Pasta with vegetables, turkey breast with a salad, Asian noodles or traditional home cooking? The choices are enormous. Which foods? Which combination? Which recipe? We enjoy the luxury of having a surplus of foods to choose from, allowing us a wide variety. Food is available everywhere you turn and advertisements are full of suggestions for ‘healthy’ and ‘easy-to-make’ meals, which cost hardly any time to prepare and promise quick satisfaction and immediate energy. Yet, having so much to choose from means decisions must be made. Among all of these choices, it is not always easy to pick something healthy which will keep the body fit for dancing, help a quick regeneration, and taste good.

The good news is that there is no perfect food. Foods cannot simply be divided into good foods and bad foods, healthy or unhealthy. A piece of cake or a bite of salami do not have to disappear from your menu. Depending on the composition of the meal and the amount that is eaten, food can be helpful or hurtful to the body. A piece of chocolate for dessert following a dish of mixed vegetables compromises neither health nor weight. A bar of chocolate as a replacement for a main meal, however, is another story.

Daily Requirements – Recommendations for Planning Your Diet

Nutritional science has developed recommendations for daily nutrient requirements which are not influenced by diet trends. The focus lies on a sufficient supply of the three main macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein, and fat (see Diagram 1.1, p. 8). The recommended daily amounts vary depending on sex, weight and amount of physical activity.

As a general rule, proteins serve as building blocks for the body (see Chapter 1, p. 23), carbohydrates supply quick energy (see Chapter 1, p. 13), and fats aid bodily functions (see Chapter 1, p. 20). People who regularly engage in demanding physical activity should obtain adequate amounts of carbohydrates and protein.

Here are a few examples for practical considerations to develop a feeling for the recommended amount of nutrient in foods.

Most foods cannot be assigned to only one category of nutrients. Aside from the main nutrients, healthy foods also contain a whole cocktail of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, as well as dietary fibres. Wholegrain bread, for example, is regarded as a high-quality carbohydrate. Additionally, it provides protein and a small amount of fat, along with micronutrients, phytonutrients and fibre. By selecting the right macronutrients in the form of non-processed, high quality, and fresh products, a healthy dietary plan covers the need for micronutrients as well.

Breakfast – Getting off to a Good Start

Breakfasting like a king or hitting the snooze button for a third time? There are a wide variety of opinions and habits concerning the first meal of the day. Some people feel like they cannot even have one bite in the morning, others feel like without their usual breakfast, the day never quite gets going. There are plenty of arguments for having a good breakfast: it gets you ready for the day, fills up your glycogen stores that have been emptied overnight, raises your blood sugar level, gets the metabolic motor running, and replaces lost fluids. In short, it makes the body fit for the day; reasons enough to not miss your chance of getting a first boost of energy for the day. Nevertheless, quite a few dancers start their day with low-quality breakfast or go without it completely. ‘I can’t do class with a full stomach,’ or ‘I am not hungry that early,’ or ‘I don’t have enough time for breakfast,’ are the typical excuses when asked about their breakfast habits. Have a closer look at your own habits: if you find breakfast sits heavily in your stomach and is making training in the morning uncomfortable, it may pay to examine what goes into your breakfast; the discomfort experienced may be due to the breakfast’s composition. If you are not hungry in the morning, perhaps a late dinner the preceding evening is the culprit.

Some dancers believe that skipping breakfast before training will help to get slim. But dancers who take class with an empty stomach do not have enough energy and the body is forced into a self-preservation mode. Muscular weakness and co-ordination problems, or even dizziness and nausea, are potential consequences – not exactly a good foundation for effective training. If dancers train without eating breakfast first, many of them develop cravings for sweets during or after the class. Again, not a good basis for the rest of the rehearsal day.

As a dancer, it is worthwhile to train yourself to have breakfast even if it is not your usual routine! It’s easiest to start with small amounts and to increase the food gradually. It’s also crucial to plan enough time for breakfast, or, if there is not enough time in the morning, to prepare it the night before. Remember that variety and having alternatives increase the pleasure of eating.

