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25. Nourishing Dancers: a Conversation on Nutrition, Body Image, and Eating Disorders with Registered Dietitian Monika Saigal
102 Plays16 days ago
Monika Saigal is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Eating Disorders Specialist, and former professional dancer. She specializes in dancer wellness and the prevention and treatment of eating disorders/disordered eating. She is also the author of the new book Nourishing Dance: An Essential Guide on Nutrition, Body Image, and Eating Disorders.
From periods to carbs, Monika and I debunk so many myths in this conversation. Dancers have a three times higher risk of having an eating disorder than non-dancers and even if you have the best of intentions you may unknowingly be causing harm.Tune in to this conversation for actionable advice on what we can do to help prevent the occurence of eating disorders in dancers including paying attention to early signs and symptoms, how to set up a positive dance environment and immediate language shifts you can make. Knowledge is power and with it we can begin to make lasting change in the dance industry!
Key Moments:
- How Monika began her career as a Registered Dietitian for dancers [1:50]
- What is diet culture? [6:28]
- Factors that increase the risk of eating disorders in dancers [7:47]
- The difference between eating disorders and disordered eating [10:23]
- When dancers should ask for help if they’re struggling (and where they can seek help) [12:14]
- What we can do to create a positive dance environment [16:30]
- What can be done to help prevent the occurence of eating disorders [20:46]
- Early signs of symptoms of an eating disorder and what steps should be taken if you’re concerned [23:13]
- The short and long term consequences of underfuelling [27:17]
- The importance of having a regular menstrual cycle for elite athletes [33:45]
- How dancers can fuel optimally to support their dancing [36:40]
- The importance of carbohydrates [38:23]
- Her biggest piece of advice for dancers pursuing a career [44:20]
Connect with Monika:
MONIKA’S WEBSITE: msnutrition.com
NOURISHING DANCE BOOK WEBSITE: nourishingdance.com
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/MonikaSaigalRD
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/nourish.headtopointe
Links and Resources:
National Alliance for Eating Disorders: allianceforeatingdisorders.com
IADMS: https://iadms.org/find-a-provider/
Get your copy of The Ultimate Audition Guide
Join the Brainy Ballerina Book Club
Get your copy of Nourishing Dance: An Essential Guide on Nutrition, Body Image, and Eating Disorders (affiliate link)
Let’s connect!
My WEBSITE: thebrainyballerina.com
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/thebrainyballerina
1-1 CAREER MENTORING: book your complimentary career call
Questions/comments? Email me at [email protected]
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Transcript
Introduction to Food and Wellness
00:00:00
Speaker
We want our relationship with food, ideally, to be peaceful and flexible, not one that's causing a lot of anxiety and stress. You're able to sort of adapt in different situations to help you get in the nutrients you need. You want to eat in a way that's nourishing and enjoyable. You want to make space to include all of your favorite foods. There's nothing that can't fit into an overall optimal fueling plan. You want to eat in a way that's going to enhance both physical and mental health. and so If you think about, you know, if I'm tracking every single macronutrient and trying to eat perfectly, that's not gonna really be supportive of my physical and mental health.
00:00:39
Speaker
I'm Caitlin, a former professional ballerina turned dance educator and career mentor. And this is the brand new ballerina podcast. I am here for the aspiring professional ballerina who wants to learn what it really takes to build a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. I'm peeling back the curtain of professional dance world with open and honest conversations about the realities of becoming a professional dancer. Come along to gain the knowledge and inspiration you need to succeed in a dance career on your terms.
00:01:13
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Brainy Ballerina podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Sloan, and I am joined today by Monica Seigel. Monica is a registered dietitian nutritionist, certified eating disorder specialist, and former professional dancer. She specializes in dancer wellness and the prevention and treatment of eating disorders and disordered eating.
00:01:34
Speaker
She's also the author of the new book, Nourishing Dance, an essential guide on nutrition, body image, and eating disorders. I truly believe this book is a must read for anyone involved in the dance industry, and I'm honored to have you on the podcast today, Monica.
Monica's Journey from Dancer to Dietitian
00:01:48
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here. Of course. I want to start from the beginning of Your journey in this area, and I'd love to hear how did you get into your career of working as a dietician, especially specializing in dancer wellness. So my first career was as a professional dancer. I mostly did ballet, although I did also do some other things. And sadly, my professional career was cut very short by multiple injuries.
00:02:14
Speaker
And, you know, dance is just such a huge part of who I am. And when I was thinking about what is your next career going to be, I knew that I wanted to work with dancers and I knew that I wanted to stay involved in the dance community.
00:02:29
Speaker
And I think my decision to go into nutrition was largely motivated by the lack of nutrition in my own training and career. I think like a lot of us that go into, you know, dance or wellness, dance medicine fields, we're kind of looking to fill this gap that we noticed in our own experiences. You know, I never really learned how to nourish and care for my body. I never really learned about thinking about mental health and nutrition in terms of supporting injury recovery.
