Bloating. We all experience it. It’s not necessarily fun, but feeling bloated during dance occasionally is something that is normal and natural for us to go through!  It does not mean that we are “bad” or “unhealthy”, and sometimes it happens due to factors that are completely out of our control. We are going to explore what bloating is, why bloating can happen, ways to deal with bloating, and how we can still eat intuitively. 

As a dancer, I am no stranger to feeling uncomfortable in a leotard and tights with the tight, uncomfortable feeling of a bloated stomach. It’s hard to think about jumping and holding your core, when your stomach hurts and you feel gassy. While it’s not possible to eliminate bloating, intuitive eating has helped me to identify what foods or combination of foods cause my stomach to be uncomfortable. And it has also taught me that it’s okay to not have a flat stomach! (I can definitely talk more about that later!)

So, what is bloating?

Bloating is when your gastrointestinal tract is filled with air or gas. Your stomach might feel full, swollen, hard, or painful. A small amount of bloating is totally normal as our body is digesting what we are eating, but there are many different factors that can contribute to uncomfortable bloating. The three main common triggers are digestive issues, what foods we eat, and hormonal changes. I am not going to dive into digestive disorders, because there are so many other people who are way more knowledgeable than I am, but some of these include Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), food sensitivities and allergies, and other gastrointestinal issues.

While everyone experiences temporary bloating from time to time, if you are someone who feels bloated all the time, I would highly encourage you to talk to your doctor and a nutrition professional about what you are experiencing. They will help you find if there are any underlying issues, chronic symptoms, allergies, or intolerances that are affecting your digestive system. This is especially important if you are not able to eat enough and if bloating is masking your hunger cues.

Bloating also happens for us women during our menstrual cycle because of hormone changes and fluctuations. Stress can also affect our digestive system because it can upset our hormone balance and it can also make it harder for our bodies to digest foods that we normally have no issues with. While we can somewhat control our stress levels, we cannot control the fact that our hormones fluctuate for our menstrual cycle to function. 

Bloating can also occur based on what we eat, when we eat, and how we eat.

Overly salty or fatty food, and eating too much sugar can cause some bloating. Does this mean that we need to avoid these foods altogether? Absolutely not! But, we can think about it intuitively – more on that a little later. There are also specific foods that might cause some people to have more bloating if your body is not used to digesting them – beans, cruciferous vegetables, dairy, or large quantities of whole grains are some of those foods. Caffeine, which can over excite the digestive tract, and carbonated beverages, which are filled with carbon gas to create bubbles, can also cause bloating.

Bloating can also happen with disordered eating. If we have not been eating enough, or if we have been restricting certain types of foods or whole food groups, it is likely that we will experience digesting distress when we go back to a more normal way of eating. We can also experience bloating when we eat large quantities of food at one time, eat too little, eat too quickly, fail to chew our food fully before swallowing, etc. There are so many factors that can contribute to bloating, and each individual is different!

 Again, I am going to say that it is normal to experience bloating after eating, so you might feel bloated during dance occasionally. Our digestive system produces gas when breaking down food, and it is normal to swallow some amount of air when eating or drinking. Personally, I experience more uncomfortable bloating when eating right before bed, during my menstrual cycle, eating rich foods or a big meal, if I have caffeine on an empty stomach, if I wait too long to eat, if I am not consistently drinking enough water, not sleeping well, and stress. You might experience bloating with completely different factors, and that’s okay! Intuitive eating helps us investigate the food causes behind uncomfortable bloating. 

When you are bloated, start taking notice of the scenario.

Is it at a specific time of day? Is it before or after a meal? What foods did you eat? Did you eat too quickly? Have you been getting enough to eat? How is your stress? Have you been sleeping well? Take mental or written notes! This can help us to discover patterns between foods or food behaviors and bloating. This does not mean that we can never eat certain foods again, or that we have to figure out how to eat perfectly, but paying attention to how food makes us feel can help us find balance and reduce uncomfortable bloating.

For example, knowing that having a rich meal can make me feel bloated, I will probably not opt for a burger or a curry before dancing, but afterwards, these are delicious options to replenish my body! For dancers, it is helpful to pack easily digestible foods like eggs, sweet potatoes, avocado, crackers, rice, bananas, and yogurt to eat during a day filled with classes and rehearsals. Also, remember to pack enough food and eat at regular intervals to avoid intense hunger. 

What are some ways to deal with uncomfortable bloating?

Like intuitive eating, the methods that help to soothe your stomach might be different from your peers. Here are a few suggestions if you need a place to start exploring. 