Cold Breakfasts

Breakfasts served cold can be quick and easy. Cold breakfasts with bread, muesli, or cereal taste good and are easily prepared.

Wholegrain Bread with Sweet or Savoury Spreads

For this simple and quick breakfast, it is important to choose bread of good quality. Wholegrain bread provides complex carbohydrates, which take longer to be digested, thereby providing energy for over a larger period of time. But be wary of bread containing whole grains, as these can be difficult to digest for some people. A good alternative could be to go for breads made from wholegrain flour, as they are often easier to digest. Ideally, the bread should not contain many additives, such as baking powder or preservatives. It’s best to find a bakery whose products seem appealing, and ask about contents and ingredients.

Suggestions for Preparation:

Sweet spreads: Butter as necessary – be careful with margarine, it is not usually a good alternative as it is often intensively processed and contains many solidified fats (see Chapter 1, p. 22) – with jam, honey, tahini (sesame paste), nut butter, etc. Beware of artificial additives, such as too much sugar or preservatives. The less of these, the better.

Savoury spreads: Butter as necessary added with turkey, cheese, vegetables, herbs, etc. Be creative and experiment.

Muesli

Originally, muesli refers to various types of grain flakes mixed with fresh or dried fruits and a liquid. Yet, aside from natural mixtures of flakes, one can also find crunchy muesli, corn flakes, cocoa crispies or honey puffs, etc. among the numerous brands of cereal found in the supermarkets. Here, you should be careful. Often, these products have been intensively processed and use large amounts of additional sugar and sweeteners. Even a package that reads ‘organic’ does not guarantee that it’s free from added sugar and artificial additives. Sorting through the multitude of cereals and finding what’s right for you requires careful scrutiny of product labels (see Chapter 5, p. 101). Alternatively, you can make your own muesli. A simple mixture, for example, requires only one or two kinds of pure grain flakes mixed with any kind of dried fruits, such as raisins, dates, or berries and topped with a sprinkling of nuts or seeds according to your taste. Complemented with fresh fruit, this provides a nutritious breakfast that is usually less expensive than industrially produced cereals.

Suggestions for Preparation:

Prepare your muesli with milk, water, fruit juice, or plant-based drinks and yoghurts from soy, oats or nuts. Complement it with fresh fruits, nut spreads, etc. Be careful of cold dairy products from the refrigerator, as they can cause the muesli to be difficult to digest, leaving it heavy and uncomfortable in your stomach. It helps to combine your muesli and the fluid the night before, allowing it to soak overnight and making it more easily digestible. Preparing a larger bowl of several portions means having a healthy and easily prepared breakfast ready over the next couple of days, as well as some nice in between snacks.

Warm Breakfasts

In some countries, breakfast is the first warm meal of the day. This may sound like a lot of work, but for many dancers, a warm breakfast is the ideal way to start the day. It provides an optimal source of energy and warmth – not only in winter.

Variations of Porridge

Classical porridge is boiled rolled oats or oatmeal cooked with water and/or milk. Other than oats, different flattened or chopped grains can also be used. Different grains have different textures, and millet, rice or buckwheat are good options. Porridge has a big advantage over muesli: it is easier to digest and is therefore an interesting alternative for dancers, and definitely worth trying.

Suggestions for Preparation:

Start with 4 to 6 heaped tablespoons of whole, rolled, or chopped grains. Ideally, one should alternate types of grains regularly. Cook the grains with twice the amount of water, milk or drinks from soy, oats or nuts. Until breakfast is ready, grain flakes need about 3 to 5 minutes, millet around 10 and buckwheat around 12 minutes. The larger the pieces of grain, the longer the cooking time. Soaking the grains overnight saves time when cooking in the morning. For saving time, one can pour hot water directly over the flakes and leave them briefly to soak before eating.

Porridge can be refined according to individual taste. A sweet version can be prepared with fresh fruits, either cooked with the porridge, stirred in as compote or put on top before serving. A savoury version can be prepared with vegetables. Additionally, you could add nuts, seeds, dried fruits, coconut flakes, and spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, or curcumen. Maple syrup, honey or agave syrup can be added for extra sweetness.

