Nutrition for Dancers

From “clean eating” to keto, diet trends and restrictive food regimens impede a dancer’s ability to fuel for performance. I previously discussed the importance of nutrition for dancers. If you’re a dancer, this article will help you to reassess your goals when it comes to your meal plan. Rebuilding a healthy relationship around food is essential to your long-term performance.

Fueling the dancer

To perform optimally, dancers need a diet that is balanced among nutrients. This includes the macronutrients carbohydrate, fat, and protein, along with the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and fluids. A macronutrients mix is a single meal or snack that includes sources of complex carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Aim for this mix at multiple times throughout the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks). Don’t fear carbs—they fuel your movement. Fats from sources like avocadoes, nuts, and oils heal your body and reduce the natural inflammation experienced in dance. Here are additional resources that dive into each of these nutrients for dancers:

1. What are healthy carbohydrates for dancers? (Action tip: It’s recommended that carbohydrates make up at least 55-60% of a dancer’s diet with up to 65% for more intense training schedules.)
2. Should dancers eat foods high in fat? (Action tip: Flax, chia, nuts (especially walnuts), green leafy veggies, and fortified eggs are higher in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats and tend to be more budget-friendly).
3. A dancer’s complete guide to Intuitive Eating.

What foods should dancers avoid?

Restrictions, whether they are on the amount of food or on the type of food can damage a dancer’s biological and psychological wellbeing. Eating a low-calorie diet compromises a dancer’s energy availability and may lead to inadequate intake of important micronutrients like calcium, vitamin D, B vitamins, zinc, iron, and vitamin K.

A calorie deficit results when a dancer eats too few calories to sustain their physical energy needs. A dancer’s energy needs include the calories burned during their activity and the calories required for basic metabolic functioning. To learn more about your calorie needs as a dancer, read this article.

Prolonged calorie deficits result in low energy availability and increase a dancer’s risk to Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (or RES-S). RED-S encompasses the hormonal imbalances that can sacrifice physical strength, bone health, and even emotional wellbeing. To learn more about Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport among dancers, read this article. Clean eating lifestyles are an example of restrictive diets often disguised as “healthy” eating plans. Check out some thoughts I gave Dance Spirit Magazine about clean eating for dancers. Here are additional resources that help to debunk the truth behind clean eating diet plans for dancers:

1. Clean Eating Diet Plans for Dancers
2. Reading The Nutrition Facts Labels
3. The Truth About Processed Foods

What foods should dancers eat?

Food is culture. Food is fun. Food is social. Food is life. Don’t fight cravings—embrace them! For dancers, a healthy relationship with food is incorporates nutrient-dense options, like nuts, fruit, and whole grains while also making infinite room for unapologetic enjoyments, like cookies, cake, burgers, and fries! Loosening the reigns of rigidity around food choices is key and granting yourself full permission to enjoy all foods is the goal. To flourish on stage, it’s encouraged that dancers can prioritize a healthy relationship with food. Here are two helpful tips to consider:

Find Structure, But with Fluidity

Dancers thrive with structure. Map out a flexible schedule that incorporates meals and snacks throughout your day. This is especially important since hunger cues can naturally diminish during a busy dancer’s day (read more about this here). To best sustain energy levels, avoid time gaps longer than 3-4 hours. Most importantly, your meal plan must allow for fluidity.

Make Choices, Not Rules

In regards to food, there’s lots of info out there telling us what we should and shouldn’t do. Whether it’s avoiding a specific food or food group, not eating after a certain time, or following a specific diet, rules lead us down an unsustainable road that’s met with guilt, shame, fear, and isolation.

Consider food preferences as a personal drive to eat. Dancers can learn how to decipher food preferences from food rules (here’s an article that teaches you how). If the privilege presents itself, then honor cravings when feasible. The more we restrict our favorite foods, the more inclined we are to enter a binge- and restrict-cycle. Caution “light” and “healthy” alternatives, which may leave you unsatisfied. Cauliflower pizza is trendy, but if you’re truly craving pizza, enjoy the real deal. You’ll feel more satisfied in the long run. Removing the moral hierarchy behind your food choices is critical, but can be hard. Here is an article that teaches dancers how to utilize food neutrality throughout their meal and snack choices.

Looking for more tips about how a dancer can build a healthy diet? I discussed a few ideas with Dance Magazine. And for the dancer well into their journey of healing their relationships with food and ready to sharpen their skills in nutrition for a successful dance career, sign up for Nourish The Healthy Dancer®. This is a series of self-study courses designed to support the sustainable lifestyle and ongoing journey of The Healthy Dancer®. Available options include:

1. Nutrition Without Obsession (Gentle Nutrition) and Performance Nutrition. Learn more here.
2. Reclaim Emotional Eating. Learn more here.
3. Build Body Confidence through appreciation, neutrality, and respect Learn more here.