Part of the solution is how you think about bloating, which can  improve your relationship to your body and bloating. There are also practical shifts you can make like how you approach food, meal timing, and habits that can actually reduce bloating and help you find more comfort in your body.

What is bloating?

Bloating is when your stomach feels full and tight, often due to gas. Many dancers experience bloating. When you’re at a lower body weight, which is also relatively common in ballet, the experience or appearance of bloating can be exacerbated. 

What causes bloating?

The most common assumption is that bloating is always caused by certain foods or food intolerances. While this certainly can be the case, it isn’t always. 

Some of the more commonly known causes of bloating include:

1. Food intolerances or allergies 
2. Not getting enough whole grains and fiber
3. Poor hydration: drinking more water helps remedy bloating
4. Consuming lots of gum or carbonated beverages: swallowing more air leads to bloating

Less commonly acknowledged causes of bloating

Not eating enough or not eating consistently.

Dancer schedules are busy and irregular, which can make it challenging to eat regularly. It’s beneficial to eat every 2–4 hours and not let more than 5 hours pass between eating. Eating too quickly or too close to intense movement can cause bloating. 

Eating slowly, chewing food thoroughly, and finding more presence when you are eating can help reduce bloating. Making sure you’re eating enough is also essential. 

Chronic restriction can cause the muscles of your stomach and intestines to weaken from underuse. This leads to sluggish digestion and bloating. A dancer who stops eating consistently, gets into the habit of restrictive eating and then overeating, or who experiences an eating disorder can experience more bloating. 

Constipation can also be a culprit in bloating, and one of the causes of constipation is simply not eating enough. 

Stress in your life and/or dance environment.

When you’re stressed, it puts your body into fight-or-flight mode, which inhibits digestion. The opposite of this is rest-and-digest, which aids in digestion. In times of stress, blood is redirected away from your stomach and digestive system and instead flows to your muscles. 

Your mental state and digestion are deeply connected. There’s two-way communication between your brain and digestive system—often called the gut-brain axis—which involves your nervous system, hormones, gut microbiome, and immune function. Feeling nervous before class, rehearsals, or auditions can impact this communication system, leaving you feeling bloated with sluggish digestion. 

Hormonal changes.

Some hormonal fluctuations are normal and to be expected as you see cyclical hormonal changes associated with your menstrual cycle. Bloating in the days or week leading up to and during your period is quite normal. Food choices and overall approach to nutrition and food timing can impact the severity of bloating during this time.

There are also hormonal changes associated with stress. When you’re stressed, your body produces more cortisol and adrenaline, which increase gastric acid production and leads to heartburn, indigestion, and bloating.

Dairy consumption. 

The older you get, the less lactase you produce. This is the digestive enzyme that breaks down lactose (the sugar in milk). Without being able to properly digest dairy, you’re likely to experience gas and bloating.

What you can do about bloating in ballet

Movement and bloating.

While you are already incredibly active with your dancing, calm movement around eating can help you digest your food more efficiently. Gentle movement like yoga, walking, or stretching can aid in digestion and reduce bloating. Even light walking after meals can help support digestion and reduce the chance of bloating.

Supplements for support.

You might explore digestive enzymes or soothing options like peppermint or ginger tea to aid your body’s digestive processes. While these should never be relied on as quick-fix options, they may provide temporary relief in times of need. 

Your mindset around bloating in ballet.

As you can see, some bloating is unavoidable. My hope is that by understanding all of these less common causes of bloating, you can be less self-critical when it happens. Do what you can to find clarity with what might be causing your bloating. It might be worth seeing a gastroenterologist who is equipped to diagnose more serious causes of bloating like celiac disease or gastritis. 

For normal levels of bloating, it’s important to come to a point where you accept it as a part of life. Wear the leotards that make you most comfortable on those days. If you’re allowed to wear some sort of warm-ups that increase your comfort level, do it. 

When you see yourself in the mirror, check in with yourself mentally. If you’re fixating on the bloating and your stomach, shift your focus to your dancing. Remind yourself what’s going well in your dancing. Try literally bringing your focus upward—shift your attention to your port de bras, your artistry, your intention.

You’re not alone.

So many dancers bring up bloating as a concern. When we discuss it in coaching sessions, finding possible culprits and identifying ways to cope or mitigate some of the bloating causes is incredibly productive because bloating is something the majority of dancers experience at some point. 

If you’re looking for support to find an easy, effective, and personalized approach to food, book a coaching consultation to see if health, nutrition, and lifestyle coaching is the right fit for your needs. 

Bloating doesn’t define you or your dancing. With awareness, self-compassion, and some strategic shifts, you can build a healthier and more relaxed relationship with your body—even on the bloated days.

The post Bloating in Ballet: What Dancers Should Know appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Can Dancers Have Their Cake and Eat It?

Every time I present something on food or eating plans, there are questions around sweets and foods you might categorize as “treats.” Most of us enjoy sugar and even that burst of energy it provides, so it’s understandable.