Scrambled Eggs

Scrambled eggs make for a hearty breakfast high in protein. In order to stock up on enough energy aside from protein, this meal should be accompanied by carbohydrates such as bread or vegetables.

Suggestions for Preparation:

Egg, oil for the pan. According to taste, add: vegetables, cheese, tofu, mushrooms, cooked ham, chives, fresh herbs, spices, salt, pepper, etc.

Main Meals – the Basis for Fitness

Main meals contain the largest food portions of the day. In our part of the world, both lunch and dinner have come to be considered as full meals, and often the standard portion sizes are simply too big for dancers to integrate into their daily schedules. The body needs time in order to digest; the larger the meal, the more time the digestive process lasts. Ideally, there should be 2 or 3 hours between your main meal and your next dance training. Only then has the digestion progressed far enough that neither a full stomach nor tiredness will interfere with your training. Since lunch breaks for dancers are often less than 2 hours, it is impossible for many dancers to eat a main meal at lunchtime. In order to supply a dancer’s body with sufficient energy, this calls for good time management. The fuller the training schedule, the more necessary it becomes to plan meals well (see Chapter 4, p. 84).

Many people associate a main meal with enough time to prepare, cook, and eat it, and to relax and digest it afterwards. While on a busy rehearsal day, this is not possible at lunchtime, it might be easier to plan for the evening. As a consequence, most dancers consider dinner their main meal – provided there are neither rehearsals nor a performance scheduled in the evening. We need to be careful, however, not to eat too much before going to bed, as it is not easy to sleep with a full stomach. Ideally, there should be 2 to 3 hours between dinner and bedtime. When a late dinner is the only possibility for the main meal of the day, however, you have to prioritize eating. Getting enough calories is more important than having time between eating and sleeping.

Having at least one warm meal a day is important regardless of whether that is in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon, or in the evening. Warm food is not only good for the stomach, it also stimulates the digestive juices, accelerates the actions of enzymes, and helps digestion, in general. Not to mention that numerous foods can only be eaten when cooked.

Even if time is short, it’s always best to have home-cooked food. The repertoire of simple, quick and tasty meals is enormous. Everyone can find what suits them. Only when you prepare the food yourself, can you be sure what’s in it. This way, you can adjust things according to your own needs and tastes. It might be helpful to cook bigger portions which you can then eat the next day or freeze for another time.

Salads as a Main Meal

Green salads are rich in vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients but they do not provide much energy. For salad to become a main meal, complex carbohydrates should be added. Aside from green salads, why not include couscous, bulgur, pasta, beans, lentils, peas, or chickpeas? Or try fresh vegetables as an additional source of carbohydrates and vitamins. Nutritious toppings (see Chapter 5, p. 107) such as toasted croutons, grated cheese, sheep’s or goat’s cheese, as well as eggs, pieces of meat, tofu, nuts, and seeds provide additional carbohydrates, protein and fat. Look for different kinds of salad to mix things up. The more colourful a salad, the more variety of nutrients it contains! Even fruits such as orange segments, pomegranate seeds or raisins can enhance your salads. Making the salad dressing yourself provides you with unlimited options and tastes and can also add important nutrients to your diet.

The ‘Plate of Thirds’ – Healthy Nutrition at a Glance

It is not the size of a portion that determines the quality of the meal. Only a variety of different nutrients can turn the main meal into an optimal source of energy and provide the body with the necessary building blocks. The ‘plate of thirds’ method offers a simple and practical approach to planning a meal without forgetting any important nutrients. Main meals should be of around one third carbohydrates, one third protein and one third salad, vegetables or fruits. This will ensure the fat requirements are automatically met. Remember that foods rich in protein, such as dairy products, meat, fish or nuts, and even vegetables contain fats – even if they are not usually visible.

