Dance Advice | Dance FAQ’s | You Are What You Eat
You Are What You Eat
“Dieting is no substitute for exercise” – Dr Mileham Hayes
You’d think that dancers would be the healthiest people out there … you’d be wrong! Many dancers will chomp down a banana between classes rather than eat a meal, skip breakfast. Too many dancers smoke and drink excessive amounts of alcohol. Appearances can be misleading. So, let’s take a look at the basics… The foundation of a healthy lifestyle is diet and exercise. The two have a symbiotic relationship and both are keys to a dancer’s wellbeing. It’s also important to realise that diet is no substitute for exercise. You can eat a healthy balanced diet and still be unfit and perform well below your optimum without exercise, and you will perform well below your optimum level if you exercise regularly but have a poor unhealthy diet. You need to have both: a healthy balance and you will see amazing results in your dancing, fitness, lifestyle and general wellbeing. We process food at different rates, as we all have a unique metabolism. But it is quite clear that there is no magic formula or secret diet that will work for all… because we are all different, but it is possible to find a metabolic balance, where you nourish yourself to your optimum level whilst consuming the right healthy amounts of fats, which leads to a healthy balance, your wellbeing and your ideal body weight. One thing is quite clear; healthy, logical moderation is key… quick fix diets and popular fads are temporary solutions that can damage your long term health and are not solid foundations for a healthy lifestyle. If you become aware of how you eat and the different reasons why, including any psychological attachments that you may have to certain foods, then you can become more in tune with your body and its needs and change your lifestyle and improve the quality of your life.
Some Basic Suggestions
Let’s face it, we’re all pretty busy and don’t have the time to be keeping a daily food diary and counting every calorie that we consume with every mouthful wherever we may be. And the good news is that it’s just totally unnecessary! If you focus on eating within a natural framework and only eat when you are hungry and stop when you are comfortably full, you will begin to retrain your mind and body and retain your natural body weight in a healthy sustained way. Crazy diets and quick fixes are not necessary.
A Simple Healthy Framework
What is a healthy framework? Well, a healthy framework is simply three healthy meals a day. And if you are hungry, two healthy snacks daily as well. This is your foundation and a solid daily framework that will give you all that you need to function healthily and to your optimum level as well as attain and maintain healthy body weight. It generally makes sense to have a fairly substantial meal, as early as possible in the day to give you energy and to give you a kick start and keep you going with a healthy sustained energy release throughout the morning. But it is also important to remember that you eat, within the framework, when you feel comfortable and it may not be feasible due to time restraints or other everyday factors, to have a very large breakfast first thing in the morning and would rather have a larger meal later in the day. This is absolutely fine, as it is your body and different strategies work for different types of people. You need to find out what works best for you and what makes you comfortable within the natural healthy framework based on the medical advice of your Doctor.