When you’re consuming processed or packaged food, it’s not a bad idea to consider the sugar. Don’t obsess, just build awareness. It’s essential to stay curious about your eating plan and habits so you’re able to pay attention to what’s making you feel energized, what’s draining you, food choices that make you feel great and those that don’t.

Can dancers go overboard with sugar?

Sure. 

Sugar can, at times, be a slippery slope. You might find that as you eat more sugar, you want more sugar. When we eat sweet foods, the brain’s reward system — called the mesolimbic dopamine system — gets activated. The pleasure centers of your brain get “lit up” by sugar, and that response is dampened over time, meaning you need more of it to get the same effect. 

As far as the research and questions of whether sugar is linked to adverse health consequences, it’s not easy to come to a firm conclusion. A lot of research surrounding sugar is “industry funded,” meaning food producers who sell products high in sugar are involved. This is part of why I recommend considering how sugar works for you.

Don’t get stuck on the concept of limiting sugar because studies show the limitations can in fact be a reason why you find you want more and more. Your goal should be to feel OK having some in order to discover what feels balanced. 

You don’t want to fall into a perfectionist mindset around sugar, which can lead to orthorexic tendencies. “Orthorexia nervosa is a disordered eating pattern that is characterized by the need to eat ‘clean’ and ‘pure’ foods to the point that the individual becomes obsessed with this way of life.” 

True balance with sugar is all about you.

You might find that a little something sweet each night is all you really need to be satisfied. Maybe that means enjoying something homemade so you can be part of the process. Or you might feel better and balanced by having one luscious piece of cake or some ice cream each week. Consider all the dairy-alternative ice cream options as a way to add variety to your eating plan.

The number one thing is to find a balance that is sustainable. It should not impact your energy throughout the day — if you’re eating gummy bears or peanut butter cups every hour, that is likely affecting your performance. Try to steer clear of using sugar as a pick-up for lagging energy. The goal should be consistent, not erratic, energy.

How to make the shift away from sugar reliance.

Your body runs on sugar as your body breaks down most carbohydrates into the sugar glucose. So you will definitely be including it in your eating plan. If you find you’re turning to more processed sugars, think about incorporating more fruit or sweet vegetables (e.g., sweet potatoes or carrots). This way, you’re “crowding out” those less-nutritive foods with whole food sources of sugar and still addressing your desire for sweet flavors. In a lot of cases, natural sugars are more satisfying, especially when compared to highly processed or artificial sweeteners.

As with any changes to the way you’re eating, it’s important that you make them gradually. So no sugar “detox.” Just consider where you are, make small adjustments, and notice any impact on your energy, dancing, and overall enjoyment of food. You might find you start to taste natural sugars more intensely.

Dancers and sugar: hidden sources…

While sugar is obvious in some foods like candy, cookies, cake, brownies, or ice cream, it’s less obvious in many other foods. Sugar is abundant in energy bars, packaged foods like breads and crackers, and even stereotypically savory snacks like chips.

A good rule of thumb is to read the ingredients list. Easy-to-grab convenience food is often the biggest source of excess sugars. When food companies create snacks, they try to put together the ideal combination of sugar, salt, and fat to make a food addictive and yet not very satisfying — that way, you keep coming back for more.

Other foods to stay mindful of…

Caffeine, dairy, and refined carbohydrates can have addictive qualities. If you find that you’re becoming dependent on any of those foods to pick up your energy, wake you up midday, or get you through a performance, it’s possible they’re not actually fueling your best dancing. 

Slowly cut back or find a replacement and see how you feel. Keep in mind, if you cut something out altogether, it can result in you wanting it more. Finding personal balance with food isn’t always easy, but it is key to your dancing success. For support, sign up for a free coaching consultation call.

This post on dancers and sugar was revamped in October 2024.

The post Dancers and Sugar: Some Key Considerations appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Striking a balance takes lots of awareness and self-education (or supported education). 

Establish a balanced relationship with food.

Before you can make strategic food adjustments, you have to have an easygoing food relationship. If you already feel like you’re obsessed with what to eat, making the “right” choice, or if the food is good, bad, healthy, unhealthy, then your food relationship needs attention first. 

Start with the basics of establishing a balanced food relationship here.  

When your food relationship is in a good place, you can start to look at what and how you’re eating and make adjustments that will benefit your dancing and help you feel amazing. The food relationship has to come first. Otherwise, you’ll likely be motivated by aesthetic pressure or other outside factors instead of focusing on what feels right for you personally. 

Plan so you don’t have to overthink in the moment.

When you don’t have any plan at all, it can lead to constantly going back and forth and trying to figure out what the “right” choice is. When you plan and give yourself a variety of options that you feel good about, there are no wrong choices (and arguably, there’s no value in labeling any food choices as “wrong”). 