Snacks – Energy on the Go

For dancers, healthy snacks for breaks are worth their weight in gold. If well selected, they help keep up concentration during the day, stabilize blood sugar levels, avoid ‘energy troughs’, and prevent cravings. Having small portions from time to time provides nutrients for the dancer and won’t require too much work from the digestive tract. Even if advertisements might suggest otherwise, snacks are not synonymous with chocolate bars, fad sports foods, or energy drinks. These may be well packaged and easy to take along but as industrially processed foods, they do not provide much in the way of natural nutrients. The quick energy they provide is misleading. They are not advisable as an everyday snack.

There are numerous natural alternatives, which not only provide diversity in flavours but are also easier on the wallet. When picking a snack, different people prefer different things: some like a juicy apple, and others prefer to make their own yoghurt creations. The important thing about a snack is that it provides energy quickly and does not lie heavily in your stomach while dancing.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Cleaned and sliced vegetables such as peppers, carrots or cucumber are tasty little fillers to snack on. Fruits, whether whole or cut up, provide you with carbohydrates and fibre as well as with many vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. If you are in a hurry, a glass of fruit or vegetable juice is a valuable source of nutrients. But be careful! Make sure you know which fruits and raw vegetables are palatable for you. If you experience flatulence, don’t feel well, or get a stomach ache, this may be caused by the amount of food or by the chosen fruit or vegetable themselves. Experiment with adjusting the portion or trying alternatives.

Making Your Own Fruit Yoghurt

Plain yoghurt mixed with fruit not only tastes fresher than the fruit yoghurts one can buy, it also has more vitamins and a lot less sugar and chemical aromas. Often processed fruit yoghurts don’t have any real fruit at all and a 150 g pot can contain the equivalent of up to five sugar cubes. Making your own fruit yoghurt is not hard: mix fruit with plain yoghurt, sweeten as desired and decorate with toppings such as nuts or chocolate flakes – a healthy snack with protein and vitamins prepared in under 2 minutes. Just put it into a lunch box to take with you.

Fruit and Muesli Bars

Fruit and muesli bars are practical snacks. Yet, their quality varies a lot. When shopping, it is important to read the label (see Chapter 5, p. 101) and avoid products with unnecessary added sugar or with artificial ingredients and preservatives as much as possible.

Dried Fruits

Dried fruits are a good choice for snacks. They keep well and, just like fresh fruits, they contain carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and fibre. Be careful about the amount you eat. Dried fruits have the same sugar content as whole fruit, but through the process of drying, they seem smaller. This can seduce you into eating more. Keep in mind how many you would eat if they were fresh fruits. Dried fruits can put an undue pressure on the digestive tract. Avoid candied dried fruits as they have high amounts of sugar. Dried fruits are often treated with sulphur to extend shelf life. This does not make them unhealthy, but in large quantities, these treated fruits may cause headaches or nausea in some people. If you have the choice during shopping, you are better off choosing the dried fruits without sulphur, even though they might not look as attractive as their counterparts.

Nuts

Due to their high concentration of B vitamins, nuts are known as food for the brain and nervous system. But nuts have much more to offer: they contain easily digestible proteins, unsaturated fats, magnesium, calcium and iron. Combined with dried fruits, in a ‘trail mix’ they are a good snack for strength and condition. Nut butter as a spread is popular, irrespective of the nut variety used: hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews or macadamia nuts. But watch out: some may contain a high amount of added sugar and artificial additives and, depending on the brand and ingredients used, there can be a tremendous difference in quality.

Porridge and Muesli

These are not only a good choice for a substantial breakfast (see p. 56), but porridge or muesli make perfect snacks to supply quick energy. Simply prepare a bit more in the evening or at breakfast and take along in a lunch box.

Sandwiches

Wholegrain bread, whether with whole kernels or made from wholegrain flour (see p. 57), provides complex carbohydrates and numerous other nutrients, depending on the spreads used. The more colourful and creative the topping, the more the nutritional variety can be achieved. Even a ‘boring’ cheese or hummus sandwich can be refined by adding salad, vegetables, or sprouts. Crispbreads or corn-, rice- or amaranth crackers can add variety. They provide quick energy, are filling, and do not sit heavily in the stomach. They offer tasty alternatives as a replacement for bread in sandwiches.

