Sports Nutrition pyramid developed by the Netherlands Sports Dietetics Association (VSN) in collaboration with NZO
Do you recognize this: You sometimes come home in the evening, after a day of training, teaching and perhaps also rehearsing, completely exhausted and very hungry but it's actually too late to eat?
Sometimes you are so busy that you forget to eat. You take a quick energy bar in between, but you can't keep up with this busy schedule, you know that yourself.
It won't sound strange to anyone if I say that nutrition is extremely important. You have lessons all day, you may also teach in your spare time yourself or be in shows that you have to rehearse for in addition to your education until late in the evening and weekends. A busy and physically intensive schedule. You need energy to do all this. It is not rocket science to know that you have to eat enough to take in this energy. In general, dancers eat too little. This may be due to your busy schedule. You're so busy that you just forget to eat and don't think 'now I have to eat something' until it's very late. You don't eat or snack. It could also be because you want to become/stay thin.
First, think about the number of hours you are physically active per day. A lesson often lasts 1.5 hours. You have a number of lessons per day. You will soon be at 4.5 hours of exercise. If you consider that female students already consume 2500-3000 calories in 2.5 hours and male students 3000-3700, you cannot enter into an app that you only want to eat 1600 calories a day. Dancing is the same as top sport. A top athlete needs 2 to 5 times as much energy as people who do not exercise. Eating too little will reduce your performance and increase the risk of injury. In addition to a good basis of carbohydrates, protein and fats, you also need exercise-specific nutrition to deliver top performance.
A useful tool is the sports nutrition pyramid developed by the Netherlands Sports Dietetics Association (VSN) in collaboration with NZO . You can see very well in the pyramid how your nutrition should be structured. The base layer is actually everything from the disc of 5. If you take the three Macros in good balance, then you're good. This balance is different for each person. Experimenting is the only way to find out what works best for you. The second layer is the sport-specific nutrition layer. If you move as intensively as a dancer, the base layer is not always sufficient. You need nutritious drinks and snacks in between. When I trained for the marathon, I found the ready-made gels very tasty and easy to take, they are not heavy on the stomach and give you enough energy again. I didn't have the time to make my own snacks at the time so this was the perfect solution.
The tip of the pyramid consists of supplements, if you think you are short of that, it is wise to talk to your doctor before you start buying things yourself. He/She can indicate on the basis of a conversation or tests what you can take in addition to your other meals. If you use the pyramid as a tool, it is important that you work from wide to narrow. You can't think, I do take supplements, then I don't get fat and I also get everything. You start with the full-fledged basic nutrition, see how you feel and then work your way up according to your needs.
Try to look at your schedule at the weekend to plan the eating moments so that you don't suddenly think in the evening; Gosh, I forgot to eat and I'm starving. Grab the pyramid and just make a plan. You don't have to think during the week and just follow what you wrote down.
It is really very important to listen to your own body and not to follow other people's diets/schedules. If you want to see what works best for you to prevent injuries and increase your performance, schedule a free session with me so that together we can look at how we can get you to perform at the top of your abilities.