Make planning simple by doing it on a day off when you have some time. Consider what your week looks like. What are your rehearsal hours (or approximate rehearsal hours)? What’s your daily schedule like? Will you have time to go home between commitments to get meals or snacks, or should you have all your food ready to go for the day?

Once you’ve thought through the schedule, come up with desirable, filling, and nutrient-dense food choices that will satisfy your caloric and nutritional needs. If you’re unsure exactly how much you might need, bring a variety of options that you enjoy. It’s much better to bring too much than not enough.

Stay connected to your personal needs.

Dancers need a lot of food to perform well, but dance culture can be quite toxic and often promotes restrictive eating patterns. Many dancers aren’t actually eating enough, so you may look around and feel like you’re eating more than everyone else. It’s OK to be that person.

It really might mean you’re one of the only ones providing your body with the calories and nutrients needed to perform at your peak and recover from all the energy you’re using. 

Release the need to monitor obsessively.

If you’re in the habit of tracking calories or macronutrients, this is a practice to really look at closely. There can be benefits. If you’re a dancer who otherwise might undereat and checking your numbers periodically helps you ensure you’re not falling below a healthy threshold, this might be OK. 

However, if you’re tracking calories or macros in order to keep them unhealthily low, then it’s probably best to release the need to keep track. By releasing the obsession with numbers, you can better tune in to what your body actually needs. 

Build more awareness.

If you don’t track anything and you feel relatively unaware of what you’re taking in, it might be valuable to take a closer look (as long as you’re 18+ and working with a nutrition professional). 

So much of our approach to food is based on habit. You eat the same things and similar amounts without taking a closer look and considering whether it’s more than you might need or actually not enough. 

Using an app for a few days to get a sense of your macronutrient intake can allow you to see if there are possible adjustments that could serve your goals. This suggestion is definitely not for everyone. However, with support, it may be a useful exploration.

Find your personal balance with nutrient-dense eating and “fun” foods.

There are plenty of foods that provide lots of energy without tons of nutrition. Things like desserts, processed foods, and some packaged foods come to mind. There is a place for those foods in a dancer’s eating plan.

The balance that works best for you is very personal, and often it changes over time. For some dancers, a nightly dessert of regular, store-bought ice cream feels great and helps them meet their energy needs. For others, this doesn’t feel good. Those dancers might opt for a bigger dinner or a homemade dessert where they can choose ingredients that they know work for them.

A key aspect of finding your balance is creating a neutral mental view of all foods. Research has found that using a food-neutral approach leads to better mental and physical health. When you stop moralizing food, you can make choices from a much more empowered place.  

Seek support if you need more guidance.

Making these shifts in your food approach isn’t easy, and you might need support to find your truest balance. Schedule a complimentary coaching consultation here if you’d like to see how health, nutrition, and lifestyle coaching can support you!!

The post Dancers: Be Intentional about Food Choices without Obsessing appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

By fueling yourself with intention you’ll do your best dancing and make a good impression. Even if you’re not vying for a trainee or second company position this summer, taking care of your body with optimal nutrition is going to allow you to show up fully and make positive connections that can impact your future career prospects. 

When you go away to a summer intensive, there’s a lot to take in. Being in a new environment, in and of itself, can throw you off and create challenges to your routines. For dancers, food routines are often impacted in times of stress or change. Here are some ways to maintain balance. 

Consuming adequate calories helps ensure adequate nutrition.

If you’re undereating, you will not be able to provide your body with all the nutrients it needs. The simplest way to provide your body with what it needs to perform at a high level is to eat enough food. 

This can be achieved by eating 3 full meals and some snacks or, if a large meal doesn’t work for you while you’re dancing, eat a series of snacks in place of that meal.

It can be tricky while you’re at an intensive where options are sometimes limited, but strive to eat a wide variety of foods. Try different things, eat different plant foods as they provide high nutrient density and don’t skip out on any macronutrients.

To perform at your best and to support your body’s recovery processes, you need adequate intake of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Make sure you’re clear on what foods provide various macronutrients so you can easily put together a balanced plate. 

Adjusting to your summer intensive food options.

In order to avoid digestive discomfort, seek out foods that are similar to what you typically eat. Variety will support adequate nutrient intake. Try to avoid straying so far from what your body is used to that you experience digestive issues. 

If you’re eating in a dining hall, before you commit to your meal choices, make a round and survey what’s available to you. If you choose 2 or 3 things you’re used to eating, you might also add 1 less-typical food choice. 

You can also be a bit more adventurous at dinner once the dancing for the day is complete. Notice how the various food options make you feel and make adjustments accordingly.

Bring your own food and supplements.

It’s really important to bring food with you to your intensive — whether it’s protein or snack bars, oatmeal packets, or desserts for the end of the day. Each of those options is going to help you meet your calorie and nutrient needs as you tackle a new food environment. 

On top of the snacks you should also maintain any supplement regimen you typically follow. Our food is nutritionally depleted due to transport time, farming practices, and changes in soil. This makes it intrinsically harder to meet your nutritional needs with food alone. 

