risk of suffering from an eating disorder when compared to the general population. This article discusses what an Ideal Weight Chart for Dancers is and whether they’re helpful or harmful.

Food Neutrality & How To Heal From Diet Culture

November 17, 2021 By Rachel Fine

Food neutrality doesn’t disregard the nutritional value of food. Food neutrality enables us to make choices based upon our whole being, including the mental, emotional, social, and physical elements of our “health” and “wellness.” Use food to honor all facets of life, including your nostalgic memories, new experiences, pleasures, joys, comforts, and so forth.

What Is Food Flexibility & Why Do Dancers Need It?

November 9, 2021 By Rachel Fine

Dancers require flexibility both in the studio and out. Heal your relationship with food using Food Flexibility. The more flexible you are in your food choices, the more willing you are to move through life’s vast experiences with agility and ease.

Reduce The Risk of Disordered Eating & Eating Disorders In Your Studio

November 3, 2021 By Rachel Fine

Dance educators are on the frontline: from cultivating an environment that supports the longevity of a dancer’s career to identifying challenges that occur inside the studio. Dance educators have the upper hand in helping to reduce rates of disordered eating, eating disorders, and body image challenges in the industry. This article will break down 5 specific strategies that dance educators can implement to cultivate a healthier environment in their studios.