As a dancer, fueling yourself is very important. But, it’s important to fuel yourself correctly. As dancers, you can be in rehearsal for long hours and probably very minimal breaks. If you get a break, it may be a 5 minute or a 10 minute break and you can fit in a small snack and water but that is probably as far as it’ll take you. As dancers, the expectations to also take care of your body are very high so therefore it is also pushed to fuel yourself properly.
I can attest and say in college I did not fuel myself properly. Especially my freshmen and sophomore year. My freshmen year, I honestly bought any fast food because there really isn’t much to eat on campus, off campus and I didn’t have a kitchen so cooking wasn’t an option. I gained a lot of weight and and swelled really bad. In the moment, I thought fueling myself was just eating anything and everything but you don’t realize that eating poorly also can make you feel just as poor.
The summer after my freshmen year, I worked out almost everyday, sometimes twice a day and I ate low-carb foods and I definitely lost a good amount of weight but also got stronger. I was probably the healthiest and strongest I had ever been. My sophomore year, I came back to school and tore my ACL. Now when you get major surgery, you basically lose all the muscle in that area. I lost all the muscle in my right leg and I just lost a majority of muscle in my body. I lost a lot of weight that year, had poor eating habits and just wasn’t fueling myself.
My junior year and senior year, I learned a lot about fueling myself properly. I ate whatever I wanted and didn’t deprive myself of anything BUT when it came to rehearsals and shows I definitely I ate cleaner and better. It is a known fact that in Italy, the food is cleaner and just better made. In America, most everything is processed causing a lot of weight gain and obesity. In Italy, since the food is cleaner it seems to digest easier too. Two dancers on the trip, Jaala and Malachi were selected to be in a piece and they were dancing for many hours straight. They learned a lot about what is was like to fuel yourself when food is made different and also how to adapt to different meats or sources of protein to give their bodies energy.
The Italian diet is a lot of carbs, a lot of fat and vegetables. The carbs provided energy in the day but it balancing out with the fat kinda made you feel a little sluggish and just backed you up. After talking with Malachi and Jaala, what they needed for their diet in Italy to fuel up was definitely more protein and meat. Protein helps fuel your body especially after dancing so much and burning so many calories in a day. They had a lot of salmon pasta and tuna salad but it was still different that how it would fill them up in America.
Also, it Italy there aren’t as many add ins in the food like there is in America. Because there is so much added into foods, it effects your hormones and just everything around them. In Italy, your hormones neutralize because of the clean foods and how well you are eating. As a dancer, fueling yourself to also have energy is just as important.
After talking to dancers at the festival, adding more protein versus high fat and carbs is what was needed most for their bodies, especially their muscles. Muscles build from protein and they need that so their muscles don’t give out on them. Another thing is drinking enough water daily so dehydration doesn’t occur.
All that to say, it important to not deprive your body of what is needed. Food is important. Making sure you’re eating and not starving yourself is also very important as a dancer. It is a hard profession and it is a daily struggle of mine. I remind myself I need that, so it is comforting to know I am taking of myself and my body. I wasn’t dancing in Italy but I was still working out and trying to keep myself fueled. Remember, love your body, take care of it and give yourself a little grace with it 🙂 Throughout this, I put some of the pictures of food I ate a lot throughout the trip. I fueled myself and was happy I ate it.
