Nutrition

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.

Dancers and Overeating

Mental Health, Nutrition

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.”

How to spot diet culture: The Truth Behind Anti-Diet, Noom, WW, & MyFitness Pal

The diet industry exhibits a large influence over how consumers comprehend health and wellness. To truly ditch diet culture, we need to know how to spot the dieting mentality and identify the red flag of lifestyles like Noom, WW, and My Fitness Pal.

Dancers and Emotional Eating

Mental Health, Nutrition

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.

Is Intuitive Eating A Practice or Privilege?

In the United States alone, more than 38 million people, including 12 million children, experience food insecurity, with more than 23.5 million people in the U.S. living in food deserts. Food insecurity is even more apparent in marginalized communities where rates of hunger, poverty, and unemployment are much higher when compared to white communities. The same goes for those who live with one or more disabilities, who face higher rates of employment discrimination and higher medical costs.

7 Myths About Intuitive Eating

Mental Health, Nutrition

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 most common myths associated with intuitive eating, including how those with chronic illness can still benefit from a non-restrictive approach

Dancers: Intuitive Eating Can Enhance Performance

[FREE Download] Intuitive eating dancers can coexist with performance nutrition. Dancers learn the basics of the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating and how to start using them today. As you begin to challenge food and body beliefs, you learn how to eat in a way that honors your health to the degree that you choose, not the degree set forth by dancer diet culture. This article will uncover the nuances of intuitive eating for dancers and guide you through the process.

How To “Get Back On Track” After The Holidays (It’s Not What You Think!)

A budget of nearly 72 billion dollars unfortunately gives the diet industry lots of power over how we feel this time of year. Many can’t help but feel overwhelming amounts of guilt in the aftermath of what is commonly a more indulgent meal. How can we move past these valid feelings and discomfort? This article will break down 3 critical points for dancers to consider as they move forward with their post-Holiday eating plans.

How To Manage PCOS Without Restrictive Dieting

Hormonal imbalances is often an experience that leaves many dancers overwhelmed and confused. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder that impacts approximately 5% to 10% of women of reproductive age. This article will dive into the complexities of PCOS and how those with a diagnosis can navigate without the pressures of diet culture.

How to Eat Healthy on a Budget- Dancer Tips

Research suggests that eating fruits and vegetables can help to lower the risk for many chronic diseases such as heart disease, and may protect against certain types of cancer. But for many dancers, income is limited, and knowing how to incorporate these nutrient-dense options without breaking the bank can be challenging. But all dancers can […]

Food Neutrality & How To Heal From Diet Culture

Mental Health, Nutrition

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?

Mental Health, Nutrition

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

Mental Health, Nutrition

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.

Diet Culture in The Dance Industry

Mental Health, Nutrition

Diet culture is a system of beliefs that idolizes weight loss. In diet culture, it’s believed that thinness equates to health, and in this pursuit of thinness (or “health,”) certain foods are either demonized or glorified. Diet culture also imposes moral value upon our food choices and as a result, we’re “good” for eating “healthy” and we’re “bad” for eating “unhealthy.” Removing the weight diet culture can help dancers flourish in physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.