Taking a multivitamin and other supplements recommended to you by your doctor or healthcare provider will support you to meet your nutritional needs while performing at a high level. Protein powder or protein shakes are also worth considering while you’re navigating a new food landscape that may not provide your preferred protein options. 

Be aware of your activity levels and avoid over-exercising.

Sometimes dancers see intensives as an opportunity to really over-exercise. On top of the classes you’re provided with, some intensives have gyms or Pilates rooms on site. It can be tempting to try and fill all your time with movement. By doing that, you risk depleting yourself and increasing the risk for injury.

Some of the dancers I’m working with are attending up to 8 weeks of summer intensives this year. When you’re attempting to stay physically healthy, strong, and energized for that period of time, you have to remember it’s a marathon not a sprint.

It’s very unlikely that exercising in other ways outside of your dance classes is actually going to help you dance your best. If you’re looking for something to do, your body would probably benefit from a daily stretch class if you don’t already have one. 

Make this summer your best.

To make this one of your best summers of training, set out with a clear vision for what you’d like to achieve. Connect the importance of supporting yourself with food, rest, and self-care. That way you’ll have an incredibly growth-oriented experience where you can improve your dancing and get stronger. 

If you’re looking for support through the summer, set up a coaching consultation and we can discuss the difference you’ll experience with an intentional, supported, and healthy approach. Dancing from a place of body confidence with an easy food plan and a clear focus is going to help you make a positive impression and connections that can bolster your future career prospects.

The post Optimal Nutrition for Summer Intensives appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

That being said, there was a time when Thanksgiving was full of stress, worry, guilt, and discomfort for me. I know it’s still that way for a lot of dancers. You can go beyond surviving this holiday (or any food-centered celebration for that matter) and in fact enjoy it fully.

Why dancers get stressed out about Thanksgiving.

This November holiday has an added level of stress simply due to the timing. For many of you, it’s right before you get started with Nutcracker performances or dress rehearsals. Many dancers have stories, recent or sometime in their past, of teachers saying, “Don’t eat too much on Thanksgiving.” That message persists through your current experience and can lead to lots of questioning and guilt.

You might worry that this one meal is going to impact how you feel or look on stage either the next day or for many days. A lot of dancers fixate on single-food experiences without considering that it’s really the whole picture that needs to be balanced. Your Thanksgiving meal might be higher in fat, sugar, or salt than you normally eat, but it’s one meal. 

This one meal will not change your body.

The worst way to approach Thanksgiving.

The worst way to approach Thanksgiving is to not eat, or to eat very little, before the actual meal. This is not just a dancer approach but rather a general approach that a lot of people take with Thanksgiving and other food-centric holidays. 

When you do this, you’re feeling deprived and setting yourself up to take an all-or-nothing position. Meaning, you tell yourself, This is the last time I’ll be eating these things. Or, I’ll get back to “healthy” eating tomorrow. You gorge yourself so you’re left feeling guilty and uncomfortable. 

This doesn’t lead to a joyful experience, and it usually takes you away from any connection to gratitude. 

Dancers, being restrictive is not going to help.

It’s going to be helpful to acknowledge what your past approach to this meal has been and also what your current mindset is around it. If you’re having thoughts that being restrictive leading up to or after Thanksgiving will serve you, start to rethink those notions now.

Restriction is intrinsically unbalanced. All it does is lead to extremes either soon after or in the future. So even if you eat less in the time leading up to or following a big meal, that big meal will likely more than offset the undereating. Not to mention that you’ll feel miserable when you’re not giving your body what it needs, and you’ll put yourself at risk of injury.

Rather than being restrictive, aim for balance. 

A balanced approach to Thanksgiving.

I always like to remind dancers that all the things you enjoy on Thanksgiving are available all year round. You can eat pumpkin pie in July if you want to. So, even if you’re not taking a restrictive approach leading up to the holiday eating, don’t let the novelty of the foods lead to eating to the point of discomfort.

Make sure you eat balanced meals and snacks leading up to the “big” meal. If your family eats Thanksgiving dinner at 4 p.m., you’ll benefit from having a complete breakfast and lunch and maybe a snack as well. Remember, not eating or eating minimally is only going to set you up to eat to a point of discomfort later on.

Studies indicate that starting your day with a good protein focus (eggs or a tofu scramble, for example) will help your body maintain more balanced blood sugar and will result in less sugar craving throughout the day. 

Enjoy all the things and stay connected to gratitude.

The dancers I work with are encouraged to find gratitude for every meal and snack they eat. Connecting to your food in that way reminds you that you’re quite lucky to have abundant options available to you most of the time. Thanksgiving should be no different.

Beyond the gratitude you might feel for the time with family, connect to the gratitude for the food you’re enjoying. Allow yourself to eat all the foods and give yourself the opportunity to truly enjoy them. Be present as you eat, take it in, and fully taste the flavors. Notice the textures, smells, and presentation. 

