Injury Prevention Series Part 2: Nutrition + bonus paragraph

As dancers, we spend a copious amount of time staring at ourselves in the mirror. We stand at

the barre, observing every inch of our body while wearing form-fitting attire. Our uniform hugs

every part of our figure and overtime, especially with starting dance at an early age, our

physique changes. Girls, especially, will develop womanly features and the ballet world hasn’t

always been so accepting of this. When we look at some of the world's greatest principals, we

see the stereotypical stick-thin woman. All of these factors can pressure dancers into

developing eating disorders and starving themselves, in hopes of achieving their ideal ballet

body. These dancers don’t realize that not only are they damaging their health, but they are also

harming their dancing abilities.

Getting the right amount of carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats, helps keep your body

healthy. If a dancer, or any athlete for that matter, doesn’t get enough of these macronutrients, it

leads to injuries, damage to bone health, harm to muscles, less strength, and no

energy/endurance. Speaking from first-hand experience, when I finally hired a dietitian and

increased my calorie intake to match the activity I was doing in a day, I saw the biggest change

in my dancing. Not only did I feel stronger, but I had so much more energy. This energy surge

allowed me to train for longer hours and improve my technique. Most would argue that the most

important macronutrient for dancers are carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the main source of

energy for our bodies. Every day you dance, anywhere from 3-10 grams of carbs per kilogram

of body weight is needed to maintain your energy and not get fatigued. Personally, I saw a huge

difference in my energy levels when I started eating the right amount of carbs.

Now let’s discuss protein. Protein is advertised everywhere, and all these health/gym influencers

are urging you to eat 50 grams of protein per meal. Newsflash: your body can only absorb

around 20-30 grams per meal. That means that the rest of that protein turns into expensive

urine. Don’t get me wrong, protein is very important for building/repairing muscles, gaining

strength, and more. I urge all dancers to research the proper amount for their body and make

sure to get enough of it, but there is also no need to hyper-fixate on it. Protein is very personal

and the amount your body needs can vary based on activity levels, age, and health. Protein is

made up of amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscles. When you train a muscle,

that muscle gets microtears. At that point, the protein comes into repair/rebuild those tears.

Overall, protein does so much more than this, but this gives you a general idea of its

importance.

The last macronutrient I want to talk about is fats. Some of their key features include reducing

inflammation and regulating our hormones. Fats are able to reduce inflammation by

synthesizing prostaglandins (hormone-like compounds). These compounds regulate the body’s

response to inflammation. This is really important for dancers because it helps speed up

healing. Fats also help produce necessary hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone. When

our hormones are balanced, it helps with muscle repair, your energy levels, and even bone

health. Overall, I really hope that together as a dance community we can further stress the

importance of nutrition and how important it is. It is definitely a topic that is swept under the rug,but is such a huge part of a dancer's daily routine, mental health, and physical health. There are so many other parts of nutrition and this was just us testing the waters. Stay tuned for the future

nutrition series to learn more specific nutrition advice!

Bonus paragraph:

Depriving yourself of essential minerals/vitamins is putting you at a higher risk for fractures and

other bone-related injuries. Calcium, Vitamin D/K, and Magnesium, are all so important for bone

health. Calcium is the primary mineral in bones (99% of bone mass) and works together with

Vitamin D. Without Vitamin D, only around 1/10th of all the calcium we consume would be

absorbed and used for our body. Magnesium directly supports Vitamin D function, and Vitamin K

guides the calcium into your bones. Vitamin D is often overlooked but is a critical vitamin for

dancers. For more specific medical advice, I would advise you to request a Vitamin D blood test

from your doctor, to test your levels (and consul