Smoothies

Smoothies are popular but their ingredients are not always clearly defined. Usually they refer to shakes made from puréed fruit and/or vegetables mixed with a variety of fluids. Unlike to fruit or vegetable juices, smoothies use the whole fruit, often including the skins. The fruit and/or vegetables from the blender are mixed with water, tea, milk, plant-based milks or coconut water. Due to the high density of nutrients, the smoothie is a substantial snack, and this can be the problem. The large amount of fruits and/or vegetables can put a strain on the digestive tract and hamper digestion. Be careful about the portion sizes! Ready-made products or fresh smoothies from the juice bar can also be expensive. A good alternative might be to prepare your own smoothies and dilute them with additional fluids to make them more easily digestible.

Practice Makes Perfect – Some General Information

Eating colourful and varied meals is one of the magic formulas of a healthy diet. In everyday life, however, what sounds so simple can often be difficult to do. It is easy to fall into routines, to stick to old habits, and to not venture into new dietary terrain. Eating pasta with the same vegetable and tomato sauce five times a week offers neither variety in taste nor in nutrients, and always biting into the same sort of apples can dampen your enthusiasm for fresh fruits. Trying to think of creative menus can become overwhelming, especially on top of busy rehearsal days. Your meals do not have to be exotic. Even just a few simple tips can help to liven up your dietary habits.

Eat with All Senses

Eating with all senses will almost automatically lead you to more variety. Filling your meal plan with foods that appeal to all five senses guarantees that the body receives a broad range of nutrients. Think of things that smell and taste different, look different, make different sounds when being eaten, and feel different when being chewed. This ensures that your diet will not be too monotonous.

Tasting

Our sense of taste allows us to differentiate sweet, sour, bitter, salty and spicy. Savour them all! Try to eat mindfully and find new types of flavours alongside your current favourites. Our tastes change over time, and foods we once rejected can become our favourites years later.

Smelling

The aroma of food contributes immensely to taste and flavour. With a congested nose, even our favourite foods can taste bland. Aroma influences our appetite, stimulates digestion, and makes us feel hungry. Everyone knows the feeling of their stomachs grumbling when they smell their neighbour’s tasty cooking.

Seeing

Colourful fruits and vegetables are not only attractive, they are also hugely important to our health. The wider the spectrum of colours, the broader the varieties of vitamins they contain. Thus, a red apple offers a different combination of nutrients than a green cucumber, a yellow apricot, or a white turnip.

Hearing

It also pays to listen to the way the foods sound when we eat them. A crisp pepper or soft bread: the different sounds reveal the different textures.

Touching

Soft, hard, creamy, tough or fluid – our palates enjoy different textures. A variation in sensation and consistency is also good for the chewing muscles and teeth.

Warm or Cold?

Habits may differ, but, as a dancer, one should eat at least one warm meal a day. The ideal time for a warm meal differs for each individual. Some prefer a warm lunch, others enjoy the quiet of the evening for a relaxed, warm dinner. If neither of these alternatives fit into the day’s plan, there is still the possibility of having a warm breakfast (see p. 59). More than one warm meal per day is recommended as a preventive measure in cold seasons, or if you have constantly cold hands and feet, or frequent infections. A warm meal provides a feeling of relaxation and eases digestion. One must also bear in mind that the nutrients in some foods are only edible when cooked. On the other hand, cooking for too long can be detrimental to the nutritional value of food. Overcooked vegetables not only lose their freshness, texture, and colour but also a large portion of their vitamins. Cold foods, such as raw vegetables or salads, may contain the whole spectrum of micronutrients, but some people experience digestive problems when eating large amounts of raw foods. If raw foods tend to make you feel uncomfortable, consider the size and timing of the portion. For many people, a mixed salad is easy to digest in the daytime, but eating it in the evening can be stressful for the digestive tract.