When family members comment on your food choices.

For dancers, surviving Thanksgiving might also have an element of dealing with food or body comments or judgments from family members. They might comment on how much or how little you’re eating. They might comment on the size of your body and their perception of whether it’s good or bad for dance.

First, none of this is easy to deal with. If you’ve dealt with it in the past, how have you responded? How did you feel about those past responses? How would you like to respond differently if it happens again?

It’s worth noting, no one has any right to comment on your food choices or your body shape or size. People who do this really need to adjust their thinking and learn that societal expectations in these areas have changed. 

You should feel empowered to blatantly shut them down. 

You might say:

“I’m not interested in your feedback on my food choices.”
“I’m learning to love my body just as it is. Your comments aren’t helpful.”
“I’m listening to my body and eating the amount that feels good for me.”

“Please don’t comment on my food choices (or body).”

“Your comments aren’t helpful.”

Now is a great time for support. 

The holidays, end of the year, new year, and Nutcracker seasons are busy times. Sometimes, I think that leads us to think we can’t or shouldn’t take anything else on. On the contrary, coaching is a 30-minute per week commitment that can make this hectic time feel much more calm and balanced. 

If you’ve been considering coaching for a while, don’t put it off to the New Year. Explore coaching support now by signing up for your complimentary coaching consultation call. Here’s the link to get started: 

Dancers can survive Thanksgiving and all food-centric holidays for that matter.

Schedule a FREE Coaching Consultation Call

The post Dancers: Here’s How to Survive Thanksgiving Dinner appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Why is intuitive eating challenging for dancers?

Well, when you’re incredibly active, it can suppress your appetite. High activity levels result in signals from your brain to your body that blood should be redirected to your extremities and away from your gastrointestinal tract. This is why you might go through hours-long rehearsals with very low to no hunger surge.

It can also take a while for the hunger to return after a long stretch of dancing. So, it makes sense that it can be tricky to follow your intuition AND actually eat enough. Enter practical hunger.

What is practical hunger and why is it essential for dancers?

With practical hunger, you eat even in the absence of physical hunger. For dancers this is important because you need to fuel yourself, and you may not have the opportunity to eat again for a while. 

As a real-life scenario, consider this: you eat breakfast at 8 a.m., then you have company class from 9:30 a.m. to 11. After class you have a 15-minute break followed by 2 hours of rehearsal before lunch. If you don’t eat between 8 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., you’re going over 5 hours without eating. Odds are, once you get to lunch time, you’ll either feel ravenous or the hunger won’t fully hit you.

This sort of situation is super common for dancers, and it’s the sort of thing that really disconnects you from your body’s needs. It’s also an eating situation that leads a lot of dancers to feel incredibly hungry once they’re finally home for the night, which might result in overeating or binge eating.

Practical hunger, practically.

The solution to the above scenario is to plan and follow your practical hunger needs. Rather than allow 5 hours to go by without eating, have a snack during your 15-minute break at 11 a.m. Then, pack and eat a full lunch consisting of protein, carbs, and fat during your lunch break whether you’re feeling physically hungry for it or not.

I realize you may not actually have a break between class and rehearsals, in which case, bring a protein bar or granola bar that you can have some of while you put on your pointe shoes.

Benefits of following practical hunger in dance.

By doing the planning required to follow practical hunger needs, you’ll be supporting your best dancing. You’ll have more energy throughout the day and won’t experience late-afternoon slumps.

Eating consistently and proactively allows you to avoid periods of time where you feel like you’re overeating or “out of control” with food. You’ll be providing your body with the energy and nutrients it needs to perform optimally and to recover from the stress of all the movement you’re requiring of your body.

Following practical hunger cues during your busy dancing days will also allow you to better attune to your physical hunger cues on the days you’re not dancing. A challenging truth to accept is that you also may feel that you’re more hungry or eating more on the days when you’re not dancing.

Dealing with increased hunger on days off.

It’s possible, even if you eat practically, that you’ll be hungrier on your days off. This is due to a possible energy deficit created on your busy rehearsal days. Your body will then increase hunger hormones signaling you to eat more.

You may even find that you crave more sweets or carbohydrates on your days off as your body is trying to replenish glycogen stores. Either way, try to honor those needs and know that by planning and following practical hunger cues, you won’t experience as many extremes in hunger fluctuations.
If you’re struggling with consistent eating or you feel like this practical hunger concept is hard to wrap your head around, set up a complimentary coaching call. We can talk through how to take pointed action that will help you feel your best in your body and confident in your food choices. Sign up here.

The post Practical Hunger for Dancers appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Simply put: the way you’re relating to food is your “food relationship.” It may seem like something weird to think about or talk about, but revising food relationships is a primary focus of the work I do with dancers. You’ll often hear me say that you can’t make adjustments to your food choices or start to consider aesthetic body goals until you’re first and foremost in a healthy, balanced relationship with food.

Consider what has impacted your food relationship.

