Dietary Advice For Performance Professionals

Finding a healthy balance with the food you eat

We are bombarded with facts and figures about what we should and shouldn’t eat. It seems that, every day, new information is published about what’s good for us and what’s bad for us. We can end up confused: should we or shouldn’t we eat chocolate, drink red wine or coffee? Is it better to be a bit overweight or a bit underweight?

It’s especially difficult for performance professionals because of the lifestyle: long hours, gruelling rehearsal schedules, long periods of hanging around with nothing to do, late nights, and trickiest of all, being on tour.

Try to develop good eating habits while you’re not under pressure: see what a difference it makes to your health – physical and mental – and then keep up the routines when the pressure is on.

You should aim to maintain a healthy, stable weight. Here are some of the basics about eating well, with working lives in the performing arts in mind.

What is a ‘balanced diet’?

A balanced diet (including a vegetarian or vegan diet) is not just about cutting out those foods that are bad for you; you may need to add foods that are lacking. Your diet should contain the following:

• Sources of protein such as meat, fish, pulses, eggs, beans, soya, nuts, seeds
• Fruit and veg (five a day)
• Grains, including wholegrains (rice, wheat, pasta, plus potatoes)
• Milk and dairy, or alternatives
• Fatty and sugary food (puddings and chocolate – as a treat!)

Broadly speaking, a balanced diet means eating something from the main five groups at every meal, or over the course of a day. These five groups are:

• Carbohydrates
• Proteins
• Fats
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• In addition, you should make sure you drink enough water

Carbohydrates fill us up and our bodies turn them into sugar (i.e. energy). Low Glycaemic Index (GI) carbohydrates release sugar slowly and keep us going for longer. Go for unrefined carbs with more fibre: oats (porridge and oatcakes), brown rice, wholemeal and rye bread. With all these foods, though, the simpler the better – watch out for added sugar, salt and fat. If you have chips (occasionally), choose thicker chips as they absorb less fat.

Proteins are vital for building and repairing tissue – important for shiny hair and clear skin. There are lots to choose from: fish (especially oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines), lean meat, eggs and dairy products, soya, beans, seeds, nuts and pulses.

Fats are an important source of energy. We need the right kinds of fats for our general health; they help transport vitamins around our bodies. They also make food more interesting. It is important to understand the difference between the two kinds of fat:

Saturated fats should be eaten in very limited quantities. These are the ones that are solid at room temperature: butter, fat on meat, cheese, lard and so on. Processed food is often high in saturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats – those that are liquid at room temperature – are the healthy type: olive oil, and most nut and seed oils are especially good, as are the oils found in oily fish.

Polyunsaturated fats – those that are liquid at room temperature – are the healthy type:
olive oil, and most nut and seed oils are especially good, as are the oils found in oily fish.

Vitamins are essential for health. Our bodies can’t make them on their own, so we need to get them from the food we eat. Broadly speaking, we need the different vitamins for the following:

A – For eyesight, organ function, a healthy immune system (from green veg, carrots, dairy products, animal fat).
B – The different B vitamins – for cell activity, healthy nervous system and skin (from cereals, meats, green veg, dairy products).
C – For a healthy immune system (from fruit and vegetables, especially tomatoes and citrus fruits).
D – Bone health (from exposure to sunlight, egg yolks, oily fish, red meat, fortified foods e.g. some fat spreads and breakfast cereals).
E – (Probably) for reproductive organ health and neuromuscular functions (from wheat germ, rice, green veg).
K – For blood clotting (from egg yolk, leafy green veg, yogurt).

Minerals are needed in tiny amounts, and our needs change at different stages in our lives, but eating a healthy, balanced, varied diet means that we get the benefits without having to become experts in nutrition. The most important minerals we need are:

Calcium – for bones, nerve and muscle function.
Iron – very important for women, for the formation of haemoglobin in red blood cells. More efficient if taken with vitamin C.
Also important: magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, fluoride, selenium, copper, chromium, manganese.

Water is vital too. You should drink water during the course of the day, to keep you hydrated and alert. If you’re going to be on stage, or in an orchestra pit or recording studio for a long time, don’t avoid drinking water because you think you will need to go to the loo. Your body loses 1.5 to 2 litres a day and you need to put it back. Eating juicy fresh fruit is good, too, AND it provides extra vitamins, minerals and fibre.

This is a very brief summary, but the main message is that you need to eat a varied diet with a minimum of five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day.

Five a day – what counts?

You should aim to eat at least five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day. Note that cooking and processing destroys many vitamins. One portion is roughly 80g: an apple, a banana, two satsumas, a small bowl of green salad, three tablespoonfuls of vegetables, a tablespoonful of dried fruit. Potatoes and other starchy vegetables don’t count towards your five-a-day, but 100% fruit juices, beans and other pulses do.