Understanding Sugar

Sweet foods are very popular. One of the reasons for this lies in our genes: we have a genetic preference for sweets, as most sweet things in nature are safe to eat. For thousands of centuries, eating sweet things meant survival. Today, things have changed. We consume enormous amounts of sugar. On average, an adult consumes 36 kg of sugar a year, which is about 100 g a day. Consuming high levels of sugar leads to a dulling of our taste buds, and this becomes a vicious cycle. We need more and more in order to recognize a sweet taste.

Strictly speaking, the term ‘sugar’ stands for all forms of carbohydrates, because chemically seen, carbohydrates are composed of long chains of various sugar molecules (see Chapter 1, p. 13). When speaking of sugar in our daily lives, we mostly think of white, refined sugar, as can be found in sugar bowls in many households. This kind of sugar provides the body with quick energy. Other than that, it has little to offer, since the vitamins and minerals present in the original products, such as sugar cane or sugar beet, are lost in industrial processing.

Whole cane sugar, raw cane sugar and honey are less intensely processed sweeteners and contain additional nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Maple syrup, agave juice, fruit syrup (from apples, pears, or grapes) as well as sugar beet syrup or rice syrup are sweeter than sugar. Hence, smaller amounts suffice to achieve the desired effect. Stevia, a sweetening plant, is still quite new to the market. This sweetener has no calories and has 300 times more sweetening power than glucose. The licorice-like aftertaste, however, is not to everyone’s taste. Be careful when using stevia, as the extreme sweetness can easily overstimulate the taste buds.

Many processed foods contain added sugars as a preservative or as a flavour enhancer. These so-called ‘hidden sugars’ make up large portions of our daily sugar consumption. Even savoury foods, such as potato crisps, instant soups, or other ready-meals frequently contain sweeteners. Be aware of products labelled ‘no sugar’ or ‘sugar free’. They usually contain artificial sweeteners.

Comfort Foods

Everyone knows the value of comfort food. The piece of chocolate as a reward, the handful of crisps to help one relax and the recipe from Mum that reminds us of old times. ‘Comfort food’ is important for the soul. Everyone develops his or her own preferences over the course of their lifetime. We associate positive feelings with our favourite foods. They make us feel safe, secure, comfortable, or loved. In life, there are countless situations that make us reach for comfort food. It might be a stressful rehearsal, a hurtful comment from a teacher, or an argument with friends. In such cases, we eat to satisfy our deepest human needs. This may become a problem, if food is regularly used to soothe one’s feelings. Especially when one’s comfort foods are unhealthy or lack variety, one’s diet can become one-sided.

Food in Balance – a Planning Aid

If one follows the recommendations of nutritional science, making a healthy and balanced nutritional plan is not difficult (see Diagram 3.2, p. 74). When planning both daily and weekly menus, consider each food group’s recommended portion size and how often it should be eaten per week. This will ensure that your body is offered a comprehensive selection of all important nutrients. A helpful tip for your daily main meal: be sure to choose a wide range of carbohydrate sources, and alternate them on a daily basis. This automatically gives you a healthy variety in your menus.

Dietary Supplements – Are They Necessary?

Many dancers face the same problem: intense physical demands on their bodies and excessive sweating dramatically increase their nutrient, vitamin and mineral requirements. In order to keep a slim figure, however, many dancers tend to severely restrict their food intake. This can lead to nutritional deficiencies that can have far-reaching consequences. A lack of vitamins and minerals restricts the ability to perform and puts an undue strain on the body. It may only seem natural to take dietary supplements. Although the shelves in the supermarkets are stacked with the widest variety of products, from multivitamins to pressed fruit and vegetable extracts, we know that vitamins from pills and powders do not have the same effect as the synergy of nutrients we get through food. Nature provides complex foods and not individual macro- or micronutrients. It is possible that the effects attributed to the individual nutrients might simply be a result of the combined effect. It is questionable whether and to what extent vitamins and minerals given to the body in isolated form can be used by the body.