For dancers, there are often too many influences impacting your experience with food. Your personal perceptions of the dance world, comments from teachers, peers, parents, or mentors can all shift the way you feel about food in both positive and negative ways.

Unfortunately, most of the messages around food in ballet are negative. It’s not celebrated for the fact that it’s what allows you to dance injury-free, with ample energy, and supports your body in recovering from the strenuous work you put it through.

Instead, food is viewed as the enemy by many dancers. Something to fear. It’s considered something to avoid or restrict. You might have convinced yourself that only if you eat little will you achieve the dance body “ideal” that still exists in today’s troubled dance world.

Be honest with yourself about where you’re starting.

If you’re in a place of denial about how you truly feel about food or what has brought you to that place, you’ll struggle to make positive changes. You also won’t be able to make supportive food adjustments that would allow you to perform and feel even better in your body.

Do some writing around what your food relationship is and how it got there. Then, envision a beautiful, balanced, flexible food relationship. Consider how it would feel to make food choices easily and without stress. 

Your food experience is multifaceted.

It seems like common sense, but there was a time that I would have benefitted from the reminder: Food is necessary. It’s necessary to sustain your life, and without it you can’t live. If you get into restrictive or disordered eating behaviors, it can be life threatening. In fact anorexia and eating disorders are the deadliest of all mental illnesses.

Even if you’re not in eating-disorder territory, it’s possible you’re underfueling. When you’re not consuming enough food, you’re likely to develop nutritional deficiencies. It’s estimated that somewhere near 90% of female athletes don’t consume adequate calcium. 

You may have legitimate fear around certain foods. Usually the concern is that a specific food or food group is the thing that will make you fat. I’ve had so many dancers say to me, “When I eat X, I always gain weight,” or “Eating Y will make me fat.” Here’s the good news: When your relationship to all foods is balanced, they can all fit into your eating plan. Even a sports-performance-focused, athletic eating plan.

Your food relationship needs to be intentional and flexible.

Sometimes fueling challenges exist simply because a dancer’s schedule is packed and there aren’t times for meal or snack breaks. It’s a practice to eat when you have the opportunity. That also might mean eating when you have time even if you’re not quite hungry yet.

You will benefit from doing some planning around when and what you might eat. Also consider what you would like your food experiences to feel like. Many of the dancers I work with aim for easy, care-free, no-stress, happy, confident, joyful, and supportive food relationships. However, before you can get there, you have to consider what has gotten you to perhaps an unhelpful place with food.

It’s possible you were surrounded by a subtle food message. For example, I grew up during a time when low-fat dieting was popular. My mom was all about diets, and so all the food in my house was low fat. This led me to experience dietary fat as bad. 

You may have gotten more direct food advice that clouded your thinking and experience. Many dancers are told to avoid too much sugar or to make sure you’re eating enough protein. It’s easy to translate that into no sugar or to maximize protein.

Uncovering and rewriting your food experience and relationship is going to serve you to achieve balance, health, and your best dancing. Like a lot of the work I do at The Whole Dancer, it’s a process, but the outcome can have a massive positive impact on the trajectory of your dance journey and career.
Need support to get clear on what you’d like to feel like around food and how to achieve that? Book a call here to get started.

The post Dancer–Food Relationship Basics appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Auditions are right around the corner. You might have some time off after Nutcracker. And, there’s even the issue of not spending as much time in the studio since you’re spending more time on stage. All of these things can make you question or fixate on your eating around the holidays.

Thinking and planning ahead can allow you to go to parties or enjoy dressing room treats without guilt. 

Here are 7 tips to approach holiday eating from a place of balance and happiness.

Tip #1: Remember what the holidays are really about.

Holidays are a time to be with your family and friends. A time to reflect with gratitude for all of the abundance in your life. And holidays are an opportunity to take inventory of your life and see both areas of beauty and those of opportunity.

If you’re struggling with negative body image, find time to remind yourself of all the physical attributes you have to be grateful for: a body that is fully functioning and can dance! That shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Tip #2: Eat breakfast.

Eat breakfast. Preferably, have a meal with protein, carbs, and healthy fats. If possible, include some greens as well. You might make a meal of eggs or scrambled tofu, toast, potatoes, sauteed greens, or avocado to achieve adequate nourishment and satisfaction. Depending on when your family enjoys the big holiday meal, you might also have time for a balanced lunch before the main event.

The goal is to make sure you’re prioritizing balanced eating at all meals. Eating consistently and striving towards balanced will make all your eating experiences more enjoyable!

Tip #3: When it comes to holiday treats, assess the food choices available to you.

Some holiday dishes can be quite nutrient dense (think sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, roasted veggies, etc.); others are going to be more indulgent. If you want to contribute a nourishing side dish, most hosts will be open to that. I always bring a hearty kale salad, and that provides the foundation of my meal.

Tip #4: Drink water!

