Carbs

So, I'm sure you've all heard about low-carb diets, carbs are these evil monsters that turn into fat on your butt...

Well, as a ballet dancer, YOU NEED CARBS Your brain requires glucose to function. Where do you get glucose?...from carbs. Bread, pasta, rice, fruit, granola, veggies, crackers, potatoes, cereal...all of these foods contain carbohydrates. Your brain actually requires glucose every 3-4 hours. That is why I eat 6 meal/snacks (I'm not even sure what to call them anymore...) all at around 250 calories everyday. This keeps my blood sugar stable, helping keep me from having those crash and burn mood swings or sugar highs. This keeps my blood sugar and insulin levels in the fat burning zone. (Think Goldilocks, the middle, everything in moderation)

Also, carbs are yummy! If you deprive yourself of them, you will crave them even more and then end up (if you're anything like me) binging on nothing but them later. So, you CAN have carbs. Just choose the right carbs and pair them with protein and fat to slow down your glycemic reaction. When you eat just simple carbs, your blood sugar spikes, then drops. When you eat for example an apple with peanut butter, your blood sugar stays in that fat-burning zone for few hours. Some examples of good complex carbs are:

• Whole wheat pasta
• rice
• whole wheat or whole grain bread
• quinoa
• whole wheat pita bread

you get the idea. Choose high fiber and whole wheat and whole grain. Also choose foods with low glycemic index. I like Luna bars for this reason. Organic natural ingredients, you get carbs protein and fat, calcium, vitamin D, iron, folic acid, and a low glycemic index. Oh and it tastes like a frickin' candy bar!!!

Anyways, just wanted to make sure that all you dancers out there are getting 50-60% of your daily calories from carbs. You need the fuel to keep dancing.

Breakfast

So, I'm going to list some breakfast options I like:

2 large eggs scrambled (or an omelet if I'm awake, have veggies on hand, and are feeling fancy)

1 piece toast

1/2 grapefruit

200 cal cereal

1/2 cup 1% milk

1/2 grapefruit

1 piece toast

1 Tbs. peanut butter

1/2 cup 1% milk

1/2 grapefruit

And add to any breakfast I have 1-2 cups black coffee.

I usually rotate through these three and have different cereals for variety. I like to have some sort of citrus fruit at breakfast for vitamin C and because fruit is yummy :) These are all between 250-300 calories. I eat 250 calories 6 times a day to keep my blood sugar steady. I find it keeps me from binging.

Cereal I eat to make sure I'm getting all my vitamins and minerals. I also take a multivitamin, but I was diagnosed as anemic last June, and after I started increasing my iron intake through foods like cereal, beef, spinach...etc I felt so much better. Also, when exhausted, all you have to do is pour and eat. As much as I love eggs...they require cooking...which requires being awake...

I know you've heard this before but, breakfast is the most important meal of the day! If I don't eat breakfast, I am no picnic to be around and I feel faint. I ALWAYS eat breakfast. Doesn't matter if you're not hungry, EAT. Your body has just rested and not had anything to eat for (hopefully) 7-8 hours...you are hungry even if you're not awake enough to realize it yet.

So to recap: Breakfast is the first fueling of the day, it should have protein, fat and carbs to fuel you for a few hours. I also use it to ensure I'm eating all my essential vitamins and minerals for the day. See how important it is!

Emotional Eating

I am an emotional eater. I sometimes binge on whatever I can get my hands on to fix emotional problems. Examples: when I'm angry, frustrated, sad, lonely, depressed, bored...you get the idea. These binges usually happen at night, when I'm tired on top of everything else, but they've happened in the middle of the day as well. This is something I battle with everyday. See, drug addicts, alcoholics can simply abstain from the substance of choice. People who binge eat cannot abstain from eating. That's a whole other ED...

I'm working on journaling to deal with my emotions on paper. I also have called/skyped friends to distract me or just listen to me vent. That really helps. I also have a couple of super close friends that know that I like to eat to feel better and they help keep me on track. I also draw to distract myself when I want to eat an entire bag of bagels. Yes, this happened (4 bagels, 1/2 box cereal, 5 granola bars, 1 brownie, 3 yogurts) all in 2-3 hours. Binging like this makes my feel physically sick and also obviously causes weight gain which is a problem for a ballet dancer. So I'm done. I let myself have one last binge to get it out of my system last week. I felt sick for 2 days afterwards and am so done. I'm just going to eat for fuel, not for emotional gratification/healing/whatever else. Food is now fuel, with a sprinkle of pleasure (Biology is inevitable and inescapable)

To any other emotional eaters out there, I'll try to share my tips I find while battling this ED.