00:02:55
Speaker
And so I decided to go back to school after my last career ending injury, I went back to school to get my master's in nutrition. And I did that in a combined program where you also do a one year dietetic internship, which is something you need to become a registered dietician. It actually took me five years to do that whole path because I had so many science prerequisites to do. My undergrad degree is actually a bachelor of fine arts in ballet performance. So it was it was a departure. And then when I became a dietician, I also wanted to pursue some additional specialization in eating disorders and disordered eating.
00:03:34
Speaker
I think one, because it's an area I'm super interested in, and two, it just felt like if I wanted to work with dancers, it was such an essential knowledge and area of expertise to have. You know, I think that even before I really had the understanding of eating disorders and disorder of eating that I have now, learning about all of the things that put dancers at high risk long before I had all the experience of working in the field that I have now.
00:04:00
Speaker
I just had this sense of how the dance environment can be such an unhealthy influence. And I think that was just really something that I wanted to make better. And so my career started out, I did a little bit of like about a year working in a hospital and then pretty quickly transitioned to providing one-on-one nutrition counseling, which is still a huge part of what I do. And then probably in the last 10 years, my work has started of including a lot more work with dance schools and companies, which is something I feel super fortunate to be able to do, providing workshops and trainings for dancers and parents and dance educators, consulting on schools and companies wellness initiatives, working with other dance medicine professionals. because I'm just so passionate about not just giving dancers the knowledge and tools and support they need, but also really working to shift the dance culture, which I think is
00:04:49
Speaker
very
Challenging Diet Culture in Dance
00:04:50
Speaker
needed. Yeah, you've sort of alluded to having some struggles with your career with these kind of things. Did you have any particular experiences that really made you feel passionate about going into this field? Or was it more of a general experience?
00:05:04
Speaker
it was both. I mean, I think I personally experienced like being told to lose weight and having the you know, promotion of really unhealthy disordered eating habits recommended to me, body shaming, that was all part of my personal experience and also really a part of what I i saw all around me. I think when you're in it, it can feel so normalized. It's sort of at the time just felt like this is just how the dance world is.
00:05:33
Speaker
You know, it's once you kind of get out of that sometimes and with learning and experience also that you're like, wow, that's not okay. A lot of what happens is really not okay in the dance world. So it was both personal and what I kind of saw my friends and peers experience as well. Yeah. And I feel like at that time too, like when I was growing up dancing, even just diet culture felt so much more normalized where now we're talking about that piece of it.
00:05:56
Speaker
in just the broader world. At the time, I feel like that was just like a very normal and almost celebrated thing. Absolutely. And I still think it is. I think we're starting to see some movement and challenging diet culture and recognizing how harmful it is. But yeah, I think things have shifted a lot since you know the time that I was training and dancing professionally. I don't even think I had ever heard the word diet culture. I had no idea you know what that even was or where it came from Yeah, can you talk about that a little bit? Like, what is diet culture? Because I think it is so permeated into our entire lives that you might not even realize it's happening around you.
Eating Disorders and Risk Factors
00:06:34
Speaker
Absolutely. And again, I think because it's so normalized, we often don't even question these messages that we hear. So dye culture is basically like a system of beliefs that are created by society, that the general message around them is that thinner is better, or a particular body type is better. So leanness, a certain kind of muscularity, that there's a morality involved with eating. There's a right and a wrong way to eat, a good and a bad way to eat. This idea that if you you know we eat exactly the right way, we can kind of pick the body we want to have and achieve it. I mean, those are all really harmful messages that are perpetuated by diet culture that don't account for genetics and so many other individual factors like circumstances and and so much else. Yeah, so that's, you know, part of our just a world. And then you cited a study in your book that showed that dancers have a three times higher risk of having an eating disorder than non dancers. So can you talk about some of the similarities between
00:07:34
Speaker
common dancer traits and eating disorder characteristics that tend to show up as well as some of the factors that are going to increase that risk of eating disorders for dancers.
00:07:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think this is one of the things that makes it really hard to intervene early with dancers is that a lot of the traits or characteristics that make someone a good dancer are also characteristics of eating disorders. And it can be a really fine line that's hard to identify of this is just something I need to be doing to succeed as a dancer versus this is a behavior or mindset that is really going to harm my physical and mental health.
00:08:14
Speaker
So some of those things are, for example, to be a successful dancer, you need to be committed to your training. But then that can cross over that fine line and become compulsive or excessive exercise. We know that dancers need to be mentally tough, but where does it cross that line where it becomes this really rigid form of self-denial or destructive self-discipline?
00:08:37
Speaker
We know that pursuing excellence and continually striving to get better is what helps dancers improve and hone their art form, but where does it cross that line and become harmful perfectionism? Dancers need to be coachable, but are they overcompliant where they're always doing what's asked of them without ever questioning. We know that all dancers need to perform despite being in pain at times, but when you're always denying the discomfort you're in or denying the severity of the situation, that's obviously not healthy. Those are also characteristics of eating disorders. So we can think of eating disorders that they are biopsychosocial conditions. And so what that means is there are risk factors in each one of those categories that can increase risk. So they're biological risk factors, they're psychological risk factors, and they're environmental risk factors. Some of those like genetics, you know, having a strong family history of an eating disorder increases your risk. That's not something we can change. But there are a lot of risk factors that are modifiable. And some of those within the dance environment that are really common are things like dieting, under fueling, even if it's unintentional, being exposed to harmful messages about food and body.
