Nutrition

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.

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.

Get Started With Gentle Nutrition

Mental Health, Nutrition

From pre-performance snacks to post-performance recovery, nutrition education is essential to a dancer’s training. But as I’ve discussed previously, dancers must juggle aspects of performance nutrition and meal planning, both of which can hover the realms of diet culture, with the goal of avoiding restrictive eating habits. To balance the importance of performance nutrition with the fundamentals of a non-diet lifestyle, we must recognize the tenth principle of intuitive eating: “gentle nutrition.”

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.

From Dancer to Dietitian – The Roadmap

Do you have an interest in nutrition, food, or helping others? Many dancers inquire about the road to becoming an expert in nutrition for dancers. This article will share tips for you to consider if interested in blending your passions for dance and wellness.

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!

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.

What’s the best protein bar for a dancer?

Protein bars are a convenient way for dancers to optimize post-performance recovery windows, especially when their next meal surpasses the hour after dancing. Bars can also provide easy snack options prior to dancing. The nutrition profile of your bar comes next. This is where we can optimize your choice in a way that best supports your dance performance.

The Healthy Dancer® Dancer Testimonial

Disordered eating is a struggle for many dancers (here’s why). An influx of misinformation from self-proclaimed nutrition experts is often the reason. Those misinformed about how dancers can fuse the principles of intuitve eating with the fundamentals of sports nutrition translate recommendations into polarizing ideas like “eat whatever you want, when you want” and “clean” […]

A Dancer’s Guide to Dairy- and Plant-Based Milk

Dancers often consider alternatives to dairy even without the presence of a diagnosed intolerance or allergy. Now, I’ve detangled why dancers need not fear the protein- and calcium-rich dairy option in this article. But what about dancers with a medially-diagnosed intolerance? Or those struggling with a milk allergy? And for the dancers who simply prefer dairy-free alternatives, is there a best option? This article will break it down.

Dance Nutrition Workshops- Everything you need to know

Nutrition workshops for dancers are a key element of a dance school or company’s training efforts. Nutrition workshops from qualified dietitians are encouraged to combat common challenges that exist for both the dancers and the educators.

How Can Dancers Eat Healthy When Traveling?

When on vacation, on holiday, or even on tour, dancers must learn how to navigate a new environment while listening to and trusting their body’s cues of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction. This articles teaches you how to eat healthfully and intuitively while traveling.

How To Create A Healthy Relationship with Food

Mental Health, Nutrition

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.

Dancers and Dessert- is it okay?

Dancers often question whether dessert can be a staple in their diet or not. This article will not only answer this question for you but also, shift your perspective in a way that supports your abilities on stage and off. Gentle nutrition and food flexibility, as tools of The Healthy Dancer® framework, can help you in your decision-making around dessert. This includes those deemed “healthy” (like fruit) and those more indulgent options (I’m talking about that brownie sundae with EXTRA fudge!)

Your best tool to battle cravings

How can dancers navigate cravings once and for all? This article will dive into why dancers experience cravings, what are the different types of cravings, and how dancers can navigate them in a way that doesn’t derail the work of both performance nutrition and their relationship with food.

What Does It Mean to Have Unconditional Permission To Eat?

Relying on “willpower,” striving for “moderation,” “avoiding trigger foods,” and “crowding out” foods are divisive forms of deprivation. Intuitive eaters, however, learn how to demolish the point of deprivation. To do this, let’s address three steps for how you can begin to gift yourself unconditional permission to eat your favorite (and yes, more “triggering”) foods.

The Best Breakfast Cereal for Dancers

If you’re a dancer who is debating breakfast cereal as an option to start the day, then you’ve come to the perfect place! A culturally-constructed fear of carbohydrate-rich foods makes breakfast cereal the target of debate. But breakfast cereals (and carbs in general) can be a nutrient-packed addition to a dancer’s diet. This article will […]

What is Practical Hunger? For dancers, it helps

Practical hunger is one of the five hunger cues that dancers can work to identify throughout any given day. Unlike more obvious hunger cues (for example, stomach pains and headaches), practical hunger relies on flexible meal planning to prevent instances of extreme (rebound) hunger and extreme fullness.

How to Handle Rejection at Your Dance Audition

Mental Health, Nutrition

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.

What Is Thin Privilege?

As a society, increasing awareness of our privilege(s) can help us better understand the world around us and how others, not just our immediate circles, perceive it. I experience thin privilege because I live in a body deemed acceptable by a fat-phobic culture that stigmatizes those in larger bodies. Because my set-point weight allows me to live in a thin body, I do not experience the same systemic oppression that is faced by those in larger bodies.