Eat like an athlete

I was so pleased to see dancers being reminded about the importance of hydration and fuelling in tweets by Sports Dietitians Australia (@SportsDietAust) during the National Dancesport Championship held here in Melbourne. There is very strong evidence-based research about food and performance and dancers in that event who prepared themselves correctly with their nutrition would undoubtedly have performed better than those who didn’t.

So if dancers are considered athletes in the nutrition world, how do we approach energy and nutrient needs?

The energy dancers need varies enormously of course but, in general, increases with the level, time and intensity of your training. Males need more energy because they have more muscle mass than females. We sports dietitians use an equation to calculate the specific needs of a dancer but this is very complicated and rarely used in practice. And every day can be different.

As a guide . . .

This is an excerpt from an article by dance nutritionist Fiona Sutherland. You can read the full article in the February/March issue of Dance Australia.  OUT NOW!