00:09:47
Speaker
you know which we all are in our society. We just talked about that in terms of diet culture being all around us. But I think those messages can really get supercharged in the dance world. Being criticized about your body, which sadly also happens fairly frequently in the dance world. Perfectionism, which is really common among dancers, is also a potential risk factor. And because that's a personality trait, you can't always change it, but you can learn how to better manage it so that you're addressing the the harmful aspects Can you talk about the difference between an eating disorder and disordered eating?
From Healthy to Disordered Eating
00:10:21
Speaker
Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. I feel like those terms are often used interchangeably and they're related, but they are different. So you can kind of think about it being on a spectrum. So you can imagine on one side, you have healthy behaviors, a healthy mindset, and then it sort of moves into disordered eating. And on the opposite end of the spectrum would be an eating disorder.
00:10:43
Speaker
So some things to keep in mind are that disordered eating often involves the same behaviors as an eating disorder. So it might be restrictive eating, it might be compensatory approaches with food or exercise, but the behaviors typically are not happening as frequently and aren't as severe yet as when you have a clinical eating disorder.
00:11:05
Speaker
that doesn't mean you don't want to do anything about disorder eating. It is still serious. It can still have impacts on dancers' health and well-being. It is a point for earlier intervention. Also, sometimes it's such a fine line, you know, again, between disorder eating and an eating disorder. And it's not unusual that dancers will kind of go back and forth between, like they might have a little bit of improvement in their behaviors and go from an eating disorder to disorder eating or in the opposite direction. Ideally, we're kind of getting everyone on that.
00:11:33
Speaker
healthy end of the spectrum. And you made a point in the book that as dancers, we tend to think our problems are maybe not big enough yet to seek help. Like maybe we're like, we don't really deserve help. You know, I think dancers do that with this area, with injuries. We tend to kind of push down those feelings we're having and we fight through that. As much as dancers are in tune with their bodies in certain ways, there's many ways that we don't listen to those body cues because we're not comfortable speaking up.
00:12:02
Speaker
We don't want to miss out on something. If we say something, we might get taken out of a part. We might not get to dance. Whatever it is, it starts to like really weigh on you as a dancer, whether you don't feel safe saying something or you personally don't want to. I guess my question is, what do you want dancers to know who are in this situation? What should they do if they feel like they might need help, but they're like, my problems aren't big enough.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah I'm so happy you brought that up because I think that is a very common feeling and like you said it's not just related to body image and food issues. I mean injury is a big one. Actually and in respect to both that actually is a message that the dance environment can really promote and perpetuate is the show must go on you know no matter what or the normalizing of disordered eating behaviors or even you know sadly the promotion of them can make it hard for dancers to recognize that it's a problem. I would say there's a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes around what an eating disorder is and what warrants getting help that I think we really need to debunk. What I want dancers to know is that if your relationship with food or body is impacting you at all in any negative way whatsoever, even maybe you're just feeling a little bit more stressed and anxious around food, or you're having a hard time making food choices, or you notice you're having more negative body thoughts,
00:13:19
Speaker
pursue help if you can. You don't need to achieve some level of being sick enough before you pursue help. And in fact, the sooner we intervene, the more likely it is that there's going to be full recovery or the treatment is not going to take that long. I think everyone is deserving of getting that type of help.
00:13:38
Speaker
And I think an important part of that, too, is that dance schools and companies and families and dancers themselves that we really normalize getting help, that there's nothing wrong with seeing a dietician or a therapist. Even if you don't have an eating disorder or disorder eating, I think those are things that can be really helpful for all dancers. So if you are feeling like you need help, where would you start? Where's the first place you should reach out to?
00:14:01
Speaker
I think it kind of depends on the environment you're in. There are some dance schools and companies, I think particularly the larger ones that have on-site services or providers they're affiliated with. So that could potentially be a place to start if you feel comfortable doing that. Some dancers don't.
00:14:20
Speaker
It also depends on what you're looking for help with. If you're concerned about maybe having some disordered eating or an eating disorder, I think the Alliance for Eating Disorders is a really great resource um where you can search by insurance and zip code. think I think iAdams, which is the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, they have a provider listing of people who specialize in working with dancers.
00:14:44
Speaker
I'm happy for people to reach out to me to connect them with help. It's a pretty small community in terms of people who specialize in working with dancers and dance dietitians for sure, but also dance therapists. We all mostly know each other, at least by name or are on, like I'm a member of a lot of professional lacerbs. And so I'm happy to to put out a message. People contact me a lot for that to help them get set up with treatment. Okay. Awesome.
