Having read the material and learnt about healthy nutrition strategies, many people get giddy with excitement at the prospect of changing their diet. Yet, implementing it into one’s everyday life is a challenge and some fail to put their good intentions into practice. Hardly anyone succeeds in adjusting their entire diet in one day. Having developed over long periods of time, our dietary preferences make us feel protected and secure. It takes curiosity, courage, and determination to challenge these long-tested preferences and to enter new worlds of tastes. Tastes are habits, and old habits die hard.
Tip 
✓Take your time! Don’t do it all at once. Integrate new nutritional habits into your daily life, step by step.
Preparation Is the Key – Shop with a Plan
Good nutrition starts with the preparation. How are you supposed to prepare a tasty meal after dancing if there is nothing at home apart from toast? Yet, it can be hard to determine how to have a full refrigerator without excessive food waste. This is not only a problem for dancers. Far too many groceries land in the rubbish bin! Goal-oriented planning helps prevent these problems, protecting not only the environment but also your wallet.
Many dancers do their shopping in the form of a quick dash to the supermarket in between trainings or on their way home. Standing in the supermarket, they get overwhelmed by the sheer endless choices. Out of habit or due to lack of time, they end up choosing the same items as always or exit the store with a shopping bag full of things they do not really need. Once again, advertising has fulfilled its purpose!
The only way out of this dilemma is to have a specific plan. It is helpful to know your preferences and what your meal plan looks like for the coming days. The more precise your planning, the easier it is to resist the seductive offers of the advertisments and to focus on the products you need.
The idea of a shopping list may not sound particularly fun, but it helps you to do the shopping more quickly and efficiently, and without forgetting something important. Knowing what you are looking for means being less susceptible to marketing strategies. Don’t forget supermarkets have many tricks up their sleeves: extra-large shopping trolleys offer lots of space and end up looking empty for longer than one might expect. On the shelves, expensive products are placed at eye level; for the less expensive things you have to bend down or stretch to the top shelf. Special offers, such as the typical ‘buy one, get one free’ advertising, seduce you into buying more than you really need, and shelves close to the cashier motivate you to buy things in the spur of the moment. But, if you have planned your shopping in advance, you can get through the store in less time and save money.
Hunger is a bad adviser. If you go shopping with a growling stomach, you tend to buy larger amounts of groceries, choose foods that contain more sugars and fats, and are more easily influenced by advertising. Have a little snack before doing the shopping to appease your hunger.
Keep a shopping list in your kitchen. There, it is easily accessible and you can add things as you need them, ensuring it is always up to date. This is more effective than making a list shortly before your shopping trip. You should also always have some basic ingredients at home so that you can prepare a breakfast and a simple main meal without needing to plan and shop for it.
Table 5.1:Basic food list – what you should always have in stock
The basic supplies should regularly be complemented with eggs, meat, fish, tofu, as well as with your favourite food necessary for your preferred recipes.
There are many choices when it comes to the question of where to buy food: discount markets, supermarkets, organic supermarkets or the local farmers’ market. Everyone has to find an individual solution based on personal preferences, location, and budget.
Discount stores may have both fresh groceries and long-life items at a reasonable price. Even though cheap does not necessarily mean lower quality, you should pay some attention to the quality of what you buy.
Supermarkets offer an extensive range of products in various price categories from reasonably priced to expensive brand products. Some supermarkets offer their own brands, which are usually cheaper in comparison. Most of them offer fresh goods at meat, fish, or cheese counters. The wide selection on offer can seduce you into buying more than you can eat.
Products from organic supermarkets generally contain fewer environmental pollutants and added preservatives. Fresh foods are often locally sourced and there is a focus on seasonal products. Yet ‘organic’ might mean higher cost. While it is nice to avoid pesticides and herbicides, and support a way of farming that reduces pollution, organic foods may or may not necessarily have more nutrients. Consulting the label is still advisable (see p. 101).
