First, I’ll say that there absolutely are plenty of situations where a dancer would be in need of nutrition support, education, and information. Any time a dancer is working through a diagnosed eating disorder, they should be working with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who has specific training in eating disorders. If a dancer is struggling to eat enough or to meet energy or nutrient needs throughout the day, working with a nutrition professional may be incredibly beneficial.
However, there are also many times when a dancer needs support with their food relationship, body image, or body confidence. They might benefit from making adjustments to the mental and practical approach to their dancing goals to ensure that they’re prioritizing their well-being. In that scenario, a health, nutrition, and lifestyle coach may be the best fit. Many dancers feel more comfortable with the clear-cut sports nutrition focus. This leads them to look for answers down the wrong path.
Why dancers focus on nutrition:
You’re OK with a nutrition focus.
When you seek nutrition support, it’s very logical. You know you’re struggling with your food approach, so it makes sense that gaining nutrition knowledge should help. But if dancers seek nutrition information when it’s not actually what they need, they can get into an even more conrolled approach to eating.
Nutrition support is appealing.
You’re an athlete and want to fuel like an athlete. When you have a concern about fueling your body in the best possible way, you might feel like you’d like someone to just tell you what to eat.
What that leaves you with is a lack of self-trust. Building up that trust after years of being told what to eat (I’ve worked with dancers in this position) takes a lot of time, effort, and shifted thinking.
It’s acceptable to be concerned with food and nutrition.
From a young age, we start to hear about what we should or shouldn’t be eating. Teachers make off-handed comments about it. Parents talk about what they are or aren’t eating and why. Friends discuss calories and macronutrients. It’s literally everywhere. In the dance world, where eating disorders exist at an alarmingly higher rate than in the general population, being overly concerned with diet is viewed as ok.
So you head down that path of gaining more nutrition knowledge, and it might be helpful for a time. However, if there are underlying struggles with body image or food relationship, the nutrition information is only going to take you so far.
When nutrition support isn’t helpful at all.
So many of my dancer clients have shared the experience of starting work with a nutritionist and then trying to follow the suggested plan “perfectly.” Rather than learning how to listen to and respond to their body’s changing needs, they try to just adhere to a specific meal plan and recommendations.
Instead of more nutritional knowledge, many dancers need help finding the flexible and strategic approach to food that’s best for them and their schedules. They need to feel calm with their food choices and to release the moral labeling of food as good or bad.
Start where you are and consider your influences.
Looking around at all the recent and past influences that brought you to where you’re at now with food will help you get a better sense of the support you actually need.
Dance friends
These friends can be some of the best or worst influences on your food choices and experience of food. If your friends spend lunch together discussing what food is good or bad and how many calories, carbs, protein, and fat different foods contain, you’re not in a supportive friend group for finding a balanced food approach.
Since finding new friends isn’t a reasonable answer, having support to navigate those experiences could be a game changer.
Parents and family
While mostly well intentioned, plenty of parents say or do really unhelpful things around food and nutrition. Sometimes parents internalize the aesthetic pressures of dance even more than the dancer and think their child needs to lose weight or be thinner to be successful.
This can lead to food comments, suggestions, or actions that point a dancer towards disorder. This is another scenario where support to deal with a parent’s food comments or approach may be needed.
Dance teachers
Recently, I was told by a dancer that her dance teacher told her class that they should cut carbs leading up to a performance. According to the teacher this would help them have more energy.
This assertion is not only incorrect but also has the potential to be incredibly damaging. Dancers who have the support of a coach can hear these things, talk them through, label them as “wrong” or “unhelpful,” and move on.
Media and social media
You’re constantly being bombarded with food and dieting suggestions on social media. In many cases, this information is shared with little context or nuance. In the world of nutrition and figuring out what’s best for you, it requires an incredibly personal and tailored approach. You won’t find that on social media, so as much as you can, keep scrolling and find help elsewhere.
Body image and mindset work requires more vulnerability.
You might think talking about nutrition as an athlete is not emotional. It’s based on facts and science. There are mathematical equations involved. There’s talk of energy in/energy out and finding the balance of food for your body. Some dancers can actually have these conversations without emotion. For others, food is a very heavy and emotional topic.
Opening up to a complete stranger about body image or confidence struggles in dance is a lot scarier. It requires vulnerability and sometimes the sharing of life details that you’ve literally never shared with anyone. Believe me, I’ve been there and I totally understand that challenge. Since starting The Whole Dancer back in 2015, dancers have told me countless times: I’ve never said this to anyone.
It takes a lot of courage and self-awareness to admit to yourself that you need something deeper than nutrition support. For many dancers, that admission is where the breakthrough lies.
Before you seek more nutrition information or support…
There are plenty of simple steps you can take to prioritize your well-being and support a balanced approach to food and your body. Inventory your routines and consider what’s working and what isn’t. A lot of your ability to work through body image challenges or food relationship distress is connected to your overall ability to cope with stress.
Take a closer look before you determine that nutrition support is what you need. Reach out and schedule a (health, nutrition, and lifestyle) coaching consultation because you may in fact need a more holistic approach than what a standard nutritionist might offer you.