00:15:08
Speaker
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00:15:34
Speaker
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00:16:01
Speaker
I want to go back to a piece you talked about before about everyone being
Creating Supportive Dance Environments
00:16:05
Speaker
involved. And one thing you said in your book was that, studies show that it is not dance training itself that is a risk factor for these issues, but rather specific and more importantly, modifiable characteristics of the dance setting. So if you're a dance teacher, you're a company director, anyone who is in a leadership position, what can you do to ensure a dance environment is not contributing negatively?
00:16:30
Speaker
to your dancers? Yeah, that's a great question. And so those specific and modifiable factors that the study was referring to what's called thinness-related learning. So basically these are things in the dance environment that dancers are exposed to that make them overvalue thinness and make them see restricting food intake as something that's going to be beneficial to them or as a positive. I'm sure we can both think of lots of things in the dance environment that send those messages.
00:16:58
Speaker
And so the first thing that I want to say is that I really believe that dance educators and most people involved in dancers' lives really want what's best for them. I think that because so much of what happens in dance is passed down from generation to generation, we might not question what we went through. It's not uncommon that dance educators might not even be aware of the things that they are saying and doing that can inadvertently cause harm.
00:17:28
Speaker
And so I think the first really critical thing to do is to learn what are those practices and messages that are problematic and messages both explicit and implicit. How and why those things can harm dancers, especially when a dancer's experience is different from your own experience in the dance world.
00:17:50
Speaker
And how do we shift? What do we do instead? Ideally, dance schools and companies would be providing this training and education to dance educators and their staff. Hopefully it's ongoing because you might have decades of unlearning to do. And so these concepts really need reinforcement. I know that's not realistic or possible for every single dance organization. And it's one of the reasons I wrote the book is to just get the information out to a wider audience.
00:18:17
Speaker
When we know better, we can do better. And we want to do that with compassion, self-compassion, which is also a really important skill to cultivate within your dancers. I think in terms of specifics within the dance environment, we can think of it in terms of working to decrease risk factors and increase protective factors. So decreasing those harmful messages about food and bodies so that we're not encouraging dieting or restrictive eating or praising someone for engaging in those things, even when it feels benign. So, you know, saying to a dancer, oh, you're being so good or you have so much discipline, that's also harmful. Not encouraging or praising weight loss. Sometimes this can be explicit, where a dancer is actually told to lose weight. There's also implicit messaging that sends that same message. Like if a dancer is only seeing the thinnest dancers get promoted,
00:19:13
Speaker
or rewarded that sends the same message that you know makes them overvalue thinness. I think not providing feedback or corrections in a way that encourages comparison like do this more like so-and-so is doing it. On the flip side things that are protective are helping dancers recognize non-appearance-based qualities that they have, so praising things like their approach or their musicality or their resiliency, helping them learn to appreciate their bodies. I mean, human bodies can do a lot of really amazing things and that can be really helpful in terms of being protective against negative body image. Dance educators, unless they also happen to be registered dieticians, which is, I don't know if that exists anywhere, it might somewhere, but should not be giving specific nutrition advice, but you can encourage your dancers to fuel consistently throughout the day. We want the dance and environment to support optimal fueling, so that means building breaks into the schedule so that dancers can eat. That sends the message that fueling is really important. Those are some of the things that we can do to help create a more positive dance environment.
00:20:23
Speaker
Okay, those are really good. Are there other things that dancers and the people who support dancers like the educators, parents, medical professionals who are not necessarily specialists in this field, are there things that they can do to help prevent the occurrence of eating disorders as well?
Role of Parents and Professionals
00:20:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think absolutely. I think everybody who's in a dancer's orbit can be part of creating a protective environment. And so all of those things I just mentioned, like not making negative comments about food and bodies praising encouraging weight loss,
00:20:52
Speaker
that applies to everyone. Other things will depend somewhat on your role and relationship with a dancer and the setting that you're in. For everyone, one of the really key parts of getting disorder prevention is getting that education on eating disorders. So learning what the risk factors are, what are the warning signs and symptoms, and what do you do if you're concerned about a dancer. Again, I think normalizing getting help is really important. Ideally, dance schools and companies are providing this education to their teachers and staff, providing education to dancers on proper fueling, topics on
00:21:34
Speaker
body image and other mental health issues, age-appropriate eating disorder education is important also. Especially for adolescent dancers, they might be noticing things in their peers and it's good to know what to do in those situations. It's helpful if you can involve or the schools and companies can involve parents in this education as well. Every single health professional who works with dancers needs at least basic training on eating disorders.
00:22:00
Speaker
especially because medical professionals are in such a good position to do some screening to catch issues early. Parents are in a really unique position where they can play such an instrumental role in helping dancers develop a healthy relationship with food and their body. Having a food environment at home that is neutral, that's peaceful, where you're not putting judgment on foods as being good or bad or restricting things in the home.
