The Ballerina Diet
We’re a little confused about the Ballerina Diet. Dancers expend plenty of energy during strenuous practice sessions, many dancing for several hours a day in addition to weight training and other aerobic activities. As such, they should be consuming more calories than most, or live in danger of not only losing muscle, having impaired immunity, thyroid disorder (which will lead to weight gain), and other hormonal ailments, but also from collapsing from stress and exhaustion.
In fact, New York City Ballet nutritionist Marie Scioscia recommends dancers have a diet consisting of 55% complex carbohydrates that include whole grains, vegetables and fruit, 20% lean protein, and 20-25% unsaturated fats. She also states dancers should be consuming 8-10 bread servings a day, and at least 5 servings of vegetables. Dairy is also important so long as it is low-fat sources such as skim milk or yoghurt. She emphasizes this simple fact, “without carbohydrates, muscle must be broken down for fuel-not good for dancers-or anyone, long-term.”
So why is it, that the following diet has been entitled the ‘Ballerina Diet’? Its low calorie in the extreme; and in our book, anything extreme when it comes to dieting, is unhealthy. Perhaps it’s because ballerinas are notoriously hung up about their weight, and are constantly seeking ways to beat the bulk and stay as skinny as the profession seems to expect them to be.
Ballerina=skinny. Diet=skinny. Until we change our way of thinking and require our dancers to look fit and healthy, and more importantly, to be healthy, we will keep creating faddish eating plans like this one.
Here’s the diet outline:
- Do not overeat (hardly a danger there!) To ensure implementation of this, divide food servings in half.
- Soups are independent of other meals and should be eaten at lunch and separately from other foods.
- Never mix different types of proteins in one meal (meat and dairy for example.)
- Never add sugar or sugar substitutes to your drinks.
- Do not use salt; substitute instead with soy sauce or other spices.
- Milk or dairy products should not contain fat.
- Drink at least 8-10 cups of water every day.
- Drink water 30 minutes before a meal; or 1 hour after.
Now most of these rules seem sensible enough. Drinking lots of water, and staying away from sugar and salt is good advice. But let’s look at a typical day’s eating plan, and you’ll see how extreme this diet is, and how it certainly isn’t fit for a ballerina’s required nutrition and caloric intake.
Here’s a typical daily eating plan:
Breakfast: 1/3 pack nonfat cottage cheese and a glass of warm skim milk or yoghurt.
Second breakfast: a slice of bread and butter with a teaspoon of honey, a cup of coffee (probably for energy!!!)
Lunch: 1 tablespoon of cooked rice, one cup of broth and one slice of meat, not more than 150 grams.
Snack: 1 orange or apple.
Dinner: Two hours before bedtime drink a glass of warm milk or yoghurt with 1 teaspoon of honey.
Repeat this for “a few days until you’ve reached the desired effect.”
I don’t believe you have to be a scientist to realize how unhealthy this is. Regrettably, young girls everywhere are probably going to jump on this eating plan because it is low-calorie and they will lose weight. Unfortunately, once they stop implementing this diet, they’ll pile it all back on. This is not a long-term, healthy or sensible way of shedding extra pounds and keeping them off. It is a way to mess up your hormones, screw with your metabolism and, if done long-term, eat into your lean muscle mass.
Bottom line: the words ‘Ballerina’ and ‘Diet’ should not be coupled together. To do so ignites people, especially the young and susceptible, to start unhealthy eating patterns; and ballerinas themselves to continue to struggle with our perception and expectations of them. Why not try ‘A Ballerina’s Healthy Eating Plan’-and actually incorporate the correct amount of nutrition into it? This way we might actually influence those struggling with weight and self-visualization, to eat correctly.
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