Keeping a dancer full of food/energy

[Katymac]

Today she went off with:
Porridge for Breakfast with dried fruit (before she went)

Then has:
Pasta salad, with peas, sweetcorn, cucumber, tomato, ham & peaches with a bit of Soy sauce as dressing
Apple Charlotte
Dried fruits, seeds & nuts (about 6oz)
Breakfast bar
2 fig rolls, 2 chocolate half covered digestives
Chocolate bar & some sweeties

Water to drink

But she will be staving when she gets in tonight (despite having money to buy extras - she often buys a sports drink) - but if I pack much more she will not be able to carry it apparently

She can get away with the odd sweet/chocolate but they are on at her the whole time about dieting & not putting on weight; as she is 14 still growing (3.5 inches since Christmas) I am less worried about that

Any ideas?

[JayLou62]

Hi Katymac,

My dd was given a book called 'Nutrition for the dancer'. It includes recipes for healthy snacks, meals etc and there's also a chapter for the young dancer. I'd definitely recommend. Hth

[DanceDiva]

Hi Katymac,

My dd was given a book called 'Nutrition for the dancer'. It includes recipes for healthy snacks, meals etc and there's also a chapter for the young dancer. I'd definitely recommend. Hth

Wow - thanks for that info, sounds just what I need for my daughter.
Her problem is she competes in freestyle and as you know its VERY high energy but DD suffers with nerves when competing.
Nothing to eat and she hasnt any energy or stamina and something to eat and 9 times out of 10 she is sick.
Will certainly keep my eye out for that one - thank you

[Kitschqueen]

[quote="Katymac"

She can get away with the odd sweet/chocolate but they are on at her the whole time about dieting & not putting on weight; as she is 14 still growing (3.5 inches since Christmas) I am less worried about that

Any ideas?[/quote]

Who is on at her all her time about dieting and not putting on weight? As a parent I would not be happy about this. The teenage years are fraught with insecurities as it is without unhelpful pressures about their weight.

I'm not a dietitian but I think the food you are giving her sounds reasonably balanced. I have recently also started my 15 year old on vitamin and omega 3 supplements, just to counter days when she "forgets" to eat.

Thanks for the book recommendation JayLou62. I recently googled nutrition for dancers and also got some useful info from the internet.

[Hecouldshine]

A really interesting topic. My ds too gets nervous performing and doesn't want to eat. I saw him flagging towards the end of the first half of an evening performance last week of English Youth Ballet's Swan Lake. He had had a matinee as well and admitted later he just hadn't eaten from the time he signed in at 1pm until the interval of the evening performance. Luckily no one else would have noticed - he was just standing at the side of the stage at that point - but you see the spark go out of their eyes What to do?? I put tempting drinks and snacks in his bag, but unless you are chaperoning yourself you can't remind them to eat!

Incidentally, as our dcs are spending so much time training and performing indoors rather than being sporty outdoor people, I wonder if we should make sure they are having Vitamin D supplements as they maybe won't get enough sunlight in winter? My ds is mixed raced Asian AND we live in the North so even more reason for Vitamin D.

[Katymac]

Thanks for the book suggestion - there are others on Amazon too; so I will have to have a look at them all (I feel an order for the library coming on) I honestly never thought there would be a book

I was struggling as DD had eaten the tuna puffs and veggie stuffed pancakes I had made for her lunch when she came in late on the Friday

I suppose Vitamins are the way to go, I understand the Vit D issue as DD is mixed race too

The chat about food/weight/diet is at the dance school DD (14) is in a class of 10 & 11 yos and it is all about diet, the school itself is a bit more balanced; but fortunately DD gets her food advise from me (I run a nursery so it is a main topic of conversation, with faddiness, food 'issues' and teething all causing problems). She is quite balanced in what she chooses, preferring sugar to artificial sweeteners & she actively minimises chemicals in food.

I guess it's just the bulk that she needs day to day she eats more than my DH (& he is 6ft 2) but it's spread in to smaller meals

[joscotty]

I order snacks from a company called graze, you can choose which things you like etc....

http://www.graze.com/

A healthy option to keep them going

[Katymac]

Thanks Joscotty; but DD's problems aren't really about healthy snacking - although Graze are great. She struggles to eat the amount she needs to for the energy she expends; I think she gets bored eating so often

[paulears]

I'm not sure the dance school are being very responsible nowadays, considering all the weight based problems we have - anorexia and bulimia. The critical factor is surely energy in vs energy out, and physically intensive activities like dance usually produce a deficit, don't they? Most of the fairly skinny dancers I meet who work hard seem to have no problems with 'bad' food. Seeing a bunch of dancers with chips and pizza isn't that uncommon. Some seem to have a strange mix of lots of 'good' food with the 'bad'.

The summer is coming, and I suspect that if they cannot manage to see some real sun, then they're working too hard. Making up for real UV with vitamin supplements seems wrong.

If they are not eating properly, then they are making the conscious effort to not do it, because others do eat - some probably too much. If they don't eat, I suspect it's choice, not memory. It's pretty clear that stamina is a key ingredient of being a dancer, and they really need to understand nutrition. This was so much of a concern for the dance specialists when we were doing the last batch of BTEC dance units that they even produced the "Healthy Performer" unit, which the dance teachers in the colleges grabbed straight away to get this really important area across.

I'm really quite shocked that with all the weight warnings nowadays a school is doing the weight watcher thing with 14 year olds, who are so image conscious already.

[Katymac]

Oh I agree Paul, my big hope is that she has been accepted onto the G&T Sports programme at school. The tutor was shocked at her level of exercise vs the GCSEs she is being expected to do & has suggested cutting an option just so she can rest & eat (I do like his style).

The sun thing is complicated as she is mixed race - the amount of sun we get rarely penetrates with normal day-to-day sun; she does need to sit in it; in this country she never uses suncream unless out on her boat (which we just sold - lack of use)

I am quite unhappy with the food advise coming out of a supposedly top school (she won't get more information about food until she gets into a higher class - she is in with a group of 10-12 yos atm)

She eats as much as her dad - he is 6ft 2 and is as thin as a rake - 5ft 4 and 7 stone

[paulears]

At my age I suspect that a rigid diet would be good for me! Very unfair I expand and the kids don't!

[francescasmum]

I was a high ranking athlete as a teenager and ate anything and everything, my coach weighed me every week and no matter what I'd eaten, how many times I trained or how many gruelling qualifying rounds I'd had I always weighed the same from being about 14 (that's years old not stone ) until I fell pregnant with first dd.
Now it's a different story, I just have to pass through the kitchen and I put on 5 pounds!

[sapphire]

At my age I suspect that a rigid diet would be good for me! Very unfair I expand and the kids don't!

I feel your pain ... I have a similar problem

[Flosmom]

I always weighed the same from being about 14 (that's years old not stone ) until I fell pregnant with first dd.
Now it's a different story, I just have to pass through the kitchen and I put on 5 pounds!

Same here. Except I wasn't an athlete. Being an older first-time mom, when I was expecting Flo I realised it was the first time in 25 years I hadn't been on a diet. So I went for it - big time - discovering the joys of thick and creamy yogurts instead of lo-fat everything. I'm still working off the baby fat. And she's 10 now.

Deb x

[Katymac]

Today she admitted she gets bored of eating; she hardly gets enough time to finish & it's always the same stuff (she often makes her own lunch/snack)

So she will accept help in making breakfast, snack & lunch - but she has to be nice about it

Which is quite a result