00:22:26
Speaker
helping dancers connect with all of the things that food is besides fuel. It's also pleasure and connection and culture and love, helping dancers appreciate body diversity, appreciate what their bodies can do. And I think for all of us who are involved with dancers in some way, dancers themselves, being a healthy role model in terms of your own relationship with food and body is a really powerful gift you can give the dancers in your life. It's also not easy given the culture that we live in, especially for former dancers, and it might require some of your own
Impacts of Under-Fueling on Dancers
00:23:00
Speaker
healing work. We've talked about the importance of early intervention. So what are some of the early signs and symptoms of disorder eating or an eating disorder?
00:23:09
Speaker
And what steps should a person take if you're concerned about a dancer, if I'm their teacher or their friends or their parent, like what should I do? Hopefully, in addition to the signs and symptoms of eating disorders and disorder eating, we're also going to be on the lookout for those risk factors so we can catch issues before they develop. So if a dancer is adopting a new diet or if you hear them, you know, making negative comments about their own body or expressing body dissatisfaction, that doesn't mean the dancer is engaging in disordered eating, but that is a point that we could intervene early. In terms of the signs and symptoms to look out for, what we want to do is look for changes. So are there changes in eating habits? Is the dancer cutting out food groups or certain foods?
00:23:55
Speaker
Are there changes in how they appear to be in food situations? So do they seem more stressed or anxious in social situations? Are you hearing things like? I'm not hungry or I don't eat that. Are you noticing mood changes? So maybe they seem more anxious or irritable. Maybe they're withdrawing from their friends or activities that they used to enjoy. Are there changes in sleep or their exercise habits? And then we want to be looking for physical changes. So any period changes, significant body changes, digestive changes, a dancer who maybe is having more frequent injuries or getting sick more often or is taking longer to recover from either of those things.
00:24:35
Speaker
And there's a lot of overlap between these warning signs and symptoms. between disordered eating and eating disorders and under fueling just because of you know the impact of under fueling on the body is similar. Now, what you do if you're concerned about a dancer is, again, going to depend on what your role and relationship is and the setting that you're in. So if you're a dance educator, hopefully the school or company you work with has an eating disorder policy that provides guidance on how to handle these situations. So a policy like that would ideally indicate who the point person is that you would express concerns to, or even the dancers can confidentially share concerns if they're worried about a peer. Who is the person that's going to speak to the dancer and what are those follow-up procedures? Unless you yourself are an eating disorder specialist, usually the goal of any type of intervention is to then get the dancer to be evaluated by someone who isn't eating disorder specialist to determine
00:25:34
Speaker
next steps. If you're a peer and you're worried about a friend, especially if you're an adolescent or teen dancer, I would recommend talking through your concerns with a trusted adult first. So maybe that's a parent, maybe that's your own provider if you're seeing a dietician or therapist to kind of help you talk through what feels like the right thing to do.
00:25:55
Speaker
Some kind of general recommendations if you're going to have a conversation with a dancer is to do that in private and when you have enough time to really talk to them and give them a chance to respond and tell you how they feel. Starting off the conversation just asking the dancer how are you can be a really helpful way to begin.
00:26:15
Speaker
It's helpful if you can tell the dancer what you value about them as a person and express your concerns by using I statements. So I'm concerned about you because I've seen you not eating lunch with the rest of the dancers or whatever it might be, but you don't want to confront on specific eating disorder behaviors or on weight, you want to give a dancer a chance to respond and then you can ask them how they would feel about seeing a dietician or a therapist or a doctor and then have resources available to provide them with. That's really important also for everyone in a dancer's orbit is to have those professionals that you know are specialists in eating disorders and also experience with working with dancers and athletes.
00:27:00
Speaker
Okay. I feel like for a dancer in this situation, like you said before, there are explicit and implicit messages they're receiving that being thinner is going to be better. Maybe they know this is not really serving them, but it's like in the moment, this is just what they're hearing and they want to go along with it because like the culture is just kind of telling you this is what you do. So I'd love to talk about some of the short-term and long-term consequences of under fueling to help dancers really understand what is happening to your body not just in the short term but also for the rest of your life if you are not fueling properly.
00:27:37
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's really important. And the other thing I would say is going back to what I mentioned in the beginning is that that's why I think it's so important to work to help make the environment more positive as well, because we can give dancers all the knowledge and tools in the world to take care of themselves. And if their environment is reinforcing the opposite, it's really hard to do those things. And so, you know, it's both helping dancers know how to take care of themselves and also shifting the the dance culture. The other thing I would say is that when dancers actually start to notice the consequences of under fueling is going to vary quite a bit from dancer to dancer, there's just a lot of individual genetic variability. So for some dancers, they might be under fueling for just a very short period of time and might
00:28:24
Speaker
notice consequences. For others, it might take a longer period of time before they notice anything. For some dancers, eating just slightly below what their body needs, they might notice consequences. And for others, they might need a more severe deficit before they start noticing things. The other important thing to note is that just because you're not noticing consequences doesn't mean those consequences aren't happening. There are a lot of things we can't tell that's going on internally that your body is still may be suffering in some ways.
