A Professional Dancer's Advice

Hi, I am an aspiring ballet dancer and I was wondering what the professional ballet dancers eat. How do they stay so strong and so thin at the same time? I know there are a lot of misconceptions out there...
thanks,
Love always, C.E. New York


Dear Aspiring Young Dancer:

What a terrific question. Good nutrition is one of the most important parts of being a good dancer, and the earlier you eat well, the better chance you have of being your best in daily class and on stage. Nutrition is a huge and sometimes complicated field, but it’s never too early start learning how to eat for maximum performance and maintaining a trim body (but not too thin).

Restricting calories is not encouraged today because of problems in the past of dancers
becoming too thin. The emphasis today is on eating the right kind of foods that have “staying power” yet don’t add excess calories to your diet. So a few basic rules about food are a great place to start:

1. You must eat, and eat regularly in order to have the strength that a professional dancer needs. But when you are no longer hungry – stop eating. Learn to recognize the signal in you that says you have had enough, and simply stop. The philosophy of “always cleaning your plate” has turned out to be rather bad for us.

2. Choose foods that digest more slowly so they will give you energy over a long period. Dark coarser foods such as brown rice, dark breads (especially whole wheat), and yellow vegetables are only a few. Refined carbs such as white bread, white rice, deserts, and anything made with white sugar tends to be rapidly digested by your body, only to leave your system quickly release insulin, clearing your system of the fuel and leaving you hungry again way too soon. With refined and high sugar foods, people eat more frequently, adding unnecessary calories to your system, and leaving you with less energy.

3. Go really light on meat, especially red beef. These foods have the protein you need to make new tissue, but they are also extremely high in animal fat which is loaded with calories and the “bad” kind of fat (saturated and transfats) which promote plaque build-up in your arteries. So not only do you gain unnecessary weight, but beef and fatty meats contribute to heart disease later in life.

4. On the other hand, all growing children and teens need adequate protein to build proper muscle and bone. The best sources are fish, chicken without the skin, and nuts which – all of which contain the protein you need, less calories than beef and hamburger, and the “good” fats (polyunsaturated) which prevents plaque in your arteries.

Lastly, one important point to understand is that ballet is not “aerobic”. Because of the “start/stop” nature of ballet class, your heart rate rarely rises to a high workout level, and it certainly doesn’t continue beating fast as your heart does with running, soccer and many other sports. So most professional dancers have learned that doing 30 minutes of a “non-stop” activity a couple times a week such as stationary biking, brisk walking or using an elliptical machine will not only increase stamina but will help burn calories. Studies have shown that these activities do not build bulky muscles or detract from the long straight leg so prized in dance. And the real pay-off is that you are giving yourself years of healthy life. Regular aerobic exercise should be a life-long habit with all of us.

I hope this helps. May I offer one excellent source on healthy eating that works for dancers beautifully, because the advice it gives maximizes good energy, healthy growth, and only the number of calories that you need.
The very best of luck to you.