 Stay hydrated throughout the day. Drink lots of water. If you’re chilly, drink tea or warm water with lemon. Both lemon water, peppermint tea, and ginger tea help to aid and soothe digestion, so they’re particularly good choices on a food-centered holiday.

Tip #5: Consider your mindset about the food.

Don’t make holidays a reason to eat to the point of discomfort. People often tell themselves, “This is the only day ALL YEAR that I’m eating this food.” This idea naturally leads to overeating to an uncomfortable degree.

It’s also important to note that this is a totally false notion. Sure, maybe this is the only day Aunt Edna makes her famous pie, but you could definitely get the recipe and make it any time of year.

Tip #6: Make your food goal to eat to a point of comfortable satisfaction. 

Now, don’t forget about dessert! Of course, especially when it’s an occasion and, even more importantly, if there’s a dessert you particularly enjoy, then you should absolutely have some. Be present with your food. Savor the flavors. Just like with your main meal, stop eating when you’re at the point of comfortable satisfaction.

If you do go overboard, forgive yourself! Your food choices will not be perfect all the time, and that is totally OK. Do your best to let it go and move on.

I know this is sometimes much easier said than done, so if you’re struggling with your holiday eating strategy or need some support in the aftermath, set up a complimentary coaching call. I’m always happy to offer support.

Tip #7: No crash diets afterwards!

It’s possible you’ll read all these tips and still have a challenging time putting them into practice. Depending where you are on your journey towards balance, that’s totally understandable!

If you end up feeling like you’ve been “bad” or gone overboard with the food or indulgences, go easy on yourself. Support yourself with healthy, balanced, hearty meals. If you respond by undereating, you’ll likely get into a yo-yo pattern.If you look ahead to 2023 and have big goals for your body and dancing, check out Elite Best Body Coaching. This program is about unpacking your relationship with food and your body so you can reach and sustain your body goals. Check out some success stories here!

7 Tips: Balanced Holiday Eating for Dancers

The post 7 Tips: Balanced Holiday Eating for Dancers appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

One study showed that nearly a third of all the food Americans eat makes them feel guilty. You also spend approximately 20 minutes five times a week with that guilt. That time feeling guilty can really add up. 

Food guilt doesn’t have to be part of your food relationship.

It’s very normal to feel guilty about food choices. People say all the time that they were “bad” for eating certain things, which implies an expectation of guilt. There’s no food choice you could make that means you’re bad. You’re doing your best in any given situation.

You should expect that environmental situations or stressors will have an impact on your food choices. And it’s normal that emotions will come into play at times. Food situations outside of your control are part of life. When you’re able to accept this ebb and flow, you’ll be better able to release the guilt when it shows up. When your eating plan is balanced, that allows for a variety of different foods in your eating plan. It also allows for food experiences that prioritize celebration, culture, and tradition.

5 ways to begin to work through food guilt:

1. Acknowledge and stay curious about when food guilt comes up for you.

Awareness is so key. Building awareness around the habitual experiences you have with food and your body is a big part of the work I do with dancers in one-on-one coaching. The awareness and curiosity is part of what can help you undo those food habits when necessary. 

It’s possible you made an impulsive decision and then passed judgment on it after. In that situation, it might not be that the food was so bad but it wasn’t exactly what or when you planned or expected to eat. 

Whenever the feelings of guilt come up, just acknowledge them. Then, get curious. Before you get into a guilt-shame spiral, ask: “Why do I feel guilty about eating this?”

2. Ask yourself why eating that certain food makes you feel guilty.

The guilt could stem from childhood experiences or your family’s approach to food. Or, it could come from societal pressure or diet-driven messages in the media or on social media. Once you identify where the guilt is coming from, you’ll be able to start letting go of or delete or unfollow those influences.

If family or friends have something to do with the guilt you experience around food, you might have to initiate some challenging but very honest conversations around it. If you’re not ready for that, you might work to tune out those influences when they’re talking about food or dieting. You might need to just walk away or change the subject.

3. Think about the value of the foods that induce guilt.

A lot of the time the foods that make us feel guilty have been labeled as “junk” or “bad.” This is naturally going to lead to guilt. In order to shift the way you experience those foods, you have to change the value you attribute to them. What’s “good” about those foods?

Here are some examples:

• Chocolate cake: tastes great, makes me feel happy
• Gingerbread: reminds me of Christmas at my grandma’s house
• French fries: delicious and make me think of McDonald’s trips with my family as a kid

4. Slow down and consider your food relationship.

This can be quite hard as dancers because you have busy schedules. So often your meal and snack breaks are short and limited. There will be times when you have to eat more quickly in order to fuel your body adequately. When you do have more space and time to be intentional and eat slowly, practice that skill.

Beyond a more mindful approach to food, embrace the fact that you have the power to change the way you view yourself and your life. It might take some intentional rewrites in order to accomplish a big shift. To rewrite your body story, start here. If you’re ready to rewrite the story of certain foods and food experiences, craft a vision for your relationship to food.