The big advantage of farmers’ markets is the direct link between producers and consumers. You can ask the vendors directly where the products come from and which ingredients they contain. What is sold is usually fresh, regional, and seasonal. The disadvantage is that visiting these markets takes time. Since farmers’ markets are only held on certain days, one has to plan the visit in advance. Additionally, prices can also vary, so it is not always possible to plan expenses ahead of time.
Some large farms, individual farmers, and food co-ops offer subscription services, which regularly deliver crates of seasonal and locally sourced fruits and vegetables to your home or central drop-off location. This method can save you a trip to the store, ensures the product is fresh, and, since they often feature forgotten or rarer kinds of produce, they give you a chance to discover foods you would not usually purchase. They often even include recipes and suggestions for preparing the less-well-known fruits and vegetables. This makes your diet more varied, offers the chance to try new flavours, and gives you a good reason to invite some friends over for dinner. Yet, because these services support small farmers and not large subsidized operations, they might be more expensive and delivery might be complicated depending on your schedule.
If you want to learn more about the contents of packaged foods, it is worth learning how to read food labels. At first sight, labels may be rather confusing, but once you understand how the legally required information is displayed, they are easy to decipher.The European Union requires a label on every packaged food to include the so-called ‘Big 7’. They include the amounts of total calories in the food, the amounts of fat, saturated fatty acids, carbohydrates, sugar, protein, and salt. To ensure comparability, these data are always calibrated to the amount contained within 100 g or 100 ml. Portion size might be a different story, and this is where doing some calculations becomes necessary.
Aside from the required data, labels often include voluntary data, which vary depending on the different producers. Among these are:
•amounts per portion;
•percentage of the daily total requirement for an adult; this calculation is based on a 2000 kcal/8400 kJ diet;
•amounts of fibres or other nutrients.
In addition to the nutritional data, labels contain a list of ingredients and additional substances. Individual ingredients are listed in the order of the prevalence, starting with the most abundant ingredient. The more processed a product is, the longer its list of ingredients and additives. Every additive has its own ‘E’ number. Additives will either be listed with their scientific or common names (for example, Azorubin or azo dye), or with their E number (i.e. E 122). This can easily cause confusion.
Diagram 5.1:The label of a fruit yoghurt
Table 5.2:Examples of additives
| Artificial colourants, preservatives, antioxidants, acidity regulators, sweeteners, emulsifiers, stabilizers, thickeners, flavour enhancers, gelling agents, etc. |
Think twice before reaching for produce that has been shipped a long distance. Often, it has been picked before ripening, and transported for a long time. It is questionable how many nutrients are retained in these fruits and vegetables. Their taste also suffers. Never getting the chance to ripen fully, they often taste quite bland. If you value fresh fruits and vegetables, high in natural nutrients, seasonal and regional products are your best bet. As these products have had more chance to ripen, spend less time in transport and storage, it is assumed that they contain more nutrients when purchased by the consumers. When doing the shopping, pay attention to the origin of your groceries. Buying local products pays off, it stimulates the local economy and is better for the environment.
Organic food is fashionable. There are various seals and labels guaranteeing organic quality and many supermarkets and discounters offering their own line of organic products. The lack of clear criteria for these organic seals makes it hard to differentiate and assess the actual quality of the product. All organic products must come from ecological farms. But some seals also emphasize economical use of water during production or ecological packaging. If you do not feel like keeping track of the different criteria for the different labels, you can at least trust the fact that an organic product has been made without antibiotics or insecticides, and contains no added sweeteners, artificial colours, stabilizers, or flavour enhancers. Statistics suggest that those buying organic products shop with more awareness and throw away fewer foods.