You have lots of fruit and veg to choose from, especially if you get into the habit of eating what’s in season – and try not to eat the same five, day in, day out.

Supplements, food allergies, intolerances, and crash diets

With a balanced diet, most of us don’t need to spend money on supplements.

If you have concerns about your diet, or if you think you might have an allergy or intolerance, talk to your GP or a dietician rather than experimenting with your diet.

Unsupervised crash diets are a really bad idea; you run the risk of malnutrition, and depriving yourself of certain foods can affect your mood when you need to be in the best possible shape physically and mentally.

Food and exercise for health

Eating healthily and keeping physically active are important to insure yourself against a number of illnesses and conditions:

• Cancer – it is estimated that a fifth to a third of the most common cancers could be prevented by maintaining a healthy body weight and being physically active.
• Cardiovascular disease – heart attacks are the leading cause of premature death in the UK, and high blood pressure can lead to strokes.
• Diabetes (type II) – eating too much fatty and sugary food greatly increases the risk of overweight and obesity. In turn, research shows being overweight increases our risk of becoming diabetic.

Note: If you are diabetic, touring presents particular challenges as far as food is concerned. It’s vital to plan ahead – take extra food with you to keep your blood sugar stable. Ensure you take enough of your medication with you (keep spares in your violin case). It’s a good idea to let someone know you’re diabetic, so that they can keep an eye on you when you’re distracted.

Lifestyle is implicated in a number of modern illnesses. As well as lack of exercise, three ingredients are always at the top of the list of culprits:

• Salt – excess salt leads to hypertension (high blood pressure). Most of the salt in our diet (up to ¾) comes from processed foods including bread, breakfast cereal, soups and sauces. The good news is, if you cut down on processed food you will take in less salt. Also, don’t reach automatically for the salt at the table.
• Sugar – sugar does provide a quick burst of energy. But choose foods that release energy slowly and get your sugar fix from fruit. Processed foods contain by far the most sugar – not just the obvious things like sweets, fizzy drinks and biscuits – many ‘savoury’ foods such as sauces and tinned vegetables contain sugar. As well as the inevitability of putting on weight, sugar on your teeth is also a great breeding ground for the bacteria that cause tooth decay, inflamed gums and halitosis (think of your colleagues if have to do a stage kiss!). And of course, alcohol is sugar! Use in moderation.
• Fat – like sugar and salt, fat is vital to our health, but choose the ‘good’ fats, the polyunsaturated ones, rather than saturated fats and trans fats. If you steer clear of processed foods and cook with vegetable oil you’ll keep your weight down.

Learning about food

Fill up on your five-a-day and avoid processed food. Get into the habit of reading the list of ingredients if you do buy processed food. Look out for the ‘traffic light’ labelling scheme used by some supermarkets: green for ‘go’; amber for ‘proceed with caution’ and red for ‘stop’ – or ‘eat in limited quantities’. When you read an article about nutrition, check who is sponsoring it – the food industry is notorious for making ‘scientific’ claims.

Timing and touring, snacks and treats

One of the big problems for performing arts professionals is having to eat late. If you can’t eat beforehand, be careful not to eat a huge meal after the show: have a small healthy snack before you go on stage. If you eat too much too late, it will stop you from sleeping and you may be prone to gastroesophegal reflux which gives you heartburn and/or a nasty taste in the mouth, and can affect your voice. Eat smaller portions and less spicy food. If you’re on tour and have to endure endless buffets, fill your plate with vegetables and salad, so that there is no room for the fattening things – and don’t keep going back for more, just because it’s there!

Don’t be afraid to ask for a proper break in rehearsals or studio sessions. You’ll be doing everyone a favour. When we are hungry or dehydrated we can’t concentrate well, and tempers become frayed.

Make sure your snacks are healthy ones: fruit, nuts, oatcakes, rather than cakes and biscuits. If you want to treat yourself, make sure it’s not every day. If you comfort eat, think about what is causing you to use food in this way: it may be that you are bored or worried. You may consider counselling to help you understand your relationship with food.

Combine sensible eating with exercise – and above all, enjoy your food!

See Also…

NHS Live Well
Advice, tips and tools to help you make the best choices about your health and wellbeing:
www.nhs.uk/live-well

British Dietetic Association
Dietitians are qualified and regulated health professionals that assess, diagnose and treat dietary and nutritional problems. Find factsheets resources and health information:
www.bda.uk.com

British Nutrition Foundation
Impartial, evidence-based information, education and expertise, motivating people to adopt healthy, sustainable diets:
www.nutrition.org.uk