Create intentional experiences with the foods you experience guilt with. Plan to get ice cream with friends and set the intention of having fun. Bake some brownies with your mom and set the intention of having a carefree experience.

5. Decide what “balance” with guilt-inducing foods can look like for you.

Are you someone who enjoys something sweet every night after dinner? Do you love chocolate or ice cream? Those preferences don’t mean something is wrong with you or you lack self-control. They’re worth honoring and asking yourself, “What’s a balanced approach to these desires?”

You might want a scoop of ice cream every night or you might prefer a trip to the ice cream shop for a hot fudge sundae on the weekend. Your preferences and balance can also shift from week to week. Just start to lean into it so you can discover what’s balanced for you.

It is a process to cultivate a more balanced relationship with food, but it is possible. Working through food guilt is a key part of that process because very often, on the other side of food guilt is restriction or attempts at dieting. 

Want some support to start working through food guilt and finding a more easygoing approach to food and your body for dance? Let’s have a chat! Set up your complimentary coaching call here.

The post 5 Ways Dancers Can Work Through Food Guilt appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Control is a key component of disordered eating. It’s something most dancers would benefit from working to release rather than incorporate it in ways that have been deemed acceptable by society.

The trouble with portion control…

Portion control basically tells you that you should be relying on a package to tell you how much you need. Companies even sell color-coded, portion-specific containers to help people follow a portion-controlled diet. 

What this does is remove the empowerment that is possible for you with food. You can learn to truly listen to your body, and that means following internal cues and being proactive. Relying on a package or company to tell you what you need takes away your power with food.

Dancers thrive off discipline and control. This can obviously be very advantageous as you work towards your dance goals. When you apply those same tendencies towards food, the outcome can be dangerous. Even dancers without diagnosed eating disorders are often partaking in disordered eating to a degree.

Instead of portion control, aim for food confidence and empowerment.

Your food portions should be plentiful in order to support your best dancing and to meet your nutrient and energy requirements. If you focus on nutrient-dense foods like dark leafy greens, fruits, and colorful vegetables, you’ll make space to eat and enjoy more food. When you aim to incorporate a variety of different foods and adopt the mentality that all foods can fit into your eating plan, you’ll start to feel a much more easygoing food relationship unfold.

There are suggested portions even for vegetables, which is pretty clear evidence that portion guidelines are worth ignoring. In fact, I typically encourage clients to fill half their plates with vegetables to increase satisfaction, energy, and nutrient density.

If you become overly consumed with the “right” portions, you ignore something more important.

There will be days when a single serving of nuts or nut butter isn’t enough. Even though those foods have high caloric density, they’re packed with nutrition, so eating more than one portion if you’re still hungry is also OK.

As you ease into truly tuning into and trusting your body, you might benefit from considering portions only for those highly processed snack foods you enjoy as a treat. These foods are produced to have exactly the ratios of sugar, salt, and fat that make it hard to stop eating them — meaning it can be very hard to listen to your body.

Sometimes portion considerations can be used to help you fuel adequately.

When participating in intense dance classes or rehearsals, the impact on hunger might not be what you expect. While you’re dancing, your ghrelin levels (hunger hormone) may be lowered while peptide YY (hormone that reduces appetite) increases. This can result in not feeling hungry while you dance and even for a period of time after you’re done dancing.

The theory behind this is that your body’s circulating blood to prevent overheating. If you were to eat, the blood would go to your stomach to aid in digestion rather than stabilizing body temperature. Your body protectively decreases your appetite to prevent that blood from going to your stomach.

This means you may have to proactively eat before or following your most rigorous dance classes and rehearsals. Commit to having three meals a day and at least one or two snacks. If one of your meals is smaller to accommodate your busy dance schedule, you may need to include three snacks or more.

For more food confidence without obsessing over portion sizes, commit to this…

Put your food on a plate, sit down to enjoy each bite, and listen to the messages your body is sending you. This is actually part of The Whole Dancer 7-Step Process to reaching your body goals healthfully and sustainably.

If you struggle with this, you’re not alone! The good news is that every meal is another opportunity to listen to your body. Eating slowly and paying attention can work wonders.

Your eating plan and relationship to food are likely to be a work in progress. Being OK with that is going to help you trust the process.

Are you ready to explore your food relationship on a deeper level? Sign up for a free complimentary coaching call. The goal of this call is to help you gain clarity on your goals for your body, food, and dance. We’ll work together to identify a clear path to achieving those goals.

Are you feeling distracted by your body in class?

Are you wasting time and energy obsessing over or analyzing what to eat?

Do you want to experience support from a multi-certified coach who has been through exactly what you’re experiencing?

At the end of the call, if you’re a good fit for Elite Best Body Coaching or The Dancers’ Best Body Program, I’ll share the details of how you can get started. There’s no obligation to enroll in any paid programs after your free coaching call.

The post Should Dancers Practice Portion Control? appeared first on The Whole Dancer.