‘Free From’ and ‘Diet’ Products – the Power of Advertising
Sugar-free, gluten-free, lactose-free – lately, even water bottles have been labelled ‘fat free’. This should cause us to think. One of food advertisings’ central interests is making products seem healthy. When it comes to certain ingredients, less is more. Yet, what many people do not know is that many ‘fat free’ or ‘diet’ products get their flavour from added sugar. When fat is missing from food, it loses its flavour. In order to compensate for the otherwise bland foods, manufacturers of ‘diet’ products compensate for this by adding sugar to enhance at least the flavour of sweetness.
Also, gluten- or lactose-free foods are often thought to be especially healthy. Many people are convinced that buying lactose-free milk means doing something good for their bodies. But the opposite is the true. While lactose-free products are immensely helpful to people who suffer from a lactose intolerance (see Chapter 3, p. 79), they have been extensively processed and that, in general, is not very healthy. Similarly, gluten-free foods serve no purpose for people not suffering from coeliac disease or any other sensitivity to gluten. On the contrary, replacing gluten often means adding more fats or sugars to breads or cakes. Consuming gluten-free baked goods as a preventive measure is not a good idea.
Cooking Tips for Everyday Life
Ideas for recipes are everywhere: a cooking app on your phone, a radio show, or podcast with advice on healthy cooking, or a tried-and-tested family favourite from a cook book. How much effort you devote to cooking depends on your individual experience and passion for cooking, as well as on your daily habits and free time. Cooking is more than the practical preparation of energy for the body. Cooking means taking care of yourself and becoming attuned to your own wishes. Cooking can help you relax and find little sanctuaries in the midst of a hectic life. Cooking with friends is a sociable event and provides a change to your own everyday eating habits. Yet, it pays to cook your own meals even when you are eating by yourself. Home-cooked meals do not need to be five-course affairs; even a quick and simple dish can provide the necessary nutrients and the comfort of self-care. And if you prepare a little extra, it can even last you for a few days.
Tips
✓Find a few basic recipes that are simple and quick. Make sure you always have those ingredients on hand.
✓When cooking a warm meal, prepare a few extra portions. You can warm these up for the next day, have them as a cold snack, or freeze them for later.
Many foods, especially vegetables, are sensitive to light, oxygen and heat. For them to retain their vitamins and other nutrients, they should not be stored too long and not be exposed to a lot of light. Vegetables in particular should be cooked with as little water as possible. Fried briefly in oil, or heated with a little water, they stay crunchy and fresh, which retains most of their nutrients. We use the terms boiling, blanching, stewing, or steaming, depending on the amount of water used.
refers to cooking food in plenty of boiling water (for example, pasta or potatoes). When vegetables are boiled, portions of their water-soluble vitamins and minerals disseminate into the water. In this case, it is good to re-use the water, for example, to make soups or sauces.
refers to foods being briefly put into boiling water, or boiling water being poured over them. If it is called for in the recipe, it is good to know that fruits and vegetables, such as peaches or tomatoes, are easier to peel after blanching.
refers to heating foods by placing them in small amounts of fluids. Here, you can either use little quantities of water, soup, oil, or wine, or the fluids of the produce itself. This method is especially useful for items containing lots of water, such as fruits, vegetables, fish, or meats. A loss of nutrients is minimized.
refers to a method involving a special steam cooker or a sieve placed over a pot with boiling water. The ingredients are cooked in steam, produced from a mixture of water heated to boiling point, and air. Through this careful preparation, colour, form and nutrients are almost completely retained. This method is especially useful for vegetables and fish.
Acquiring a small collection of oils supplies you with a range of palatable, healthy fats (see Table 1.6, p. 22). Different oils have different heating temperatures and it is advisable to pay attention to which ones are best for heating foods and which ones taste best when cold.
Smoking oil in a pan is not a good sign. If it turns brown and develops a stinging smell, it has been heated beyond its capacity and begins to oxidize. Stop right there! Overheated oils develop harmful substances and should not be used for cooking. Olive, rape, peanut, or sesame oils are well suited to being heated. But be aware that every oil has a point beyond which is starts to oxidize. Thistle, sunflower, pumpkin seed, and linseed oils are especially susceptible to heat. They are better used in cold dishes such as salads or dips, or to refine soups shortly before serving.