• De-stress – this could mean some light stretching, breathing practices, or whatever helps to put you into a relaxed state
• Drink water
• Go on a light walk
• Try some yoga poses like supported bridge, hugging your knees to your chest, happy baby, spinal twist while lying on your back, and cat/cow poses
• Give yourself an abdominal massage
• Take a warm bath or use a heating pad
• Drink peppermint tea or lemon ginger tea to soothe an upset stomach

Bloating can be frustrating and sometimes difficult to pinpoint and to deal with, especially if you are having to dance in class and rehearsal with a painful, swollen stomach. But, this is totally normal to experience feeling bloated during dance from time to time, and I hope that you learned some tools of how to use intuitive eating to help! If you have any questions, be sure to leave a comment or reach out to me here! Make sure to also watch my YouTube video down below! 

“Clean eating is good, right?”.

This is a question I have been asked over and over again by dancers who want to find the best fuel for their bodies. I respond with “well, sort of, sometimes…… not completely”. If there is one thing that I have learned about nutrition, strict rules that we place what foods we eat and what behaviors we have surrounding food can often lead to disordered eating patterns. Clean eating is not an exception. So let’s discuss, should dancers follow clean eating? 

So, what is clean eating?

Clean eating is a way of eating that maintains the proponents that eating whole foods and eliminating processed foods has certain health benefits. There are also different variations of clean eating that eliminate foods like oils, gluten, dairy, or even cooked foods altogether based on nutrition claims. You might hear people refer to certain foods or ingredients as “clean”, and many brands use the phrase “clean eating” in their advertising to appeal to health conscious consumers. These words and phrases are sometimes accompanied by other nutrition buzzwords like natural, detox, superfoods, etc. 

Let’s talk about the good. Clean eating focuses on simple ingredients to prepare meals. These are foods that you can find easily in a store and prepare for yourself. There is also a focus on whole foods including whole grains, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy, and plant oils. As we have talked about in other posts, whole foods fuel our bodies with macro and micronutrients that help our bodies in their many functions and they also give us energy for a long day of dance. Clean eating might also encourage you to try new foods and new recipes at home, whether it be in trying a new ingredient or a new way to prepare a food. This might introduce you to new cuisines and flavors, and it might just lead you to find new favorites! 

The negatives of Clean Eating

Clean eating can also lead to some negative thoughts and behaviors, especially for dancers. With all of this focus on finding the “perfect” foods to ingest, it can lead to obsessive food behavior, which means that we are going to the extreme to control what goes in our body. This could involve a number of behaviors including restricting certain foods like oil, gluten, or dairy or even amount of calories based on health claims. Clean eating can also look like forcing yourself to eat the healthiest option available, even if that is not what your body wants and needs. This inflexibility when it comes to meals can bring social isolation because of fear of making food decisions at a friend’s house or at a restaurant. No one wants to go to a restaurant and eat a sad plate of raw veggies with no dressing while everyone else is enjoying delicious food that you wish you could enjoy as well. 

Clean eating also assigns morality to food, categorizing foods into “good foods” or “bad foods”, leading us to reflect on our character and willpower based on our food decisions. This can bring guilt from food choices, fear and anxiety surrounding food decisions, and secret binge behaviors. All of these can turn into disordered eating and diagnosable eating disorders, and can create a sense of distrust in your body because you are not honoring what it really needs. Our bodies need balance and flexibility when it comes to nutrition, and clean eating ignores both of these. Finally, clean eating is time consuming, from food preparation to grocery shopping when there is such an obsession with food labels. It also takes the fun out of eating, especially if the foods you deem as “clean” are not ones that you necessarily enjoy. 

Nutrition for Dancers

Of course I encourage whole foods because of their nutrient content, but I also strongly believe that dancers should have play foods, which are simply foods that serve the purpose for you to simply enjoy! As dancers, it is natural to want to control every aspect of our lifestyle to support our dancing. Nutrition is often one of those areas that is focused on and obsessed over in order for dancers to experience control over their training. This is why I do not encourage dancers to follow the rules of clean eating. I want dancers to be able to learn about nutrition in a healthy, wholesome way, that leads them to strength and energy on and off the stage. If you are a dancer that struggles with clean eating and finding balance in nutrition, I encourage you to talk to a dietician or nutritionist, or you can always reach me here! Remember, food doesn’t just fuel your body, but also your mind and spirit as well! Make sure to watch my video about clean eating down below! 

“Ugh, rehearsal was frustrating today, I just want to go home and eat chips and ice cream. i’m just eating when i’m not hungry”

“I wasn’t even wanting anything sweet right now, but someone just brought cake to the studio and now I want a piece of it.”

Have you ever experienced hunger or a craving for food that was not driven by your body actually needing food? It’s likely that you have, because this is totally normal to experience eating when you aren’t hungry! This type of hunger can actually give us a unique insight into what we are going through emotionally, and help us identify and understand food habits.

I want you to remember that eating out of non-biological hunger isn’t a bad thing, and sometimes it can be a part of a normal and healthy human experience, but other times it can be our attempt to stifle negative emotions, which is something that we need to be aware of. Taste hunger, practical hunger and emotional hunger are three different types of hunger outside of the typical biological hunger that we are going to be discovering today. 

