Dancers are top performance athletes on stage. To keep fit, healthy and proper nutrition is an integral part of an optimal dance training. Nutrition for Dancers: Basics, Performance Enhancement, Practical Tips from Focal Press provides the principles of nutrition or dancers of all genres. Authors Liane Simmel and Eva-Maria Kraft clarify widespread nutritional mistakes and give advice on how a healthy diet can be incorporated into the everyday life of dancers.
Table of Contents
- Getting started
- 1. The basics - an overview
- Dancing needs energy
- Providing energy - oxygen is key
- Digestion - from food to energy
- Carbohydrates as energy providers
- Regulating blood sugar
- Energy reserves for dance
- Fats as energy providers
- Not all fats are alike
- Proteins - Building blocks for the body
- Quality lies in the combination
- Vitamins, Minerals, & key micronutrients
- Vitamins and phytonutrients
- Minerals: macro-minerals and trace elements
- 2. Drinking - Fluids are crucial
- Water and its significance for the dancer
- Perspiration - an intelligent cooling system
- The dangers of lacking fluids
- The right drink
- Selection criteria
- Handle with care
- 3. What? The agony of choice
- Daily requirements - recommendations for planning your diet
- Breakfast - getting off to a good start
- Cold breakfasts
- Warm breakfasts
- Main meals - the basis of fitness
- The "plate of thirds" - healthy nutrition at a glance
- Snacks - energy on the go
- Practice makes perfect - some general information
- Other senses enjoy the meal, too.
- Warm or cold?
- Sugar - a How-To?
- Comfort Foods
- Food in balance - a planning aid
- Dietary Supplements - healthy or unhealthy?
- If things don't run smoothly - digestive problems and food allergies
- Digestion is work
- Food intolerance
- 4. When? Timing is everything
- Eating around a dancer's schedule
- Before dancing: stock up on energy
- While dancing: maintain your energy
- After dancing: accelerate regeneration
- A daily meal plan
- Reality can be a different story
- No time, no space
- Working evenings
- 5. How? Healthy nutrition as a daily routine
- Preparation is key - shop with a plan
- Writing a grocery list
- Navigating the offers
- Reading labels
- Seasonal and regional
- Organic- yes or no?
- "Free of" and "diet" products - the power of advertising
- Cooking tips for everyday life
- The right amount of waterOil - a How-To?
- Healthy toppings - sprouts, seeds, and co.
- Homemade or ready meals?
- Eating out
- 6. Fit and slim - a challenge for dancers
- How many calories does a dancer need?
- Your basic energy needsYour total energy needs - movement is key
- Figure and body composition
- BMI - the Body Mass Index
- Body fat - an unloved necessity
- Maintaining body fat
- Much ado about weighing
- Dancing influences one's weight
- Dancing influences one's diet
- A new living situation alters one's diet
- Putting dieting to the test
- Dropping weight too quickly - the body's emergency plan
- How to lose weight the healthy way
- Eating disorders - awareness is key
- Causes, risk factors, triggersIs this still normal? - warning signs of an eating disorder
- Avoiding eating disorders - tips for the dance world
- 7. Synoptic of foods and nutrients
- AppendixLiteratureRecommended web links
- Contact addresses for eating disorders
- Register
- Index
About the Authors
Liane Simmel, MD, runs an institute for dance medicine, Fit for Dance. The former dancer is now a doctor of dance medicine and was the president of the German Dance Medicine Association for many years.
Eva-Maria Kraft is a certified nutritional expert with the specialization in dance, but also a dance teacher and freelance dancer. She gives nutritional courses and seminars in professional training centres for dance, acting, and musical performance.
Eva-Maria Kraft is a certified nutritional expert with the specialization in dance, but also a dance teacher and freelance dancer. She gives nutritional courses and seminars in professional training centres for dance, acting, and musical performance.