How long the oil keeps depends on how it is processed. Refined oils are intensively processed; they are clear and have a relatively neutral smell and taste. Cold pressed oils do not keep as long, but they are more intensive in aroma and richer in vitamins, antioxidants and phytonutrients.
For years, olive oil has been one of the favourites among the healthy oils. Due to its composition, it can be used in cooking or cold in dressings or toppings.
Pressing: oil is mechanically extracted from the fruits. Cold pressed oils contain many healthy elements from pulp and seeds.
Extraction: with the help of chemical solvents, large amounts of oil are extracted from the fruits, nuts, or seeds.
Refining: in order to make oil lasting and stable when heated, parts of the pulp are removed, including vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. Refined oil has a neutral taste, a light colour and it retains almost none of the characteristics of the original product.
Healthy Toppings – Sprouts, Seeds, etc.
Healthy toppings improve the quality of meals. They can be added to a salad, as the finishing touch on a bowl of pasta, as a nut or seed spread added to the morning muesli, or in the form of ginger grated into orange juice. This way, a meal is easily enriched with more vitamins, minerals, proteins, healthy fats, and phytonutrients! Aside from different kinds of cheese (sheep’s cheese, cottage cheese, parmesan or varieties of plant-based cheeses), many fruits make excellent add-ons, for example, tangerines, pineapple or pomegranate seeds.
Sprouts are full of nutrients! Cress or watercress are healthy choices but a whole array of plants can be eaten as sprouts, such as soy and mung beans, and a diverse variety of grains and vegetables. Especially during the winter season, when fruits and vegetables are less readily available, they make a great nutrient-rich supplement to your meals!
Seeds, such as linseeds, sunflower, sesame, poppy, or chia seeds, as well as pine nuts and other nuts make great additions to muesli and salads, and serve as perfect toppings for soups or pasta. They are a valuable source of vitamins, minerals, fats, and protein.
Herbs and spices give a meal its particular taste. But that’s not all they do. Other than their aroma, they provide numerous healthy substances such as phytonutrients and antioxidants. Herbs and spices are plant products: saffron and cloves come from flowers, cinnamon is from bark, ginger and curcuma are roots, and pepper, caraway, anise, or nutmeg come from fruits and seeds. Several spices are also known for their healing properties and can be used medicinally. Caraway, for example, can ease digestive difficulties and sage soothes sore throats. Take some time to experiment with spices. When used cleverly, they provide for a variety of tastes and can eliminate omnipresent soup powders from your kitchen.
There are many reasons for closely scrutinizing ready-made meals, especially if you want to be fit for dancing. What is really contained in these products is often hard to tell, even after studying the labels. Ready-made meals usually owe their long durability and their taste to artificially added preservatives and chemical aromas. They also frequently provide ‘empty calories’ in the form of fat and sugar, and healthy nutrients are often lacking.
Frozen Foods – the Difference Is in the Details
From frozen pizzas to ready-made meals to frozen vegetables, fruits, or herbs, there is a large variety of frozen foods. But should you really stock up your supplies with frozen foods? The answer is both yes and no; it depends on what products you buy. In general, avoid ready-to-eat products, but frozen vegetables, fruits or fish fillets can enrich your diet. Once again, the general rule applies: the less processed the food, the more nutritious it is.
Tip
Keep a supply of portion-size vegetables in your freezer. They often contain more nutrients than many ‘fresh’ vegetables, which spent too much time stored in the shop and your refrigerator.
Frozen fruits and vegetables can even contain larger amounts of nutrients than their ‘fresh’ versions. If fresh vegetables have been transported over a long distance, and are stored in poor conditions for too long, they not only lose their freshness, they also lose nutrients. If fruits and vegetables are frozen directly after they have been harvested, most of the nutrients will be retained. Be careful when defrosting them, as water-soluble vitamins and minerals can be lost with the melting fluids.