Eating a food because it sounds good, or just because the occasion calls for it, is what we call taste hunger.

Taste hunger often involves play foods, or foods whose primary function might not be nutritional value but serve the purpose of being foods that we love and enjoy, often bringing together a special experience and connecting us with others. Think cake at a birthday party, stuffing and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, Christmas cookies, or even just a spontaneous decision to get a delicious looking treat in the bakery case at a coffee shop. Food isn’t just fuel, it has culture, celebration and pleasure attached to it.

Sometimes if we are strict with our eating, we might have food rules established that deem these foods as “bad” or ones that should be “avoided”. This might leave us feeling guilty after eating these foods and then potentially overeating them because our body doesn’t know when it will have this food again. Intuitive eating seeks to normalize all foods because they all have their place in balanced nutrition. It is perfectly valid to honor this type of hunger if a food sounds good, looks tasty, or if the occasion calls for it even if you aren’t biologically hungry. When you satisfy this hunger, knowing that you can eat these foods whenever you want, you might notice that you just need a small piece to feel satisfied. So the next time someone brings your favorite cookies to the studio and you want one, enjoy it! 

The next type of hunger is practical hunger.

This is when you plan meals and snack times ahead to fit your schedule and eat in order to prevent intense hunger in the future. For dancers, this is a really important one to make sure that our bodies are fueled so we can focus in the studio. It is important to eat before dance, on breaks and before performances even if you aren’t necessarily hungry. This doesn’t mean that you have to force yourself to have a full meal to the point where you feel overly stuffed, but having a light meal or snack is a good idea to avoid intense hunger and energy dips during a rehearsal or a  performance.

This is all about planning ahead to bring enough food with us to be sure we will have enough energy to get through long and intense days of dance. If you notice that you have eaten all of the food you brought with you but you still have hours until your next meal, use this information to prepare differently next time. Or, if you notice that you are coming home from dance with insatiable hunger, try finding ways to add more to your meals and snacks during the day.

 

Lastly, emotional hunger is when we knowingly or unknowingly use food or the physical act of eating to comfort or to try and cover up or quench uncomfortable feelings.

When you experience this type of hunger, you might be feeling emotions like boredom, frustration, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, anger, low self esteem or exhaustion. Food can often serve as a comfort and can deliver positive emotions, even just temporarily. It is normal to crave foods that will make you feel better and to eat when you aren’t even hungry. You might encounter emotional hunger with eating a pint of ice cream after a frustrating casting change, or eating a chocolate bar if your day is frustrating and chocolate is honestly the only thing that adds some pleasure to your day.

Sometimes this hunger can feel out of control, and I want to express that this is totally normal to experience. There is nothing wrong with you or your hunger cues. Emotional hunger can actually be a great tool that gives us insight into what we are experiencing emotionally. It is totally okay to eat when we experience emotional hunger, but it is important to know that a temporary food distraction isn’t going to get rid of whatever emotion we are experiencing. 

If I notice that I keep going back into the kitchen to get multiple cookies or chocolate, or if I keep grabbing handfuls of tortilla chips, it is usually because I am stressed, frustrated, tired or sad. At this point of my snacking, I’m probably not really even enjoying the food I’m eating, but I continue to try and make myself feel better. Sometimes I don’t even recognize that it’s emotional hunger until after the fact, but when I identify that I am feeling emotions rather than biological hunger, I use tools to deal with the uncomfortable emotions.

What are some ways to deal with these emotions?

Writing in a journal, talking with a friend, family member or therapist, going on a walk, doing some like stretching, or taking a few deep breaths are just some ways that help me identify and deal with these emotions. What helps you process emotions might be different from my list, but it is helpful to have some that you can utilize when the time calls for it. It is important to not feel guilty or beat yourself up if you experience emotional hunger.

It takes an incredible amount of self reflection to start honoring your feelings without food, and it will not be perfect, and that’s okay! Sometimes you will eat even if you aren’t hungry. Remember, your body is incredibly smart, and emotional hunger is often your body raising a red flag to help you notice emotions that are going on. So when this happens, thank your body, recognize that your emotions are valid and honor them. 

The topics of food and nutrition are so much larger than just what properties different foods have. Foods can have emotions, memories and habits attached to them that make the scope of studying nutrition so much bigger. I often talk about how we have to fuel our bodies AND our minds as dancers. These are equally important in becoming a healthy, well-rounded dancer and person.

Experiencing emotional hunger especially can be difficult to navigate.

I would encourage you to reach out to a nutrition and/or mental health professional so you can get the support you need! You can always reach out to me here! I hope this helps you to recognize what your body needs and encourages you to honor your body’s cues so that you can be the best version of yourself inside and outside of the studio. 

Watch my video here!