Randomly taking over-the-counter dietary supplements should be avoided. Some of them may not have much effect, others can even cause health problems when certain limits are exceeded. If you suspect a mineral or vitamin deficiency, this should be verified through a blood test. In case of a deficiency, it is best to make up for the missing nutrients through appropriate food (see Chapter 7, p. 151). A possible supplementation by pills should be discussed with your general practitioner.

If Things Don’t Run Smoothly – Digestive Problems and Food Intolerances

Digestive difficulties can have several causes, for example, overeating, stress, food intolerances or simply the wrong food at the wrong time. Then the digestion goes on strike, and each person’s body reacts in its own individual way: a bloated belly, feeling too full, stomach aches, diarrhoea, constipation, heartburn, or nausea. As different as these symptoms may be, they have one thing in common, they cause discomfort when dancing.

If digestive problems occur frequently, do not accept them as a necessary evil. It pays to observe when they occur, and which food seems to be causing the reaction. Also consider under which circumstances the symptoms occur. It is not unusual that a simple change in the combination of foods, preparation methods, or the timing of the meal can help to relieve unwanted symptoms.

Digestion Is Work

The process of digestion is complex: food must be broken down, transported through the digestive tract, nutrients must be absorbed through the intestinal walls and waste must be eliminated. The gastrointestinal tract needs peace and quiet to do its work. As normal rehearsal days are usually so busy, time is something that dancers do not necessarily grant their bodies. Time pressure can lead to digestive problems, and this – among other things – is due to the mechanisms that control digestion. The parasympathetic nervous system has the control over digestion. It is part of the autonomic nervous system which is also responsible for relaxation (see Chapter 1, p. 10). During hard-working days it has hardly any chance of doing its job. The process of digestion slows down and the food needs longer to pass through the stomach and intestines. Dancing then shakes the bolus around inside the digestive tract, disturbing the process of digestion even more. Adjusting one’s meal times can be a helpful solution (see Chapter 4, p. 84).

When dancing, the muscles and the digestive tract are in direct competition. Both compete for the available resources of blood. During intense physical activity, the body sends blood to the muscles. In the digestive tract, circulation sinks by 20% compared with when resting. Digestion is slowed down and the absorption of nutrients is impeded. Even after an intense workout, the circulation to the intestinal mucous membranes only increases slowly and digestion is still severely inhibited.

Food Intolerance

Gluten-free bread, muesli without fructose, lactose-free milk; the problems of food intolerances have long arrived on the supermarket shelves. Yet, it is easy to get the terminology confused.

What many people refer to as a food allergy is, in reality, an intolerance to a specific food. This is an important differentiation to make: if a food allergy is truly present, a tiny trace of the food in question can cause life-threatening symptoms, whereas with an intolerance, the problems are rather uncomfortable, but not life-threatening.

If problems like flatulence, nausea, stomach aches, cramps, diarrhoea, or circulatory problems repeatedly arise after a certain meal, seek advice from your doctor. Some food intolerances can be diagnosed by specific tests and can be treated, thus avoiding long-term discomfort.

Lactose Intolerance

The term ‘lactose intolerance’ describes an intolerance of milk sugar. This is not to be confused with the intolerance of milk protein, nor with a milk protein allergy. Lactose, milk sugar, is a natural component of animal milks. The enzyme lactase is responsible for digesting milk sugar and dividing it for absorption through the intestinal mucous membranes. Lactase is found in the intestinal mucous membrane. During a lifetime, most people experience a decrease in the production of lactase, hence the amount of lactose that can be digested is reduced. Therefore, by sticking to the usual amount of dairy products, one can overstrain the intestines’ ability to digest lactose. Instead of being absorbed into the blood through the intestinal walls, it travels onwards to the large intestine, where intestinal bacteria continue the process of fermentation, resulting in uncomfortable flatulence, stomach pains, and even diarrhoea and cramps.