Foods in Cans and Glass Jars – Better Than Their Reputation
Cleverly selected canned foods can also be a helpful addition to your fresh groceries. Don’t reach for whole dishes or products with added sauces. They are rich in preservatives and usually not very tasty. Cans or jars with tomatoes, beans, corn, chickpeas or beetroot can, however, complement the supply in your pantry and offer a good basis for warm meals.
Even though it might sound that way, the expiry date on the package is not a ‘throw-away date’ – especially for foods that can be easily checked, such as yoghurt, Quark, or cheese. Have a good look at them, smell, and perhaps taste them carefully, and then decide if they can be eaten or not. No-longer-fresh and crisp fruits or vegetables can often still be used for cooking, provided they are not rotten or moldy. If the same groceries repeatedly spoil, check that the way you store them is correct.
Good planning is crucial if you are out and about all day and still want to ensure a balanced diet. The least expensive way would be to prepare meals at home and take them with you in well-packaged containers. This way, you have something healthy to eat in your break and don’t waste valuable break time standing in line.
Whether in your hometown or on tour, try to explore different options for eating out.
We all lack time and motivation to prepare food for the next day sometimes, and in such cases, it is important to know where you can find healthy foods in your neighborhood or around your place of work, so that this doesn’t become a problem.
Cafeterias offer inexpensive and quick ways of getting food at one’s school or place of work. Provided the quality of the food is sufficient, it is worth taking advantage of them. Cafeterias, however, differ in quality, depending on their size, their methods of food preparation and delivery, and their ways of keeping the food warm. Making food in huge quantities and at cheap prices often causes the quality to suffer. Cafeterias often use large amount of fats and salt to improve the taste of their meals, while the long periods of keeping them warm destroys vitamins in the foods.
Here are a few pointers to help you gauge the quality of a cafeteria: do they offer main dishes with vegetables, roasted meats, or fish? Is there a selection of side dishes such as multicoloured vegetables, potatoes or rice served without additional sauces and fat? Do they look fresh? Is there fresh fruit? Is there a salad bar? If individual components can be selected, then you can look through the offers of fresh foods and combine them yourself. If it is only a short break and another rehearsal is about to begin, make sure to only take a small portion. While half-portions are often only slightly cheaper than full meals, your stomach will thank you.
If regularly eating cafeteria meals, for example, in boarding school, leads to weight changes and lack of energy, examining the contents of your meals more closely can be a helpful first step.
Restaurants with Fresh Lunch Specials
Especially in the bigger cities, there is a growing trend for small restaurants to offer daily changing, inexpensive lunch menus, often even available as take outs. You can find fresh, varied meals, available in small portions. Finding these in your local city can pay off!
Avoid fast food venues such as pizza, hamburgers, or noodles. These meals almost always contain too many fats, sugars, and artificial additives. Food from fast food venues should be a rare exception in a dancer’s diet.
It is also possible to order good-quality foods directly to your home. It has its price, but especially in the larger cities, the options are plentiful. It is not a solution for every day, but investigating the offer can be worthwhile.
If there is a supermarket with a good selection in the vicinity of your dance school or studio, it is easy to put together a healthy lunch. Breads with spreads, fruit, vegetables and dairy products offer varied and healthy options, and at the same time, gives you the opportunity to shop for your main meals at home.
Most bakeries offer sandwiches in addition to breads and sweet baked goods. Look for wholegrain breads with cheese, hummus, and additional vegetables. Sauces with mayonnaise, pieces of pizza, filled croissants or fried doughnuts are less recommended. If the sandwich from the bakery becomes your daily routine, it is time to think about your meal planning. Often, the ingredients for a tasty sandwich are in your fridge at home, so use them up before they go off.