00:28:50
Speaker
So basically, under fueling impacts both physical health, mental health and performance. On the health side, it can affect just about every body system from bone health to hormones, which impacts menstrual function or periods, it can affect your heart, your digestion, your immune system, it can interfere with normal growth and development. So under fueling any young dancers who are still growing and developing you know, is especially harmful. In terms of mental health, under fueling can contribute to or worsen depression and anxiety. It can make dancers less resilient to stress. They can have a harder time handling stressful situations. Under fueling can also impact sleep. And then sleep obviously has a role in many aspects of both physical and mental health. In terms of performance, and a lot of these things are consequences dancers, they might resonate more with dancers and also the dance educators might be able to spot more. Dancers might have a harder time concentrating. So if you're having more difficulty picking up choreography, you might be making more mistakes. That might be something that you notice, lower energy, worse endurance. So you're getting tired faster, maybe, you know, at the end of a piece or a variation, you're feeling much more tired than you did before, or your endurance is just not improving. under fueling can actually impact coordination and balance and reaction time, increases injury risk, of course. And one of the things I like to mention to dancers is sometimes you can be working so hard, maybe putting in additional time, doing conditioning and coaching on your own. And you're just not feeling like your technique or artistry or strength or endurance is improving as you would expect, given what you're putting in.
00:30:30
Speaker
A lot of times that can be due to under fueling and kind of fine tuning the nutrition can make a big difference. The good news is that most of the health and performance consequences of under fueling are reversible when they're caught and treated early. Bone health is one that might not be reversible. That could potentially be a long-term consequence of under fueling.
00:30:50
Speaker
especially if dancers are under fueling during those peak bone building years. And that's a pretty major one. Some other long-term consequences can be negative impacts on fertility, on injury. So if dancers aren't able to fully recover from an injury, that can impact quality of life. You know, you can have chronic pain.
00:31:11
Speaker
Throughout your life, it can impact their livelihood. It's also useful to keep in mind that there is a reciprocal relationship with under fueling and mental health issues. For example, anxiety, depression, stress.
00:31:24
Speaker
can lead to under fueling and disordered eating also is a contributing factor to under fueling and also vice versa. So even when it's unintentional, being in a negative energy balance or eating less than your body needs can actually be the catalyst for developing disordered eating or an eating disorder. And even though I believe full recovery is possible, the longer those disordered thoughts and behaviors go on actually the harder they can be to treat, the more entrenched they can become. And not only can that affect health and performance, but also quality of life. So it's harder to be present in relationships. It's harder to be spontaneous. Just, you know, go out to dinner with friends and family or participate in holidays. And it can really also just like suck the enjoyment out of dance.
Myths about Athletes and Menstruation
00:32:11
Speaker
Does the mere thought of a audition season make your palms start to sweat? Do you feel completely overwhelmed with getting everything together on top of your regular dancing schedule? I've been there and I totally get it. As dancers, we spend hundreds of hours honing our technique and artistry. But when it comes to figuring out how to put together a resume or what to expect in a professional audition, we're often left to figure it out ourselves. That's why I put together the ultimate audition guide.
00:32:39
Speaker
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00:32:55
Speaker
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00:33:20
Speaker
Yeah. Can we talk more about the period piece? Because I think a lot of dancers are told as adolescents or high performing athletes in general are just told, like, if you don't get to your period, that's fine. That's normal for athletes.
00:33:33
Speaker
And that's not actually true, correct? Correct. And thank you for highlighting this point. It's still amazing to me how much this myth is perpetuated even by medical professionals. I often will send a dancer to a doctor for an evaluation, and this is the message that's sent. and It's kind of horrifying. So important to know that regardless of activity level, if you were fueling for what you were doing, you should have normal periods. So by the time you're 15, you should have had your first period and then you should be having regular menstrual cycles. That's an important point to kind of keep an eye out for that can indicate under fueling. so
00:34:15
Speaker
Of course, if you lose your period, that's very concerning. We want to get that checked out. If you haven't gotten your period by 15, we want to get that checked out. But also if you're noticing changes where your periods are becoming lighter or heavier, shorter or longer, these are all signs of something going on in your body that we want to have some workup on. Because of the critical role, periods indicate hormones being in an optimal place. And that plays a really important role in bone health.
00:34:40
Speaker
And there can be other causes, of course, for not having regular periods, but in athletes and dancers, under fueling is often appropriate. I feel like as a teenager, if I had my period, I would have been like, sweet, you know, it's not the most fun experience to have every month. So I would have been like, great. But can you talk about why do we want to have a period? I know you touched on it, but like, really spelling it out. Why do we need to be having a period? What's the long term effects of not having your period?
00:35:07
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think the one that tends to be most meaningful for dancers, again, periods indicate your hormone levels are where they need to be. And that's necessary for your bones to develop to be as strong and healthy as they can be, and for you to maintain that bone health throughout your life. And so if you're not menstruating regularly, and it's due to under fueling, that can set you up to have more stress fractures, to be more injury prone. So I think that that's probably the major reason. Like, you know, if you have to get out of dance because of an injury, fractures and stress fractures take a long time to heal. That can drive the point home of the importance of getting a period. And again, I think you're totally right because it's not fun to have a period every month.