Most people with a lactose intolerance still have a residual amount of lactase, meaning that they can digest small amounts of milk sugar without problems and do not need to give up dairy products completely. Often it is sufficient to limit the consumption of fresh dairy products, switching instead to fermented products, such as yoghurt, kefir, or Quark. Being further processed, these foods contain a smaller amount of lactose, and therefore are more easily digested. Be aware that many ready-to-eat products, sweets, baked goods, and other snacking foods may contain milk sugars or added milk powder. Consider the lactose in such products when calculating your total intake of lactose. If dietary changes do not bring relief, you may need to consider switching to lactose-free products (see Chapter 5, p. 104).

Fructose Intolerance

When fructose, the sugar found in fruits, cannot be sufficiently absorbed by the intestines, the common symptoms are stomach aches, flatulence, diarrhoea, and headaches. Here, the cause is that the transport system with which the fruit sugar is normally carried from the intestines into the blood, is overworked. If the amount of fructose in the digestive tract exceeds the capacity of the system then fructose remains in the intestines. As is the case with lactose, a fermentation process begins in the large intestine with similarly uncomfortable and unwanted results.

Fructose is artificially added to numerous foods to enhance sweetness. Since fructose has no influence on blood sugar level, it was marketed as a healthier and more natural alternative to sugar for many years. Many salad dressings, sauces, or ketchups may contain large amounts of fructose. A large concentration of fructose in food comes with a price: the number of people suffering from fructose intolerance is rising.

Glucose can raise one’s tolerance for fructose, as glucose stimulates the transport system. This is why most people’s tolerance of various kinds of fruit varies. Each fruit has an individual glucose–fructose ratio, making some easier to digest than others. Some people with a fructose intolerance can easily digest bananas but have difficulty with apples. When one looks at the glucose–fructose ratio, one sees that bananas have a ratio of 1.5:1, whereas apples have a ratio of 1:3. The higher ratio of fructose in apples makes them harder to digest for someone with an intolerance.

Gluten Intolerance

Gluten, a protein in grains, is found in wheat, spelt, barley and rye. An intolerance of gluten can considerably restrict the diet. One must avoid all grains containing gluten, as well as all products made from these grains. This is an enormous change to one’s diet. Yet, strictly avoiding gluten is only necessary in the case of a coeliac disease diagnosis. Coeliac disease is an inflammatory auto-immune condition of the small intestine which also frequently affects other bodily systems and can cause severe health problems if left untreated. People with a genetic disposition for coeliac disease can develop symptoms at any age. The disease is usually revealed through discomforts such as stomach pains, diarrhoea, or rapid weight loss but it can also lead to less specific symptoms such as anaemia, osteoporosis, skin changes, tiredness, or joint pains. The symptoms can only be relieved if the patient maintains a strictly gluten-free diet.In Central Europe, approximately one person in a hundred suffers from coeliac disease. That is a lot, yet the number of people who restrict their gluten consumption while not suffering from this disease is considerably larger. Avoiding gluten in foods makes them feel lighter in their stomachs and intestines after eating. They report experiencing less flatulence, stomach aches, or diarrhoea, and feeling more awake and agile. The subjective improvement of the symptoms is usually enough motivation to take on a gluten-free diet. Once the digestive system has calmed down, the symptoms have lessened, and the body feels more relaxed, one can gradually reintroduce food items containing gluten to one’s diet. This way, one can determine one’s personal limit, above which the consumption of gluten causes the symptoms to return. This limit differs from person to person.

Histamine Intolerance

Histamines play an important role in the human immune system. While it is produced by the body itself, it is also found in numerous foods. Histamine can become a problem when the body’s enzymes cannot break it down quickly enough. In this case, symptoms, such as itching, reddening of the skin, headaches, but also nausea, vomiting, stomach pains, or diarrhoea, can develop after consuming foods containing histamines. Histamine intolerance is the body’s negative reaction to some histamine-containing foods. Currently, reliable methods of diagnosing histamine intolerance are the subject of hot scientific debate. As the amount of histamines in food varies greatly, based on level of processing and length of storage, it is almost impossible to give specific recommendations about individual foods. While there are recommendations about which foods should be avoided, the reliability of the data on this matter is controversial.