The Dancer's Diet

I just read the recent post from Junk Food Science. I highly recommend reading this blog. It is insightful and makes you really wonder what is healthful and what isn't. What struck me about this particular post was that is was about dancers and the diet that is encouraged among them. I don't know how much I have mentioned of it, but I did ballet from the time I was 3 to the time I was 16. I was with Ballet Austin for 3 years. They never came out and told me I was over weight, which I was, or that I needed to change the way I ate. In fact, when we had nutritionists come to speak with us I once asked if drinking 2 cups of water with a meal was good in order to fill yourself before you ate and they flat out said no. Eat when you are hungry. I was 4' 10" and 140 pounds. I have PCOS. I blame it on that, but I was eating junk. I was unhealthy. I didn't think anything of eating a KFC crispy chicken wrap before dance and then dinner afterward. I was sick all the time. I always had rashes and I was overweight even though I was dancing 10-15 hours a week.

My teachers would give me comments about keeping my tummy in and I never got a good part even when I should have. I was always the bon bon in the Nutcracker. If you have ever seen it you know that bon bons are clowns in puffy costumes. Yes, me the fat girl, I was the clown.

My complex with ballet and dieting has come out now that I am thin. I freak out with the gain of a pound even if I know it was because I drank more the day before or ate more fruit. It is bad to me. I was never taught that you should eat a certain thing or not eat a certain thing, but being around very thin people and feeling the deprivation because I wasn't one of them, I now have issues. I now hate when I am bloated because to me it isn't what is "healthy" looking in my mind.
I'm taking psychology this semester and I know that it is reaction formation. I hate what drives me. I preach the opposite. I'm working on my eating issues. I very much don't like how my life evolves around food. I don't want anyone to feel that way.

Eat when you are hungry and eat slow that when you are full you will know. It takes 30 minutes for your brain to register that feeling. That is my advice. Eat to have energy. Eat to live. Don't let your life become evolved around when you can eat next and what you can eat. We have too many other things to be working on.

It does and it doesn't matter what you eat. Yes, you shouldn't make every meal meat and you shouldn't make every meal chocolate cake. The point is to eat a balanced diet and only eat when you need to. Yes, food is a treat in life and I love having the ability to taste, but that doesn't mean it is the only thing that matters.

Let there be food!

First, I should say that everyone's good friend, Bunny Berry, has convinced me to sign up for her 100 day raw challenge starting on August 1st. I'm going out today to buy myself a dehydrator and hopefully won't mess this up too badly. I'm not sure I will be 100% raw, but definitely high. I'm trying people!

I'm attempting to work from memory, so forgive me if I fail. My parents were here for the week of the fourth. We had a blast. Food wise my mom made me become obsessed with toast for breakfast. I have always been an oatmeal or cereal type of girl. Well, let me tell you that alone I have gone through 2 loafs of bread in the last week and a half. On this particular occasion I was craving tofu, so I got some already cooked from the freezer and warmed them up. The toast is a mustard toast. I love to put a little mustard on it and then pop it in the oven. The flavors become less intense and it is just a nice little tang. The green is tomatillo salsa that my mom bought in Sundance. It was extremely spicy and delicious. I dipped my tofu in it and it was a pleasing start to the day.

This would be my previous breakfast choice just before my toast obsession. We recently joined our wards fruit and veg co-op. I'm going to start posting pictures of that. Anyway, I had a lot of extra fruit, so it was time to eat it all! This is a spinach salad topped with grapes, apples, nectarines, bananas, deli turkey style wheat meat slices, and pickled red onions.

I do the pickled red onion myself. Just use it fast! Chop up the onion, crush some garlic, put in some salt, pepper, and top with vinegar. Leave it in the fridge for a few days and shake once in a while. It is really good!

The right here is one of my favorite things to eat. Unfortunately, it is one of my husband's least favorite things to eat. It is spaghetti squash! I found some mini ones at the store and fell in love with the idea of eating one on my own! I put some holes in the flesh and baked it for 40 minutes at 350. I cut it in half and took out the seeds. Then I ran my fork down the inside length wise to take the threads out. I topped it with salt and pepper, a little tomato sauce, and some fresh tomatoes. It was absolutely delicious!

Now, back to the idea of going raw for 100 days! Toast, cooked. Spaghetti squash, cooked. Tofu, cooked. Does anyone see a pattern? Wish me luck on my journey!