00:35:50
Speaker
We do have to sort of challenge that idea of, okay, great, this is convenient, maybe in the short term, but in the long term, it's going to be pretty inconvenient if you you know get a stress fracture. Right. So we've talked a lot about the risk factors, the piece of eating disorder and all of that under fueling, all these different things. But can we talk now about fueling optimally?
Optimal Fueling and Individual Needs
00:36:11
Speaker
So what do dancers need to know it to be able to feel optimally, to be able to dance their best? Yeah, I love this question. Obviously, because I'm a dietician, it's a lot of what I do. But also because I think about it differently than I think it's often kind of talked about. And so optimal feeling for dancers Of course means getting in the nutrients you need. So are you getting in the carbs, the protein, the fat, the vitamins, the minerals? Getting nutrients in when you need them is also important. So thinking about meal timing in a way that enhances performance and brain function and recovery. A really critical and often neglected part of optimal fueling is the relationship with food piece. We want our relationship with food
00:36:52
Speaker
ideally to be peaceful and flexible, not one that's causing a lot of anxiety and stress. You're able to sort of adapt in different situations to help you get in the nutrients you need. You want to eat in a way that's nourishing and enjoyable. You want to make space to include all of your favorite foods. There's nothing that can't fit into an overall optimal fueling plan you want to eat in a way that's going to enhance both physical and mental health and so if you think about you know if I'm tracking every single macronutrient and trying to eat perfectly that's not going to really be supportive of my physical
00:37:27
Speaker
and mental health or help promote a peaceful relationship with food. So I wouldn't consider that to be optimal fueling. I think it's also really helpful for dancers to keep in mind that optimal fueling for you, what's best for you, it's very likely it's going to look different than those people around you. It might be different than your family, your siblings, your peers, your fellow dancers. So trying to honor what you need and what works for you, even if no one else around you is doing it, is a really critical component and also I know much easier said than done. You mentioned in the beginning you know making sure you're getting your carbs, your protein, your fat and I think a lot of dancers I was personally told advice like don't eat carbs after five. I was told very knowing what I know now incorrect rules.
00:38:13
Speaker
But I think a lot of dancers do hear, carbs are villainized. Can you talk about how important carbs are for you? Yes, yes. They're the main source of fuel for your body, your brain, your muscles. And I agree with you. When I'm doing nutritional workshops for dancers, I spend the most time on carbohydrates. And I usually start that section by saying exactly what you said, which is that carbs are very unfairly villainized in our society. And they are so important.
00:38:41
Speaker
for dancers and athletes, all of us, but especially active people. One component that it's helpful, one of the things I talk about in terms of all the reasons we need carbs, is most dancers feel much more comfortable eating protein. You know, we think about protein being important for muscle building and repair and strength. Well, protein can't do all of its jobs if you don't have enough carbohydrates, and so sometimes knowing that piece can be really helpful. More than half of a dancer's diet should come from carbohydrate foods, so you know, we really want to work to kind of counter that messaging. I think similarly sugar, which is a type of carbohydrate, there's so much fair mongering around sugar, and I think that that can also really get in the way of dancers fueling optimally. You know, one example is like sports drinks, which like Gatorade, Powerade, Scratch, those kinds of things. The carbohydrate in them is sugar for rapid absorption and quick energy. And that can really be helpful for dancers. Plus, if we're thinking about having a peaceful, enjoyable relationship with food, I mean, sugar is also delicious. And there's no reason why we can't include
00:39:48
Speaker
desserts and things that we love and an overall plan that meets our needs. Yeah, I really appreciate how in your book you have a very whole dancer holistic approach to this topic.
Holistic Health in Dance
00:39:59
Speaker
What are some other areas of health that will help dancers nurture this balanced, peaceful relationship with their mind and body?
00:40:06
Speaker
Yeah, it was really important to me to kind of have that whole dancer approach because I think oftentimes we think about health in these like silos of like physical health, mental health, you know, performance and it's also related. I would say that body image is such an important aspect of dancer's health. I think the way that we feel about our bodies so impacts and influences how we nourish and care for ourselves. You know, we can think of body image as being our relationship with our body and we only get one and you're going to have it forever. And so I, well, till the end of your life. um I think it's such an important relationship to work on. And like any relationship, it does actually take work. And so I love working with dancers and helping them
00:40:50
Speaker
see that relationship with our body as something to work towards a more caring and connected relationship versus one where you're very disconnected, you know, you're ignoring all of those cues and it's really neglectful. You know, your body's telling you it's hungry or in pain or tired and you're like, I don't care.
00:41:09
Speaker
um So I think that can really impact dancers' health. Some other aspects of dancer health that also affect a dancer's relationship with food and body are sleep and rest, which have impacts on so many aspects of health, including injury risk. Nutrition and mental health also have reciprocal relationships with sleep. I think many of us have had the experience of, you know, when we don't sleep well, how that affects how we eat or how we, you know, may or may not prepare meals, how we feel, our mood.
