Holidays are stressful. And with Thanksgiving looking VERY different during this pandemic year, the stress around food is likely to lurk beyond the kitchen. Consider these four tips to get you through Turkey Day free from stress, anxiety, and food guilt.
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A Dancer’s Diet: Nutrition Supplements
Should dancers use protein powders? How about multivitamins? If not consuming a well-rounded diet that is sufficient in both calories and nutrients, dancers are at risk for developing key micronutrient and macronutrient deficiencies. Before deciding whether or not you can benefit from a nutrition supplement, consider the following 5 tips.
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A Functional Approach to Food- Is it better?
Much of functional medicine is centered around an approach that supposedly challenges the roots of conventional medicine—instead of treating bodily systems independently from one another, functional medicine “seeks to identify and address the root causes of disease and views the body as one integrated system.” Dancers who look for integrative, holistic, alternative, and functional approaches should never feel shameful or invalidated by their experiences. But it is important to understand the risks involved.
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A Dietitian’s Opinion on Halloween Candy
Do you feel like you cannot trust yourself with Halloween candy? Perhaps you feel out of control this time of year. Halloween can be an opportunity to try intuitive eating and build a supportive relationship with candy (yep… that’s a thing!)
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Get More Energy- Tips for Dancers
Energizing and balanced dancer meals are essential to a strong performance. Dancers can utilize these 5 strategies to honor the functional components of food in a way that is flexible and sustainable. We assess the intent behind our food choices, honoring cravings, and being mindful of what is accessible at any given moment. Functional fuel, meal timing, hydration, caffeine, and food flexibility are key.
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Dealing With Diet Talk- Your Ultimate Guide
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.
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Raise A Healthy Dancer
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.
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The Most Common Nutrition Concerns Amongst Dancers
Dancers face unique nutritional challenges because of rigorous training schedules; combined with undeniable body ideals that unfortunately saturate the industry. The need to consume adequate amounts of food to support strength and endurance is not only challenged by busy schedules, but also, by misinformation from diet culture. This article will discuss the most common nutritional concerns dancers face, and how both individuals and their clinicians can help to navigate them.
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What Is Nutrient Density?
Nutrient density can be a helpful concept for dancers looking to build a meal plan that supports their elevated needs as athletes. But too often, nutrient density is used to categorize foods with labels like “good” and “bad”- In the process, many foods are vilified and eating those deemed “bad” and “unhealthy” becomes an experience flooded with stress and food guilt.
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Is Organic Food Healthier?
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases an annual list of the ‘“Dirty Dozen,” which includes a list of 12 types of produce known to be most contaminated with pesticides. But some feel the EWG largely fabricates their findings to fear-monger consumers with phrases like “toxic” and “cancer-causing” chemicals.
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5 Signs Your Meal Plan Isn’t Working- And how to fix it!
Is your current eating plan supporting your dancing? There are specific signs to look out for. Once identified, you’ll be better equipped to build an eating plan that supports your dance goals. This article will uncover the five most common eating pitfalls among dancers and how to prevent and resolve them.
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Healthy Diet For Ballet Dancers
A ballerina diet focuses consistency and balance. Ballet dancers need to optimize their food choices to support their energy to dance. As a result, a varied and non-restrictive diet is key. Add foods like colorful fruits and veggies, whole grains, eggs, potatoes, blueberries, to name a few.
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Rehydration for dancers: what’s best?
If you’re dancing for 90 minutes or longer, then you’ll want to consider additional rehydration therapies. This is especially important for dancers during the hot and humid summer months when sweat rates are higher. In this article, we will discuss the most popular types of rehydration therapies available to dancers and what to consider for each.
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5 Signs The Dieting Mentality Is Holding You Back
Wellness culture is sneaky and oftentimes seemingly harmless habits can be a guise for very disordered eating behaviors. I’ve previously discussed how “clean” eating and diets like Noom can make it difficult to spot diet culture. But there are even subtler ways in which the dieting mentality shows up for dancers and this article will discuss them.
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Cultivate A Healthy Summer Intensive
Summer intensives offer an incredible opportunity for dancers. Food is the body’s fuel. Without enough fuel, a dancer risks low energy, inability to concentrate, injury, and burnout.
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The 80/20 Rule: Debunked
What is the 80/20 rule around food? There was a time when I believed in the 80/20 diet rule. As both a dancer and as a dietitian, the 80/20 rule offered a clearer and more concrete definition for the old “eat in moderation” advice. But I soon realized that this approach was not helping my relationship with food.
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A Dancer’s Complete Guide to Hormone Balance
For dancers, balanced hormones support strong bones. These ten foods will boost your hormone health. If you’re looking to support hormonal balance, start by adding these foods to your next grocery list.
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Dancers and Bone Health
A dancer’s bone density is one of the most important factors when it comes to preventing injuries. Learn about bone health for dancers!
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What does it mean to be a Healthy Dancer?
I’ve had the honor of writing an article for Dance Magazine about what it means to be a healthy dancer. Here’s a snippet: “A healthy dancer has a healthy relationship with their body, food, themself, and others. They know when to take a break or rest and participate in key health behaviors, including sleep, hydration, nutrition, […]
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Nutrition for Dancers: What You Need To Know For Training
Nutrition is an important aspect of dance training. Learn what you should eat before dancing and why! Get tips on what foods are best for dancers and why they’re important.
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