Healthy Eating for Dancers - An Introduction
Why Good Nutrition is Important to Optimise Your Performance
May 17, 2009
Nutrition has a major impact on physical and psychological health with food providing essential energy and nutrients, and also bringing us pleasure in daily life and structure to our routines.
Why is Diet Important?
Healthy eating, more specifically, plays a major role in:
- Maintaining energy levels and preventing fatigue
- Enhancing immunity
- Maintaining a healthy body weight
- Supporting the correct and efficient functioning of all body systems (including the muscular, respiratory and cardiovascular systems)
- Reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases in the future, such as heart disease, certain cancers and osteoporosis
- Regulating bowel function, preventing constipation and managing IBS
- Maintaining healthy skin, hair and nails
- Improving concentration levels and memory
- Managing stress, anxiety and mood disturbances
- Improving reproductive health and fertility status
- Increasing longevity
Minimising the Negative Effects of Intensive Training
When undertaking dance training, establishing healthy eating habits helps to minimise the damaging effects that intensive training has on the body, for example increased circulating levels of free radicals post-exercise (that are responsible for muscle soreness, pain, discomfort, fluid retention and tenderness following exertion and are also implicated in ageing processes and the aetiology of numerous chronic diseases), exercise-induced suppression of immunity and accelerated wear and tear in weight-bearing joints; it can be the difference between fulfilling the potential for power, strength, endurance, flexibility, balance and co-ordination and feeling like something’s not quite hitting the spot.
A nourishing and well-balanced diet nurtures a dancer who is happy and healthy in both body and mind.
Prioritising
It can be all too tempting to rush in with unbounded enthusiasm to carry out a complete dietary overhaul, but this is not fun, realistic or sustainable; it is not conducive or long-term change. Instead, begin by identifying one or two key areas to prioritise and then make preparations to set about working on these. Whatever you decide to tackle first, ensure that your choice is based on sound nutritional recommendations and keep a clear head about your incentives as this will help maintain motivation as time goes by.
Setting Dietary Goals
Set carefully considered goals and use the SMART mnemonic if this helps. SMART usually stands for:
Specific
Clearly define goals from the beginning and be precise. If you were to write these goals down on paper anybody else reading them should be able to understand exactly what it is you intend to achieve and how. Use objective details such as quantities and frequencies, for example, “I will include 2 portions of vegetables or salad with 2 of my meals every day.”
Measurable
State how you will know if you have reached your goal. Measurable results eliminate the necessity for subjectivity and really highlight successes, for example change “I will reduce the amount of chocolate I eat” to “I will limit myself to one bar of chocolate per week”.
Achievable
It is important that goals are realistic and attainable. Challenge is great, but unachievable goals only serve to diminish confidence and self-esteem. Also, a series of short-term goals are far more likely to lead to long-term change rather than one gargantuan step.
Relevant
Make sure that your goal ultimately contributes to achieving your desired outcome. Stay focused and don’t be distracted by things that will not help you on your way.
Time-bound
Establish a timescale for reaching your goal, for example “I will have excluded all high-sugar breakfast cereals by the end of the month”.
Other Tips for Effective Goal-Setting include:
- Make sure that goals are personal. Take time to reflect on what is most important to you and what would benefit you the most and try not to feel swayed by other people’s priorities.
- Write goals down to crystallise them and give them more power.
- Express goals positively, for example “I will feel energised by snacking on fruit and yoghurt instead of crisps,” rather than “I know I’ll feel rubbish about myself if I continue eating the way I do”.
- Set performance goals, not outcome goals. By focusing on what you are going to do you will help yourself to get where you want to be.
 |