00:41:37
Speaker
I think the dance life balance is super important you know dance especially for serious dancers takes up so much physical energy mental energy time but you don't want it to be your whole life you know the end all be all of your existence I think working on cultivating other aspects of your identity is so important and really health promoting. Helping dancers develop like a toolbox of coping skills that can help them deal with stress and you know get through difficult times. Thinking about mindset, so how can we counter those distorted or unhelpful thought patterns so you know that
00:42:16
Speaker
black and white thinking, I didn't get cast in this piece, I'm never going to make it, you know, that kind of stuff or comparison, learning how to manage perfectionism. And I think self-compassion is such an important skill again, that really does impact multiple aspects of dancer health. Yeah, I think this was from your book. But one thing that really helped me with the piece of listening to your body was the idea that like, if a small child said to you, I'm tired, or I'm hungry, or I have to go to the bathroom, would you say like, no, you don't? No, you're not.
00:42:45
Speaker
to them, no. You'd be like, okay, let's go do that thing. So why would you tell yourself, oh, I don't really need to sleep. I don't really need to eat. You're not really thirsty. You're making it up. You wouldn't say that to someone else that you care about. So why would you say it to yourself? I thought that was a really good analogy. Yeah, I do. Maybe somewhere else too, but that is in my book.
00:43:04
Speaker
And I think that idea of, can you work towards, the goal is to care for your body, show your body love and care, even when you feel disappointed by it, maybe most importantly in those times, and you're using the child metaphor can be helpful there too, right? If ah a child does something that makes you upset, you're not gonna be like, no dinner for you, you know? It's like, you wanna think about it and in those terms. And sometimes actually thinking about the little us inside of us can be really helpful in getting in touch with that caring part. Yeah, okay, last question.
00:43:34
Speaker
What advice would you give to aspiring dancers who are pursuing
Valuing Unique Gifts and Supportive Relationships
00:43:38
Speaker
a career? Really acknowledging, valuing those unique gifts that you have as a dancer and getting in touch with and nurturing all of those amazing things that make you you. You're the only person who's like you. Those things that make you special as a dancer and also as a human, which might not be the advice you'd expect from a dietician. But I do really think that that can impact dancer health and well-being, you know, when dancers have a strong sense of self-worth and value who they are and what they have to offer, it can really help them take care of themselves. I think the bonus of that is it also makes you have more to offer as an artist and and bring to the art form.
00:44:16
Speaker
kind of maybe more related to my work would be for dancers to really be a part of the change you want to see in the dance world. Be a part of creating that dance environment you want by being kind and supportive to your peers, not speaking negatively about you know your own body or the bodies of others, not talking about diets or commenting on other people's food choices.
00:44:37
Speaker
telling your friends and peers what you value about them as people. Being a dancer is such a privilege and a gift. I'm so grateful for my time as a dancer. And I also think at times being a part of this world can be really, really tough. And so I think having a support system is really helpful and important. Your family, your chosen family, your friends, your peers. And I also think it's important to keep in mind that if you're in an environment that you don't think is helping you flourish, it's okay to find a different environment. I think that's important to like, sort of know that you can have some control over that. Yeah, this has been really good,
Conclusion and Praise for 'Nourishing Dance'
00:45:16
Speaker
Monica. So much great information. Can you tell our audience where they can find you if they want to learn more? Yes, absolutely. So my main website is msnutrition.com. I have a book website, which is not 100% complete yet, but it is live, which is nourishingdance dot.com. And there's actually info on the the book on both of those sites. On social media, I am at nourish.head2point on Instagram. I'll put it all in the show notes for anyone interested. And I truly do mean what I say when I say this book is a must read my copy of it.
00:45:49
Speaker
has at least 50 post-it notes of things that I say to come back to. I know I'm going to reference this for years to come in different situations as they come up because it's so inclusive of any situation you might encounter, there is information on how to approach it. I really like how you molded together the research-backed information, but made it so accessible for dancers. You're one of us, obviously, like you have the brain of a dancer. So the way you approach it, I think is just so ah helpful for my brain as a dancer to understand very specific situations that we go through.
00:46:25
Speaker
And to have that self-compassion piece was really helpful. I really recommend it to everyone. Thank you so much for saying that and for helping me get the word out. You can probably tell in reading this book, huge passion of mine. It was so much work and sacrifice to write over over the last two plus years that hearing that it's it's doing what it was meant to do really does mean so much to me. And so thank you so much. Yes, of course. Thank you so much for coming on today. I love chatting with you.
00:46:55
Speaker
Thank you for tuning into the Brainy Ballerina podcast. If you found this episode insightful, entertaining, or maybe a bit of both, I would so appreciate you taking a moment to leave a rating and hit subscribe. By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode. And you'll join our community of dancers passionate about building a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. Plus, your ratings help others discover the show too.
00:47:21
Speaker
I'll be back with a new episode next week. In the meantime, be sure to follow along on Instagram at The Brainy Valorina for your daily dose of dance career guidance.