Ballet Beautiful: Transform Your Body and Gain the Strength, Grace and Focus of a Ballet Dancer (34 page)
Authors: Mary Helen Bowers
My days are a busy mix of leading classes, filming videos, creating new Ballet Beautiful exercises, going to meetings, and traveling from city to city. The best way to be prepared is to make sure I have easy access to healthy, wholesome foods, no matter how
hectic life gets. I keep healthy snacks like fresh fruit and nuts on hand throughout the day to keep me energized and feeling strong. Keeping healthy foods at home for quick, easy meals is also key. Having salad makings, healthy soups, and prepared dinner foods like an organic roast chicken at the ready can help you to avoid the temptation to order in pizza or grab fast food on the drive home after a long day at work. (You will learn more about my “flash cooking” in
Chapter 9
!)
Learning to anticipate situations that will challenge your health goals is also important. For example, don’t assume that you will be able to buy a healthy salad when you are in the airport, or that you will be able to turn down fried appetizers at a cocktail party after work when you are stressed out and starving. Especially if you have a drink and weaken your resolve! Being prepared can mean bringing food with you when you are on the go or eating a healthy snack or light meal before a party or dinner where food is an unknown. I also find it a lot easier to pass up the dessert tray at a party if I know that my favorite dark chocolate is waiting for me at home!
I
love dark chocolate and indulge in some almost every day! My current favorite is Green & Black’s Dark, either the 70 or 85 percent cacao mix. I bring it to room temperature before I dive in and try to eat it in the afternoon because it sometimes keeps me up at night. It’s also delicious with red wine or herbal tea after dinner on nights when I eat early.
While the Ballet Beautiful way of eating emphasizes fresh, whole, unprocessed foods, there are some packaged snacks that I like, such as New Morning organic cinnamon grahams. This healthy twist on the classic has me hooked! I generally find these crackers at Whole Foods or a health food store. Another choice would be a nonfat Greek yogurt with fruit and honey or a bowl of fresh fruit or berries in season. I often have a small glass of skim or almond milk with dessert at night for extra protein and calcium.
Rather than focus on when to eat during the day, it’s more efficient to simply remember to eat often. What do I mean by “often”? A general rule of thumb is to make sure you eat a meal or a snack every four hours. I’m not saying eat six meals a day—or every hour! A healthy meal or snack every four or so hours will keep you going—you don’t have to survive on mini-meals. The point is to never let yourself get too hungry. We all have different metabolisms.
BREAKFAST IS A MUST!
I’m sure this isn’t the first time you have heard that eating a balanced breakfast is the best way to kick-start a healthy day. But are you actually doing it? I’m always surprised when my clients confess that they have been skipping breakfast and thrilled when they tell me how much better they feel once they change that habit. The right breakfast will do wonders for your energy levels and your waist by keeping you energized and satisfied and your metabolism humming.
The key is finding foods you enjoy that are easy to prepare on days when you are rushed. Muesli with skim milk, whole-grain crackers or a piece of whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, a single serving of nonfat Greek yogurt with raw nuts—these are all quick-and-easy breakfasts that will leave you energized and take no time to prepare. I’m not asking you to cook and eat egg whites and asparagus!
To keep your body’s metabolism humming, you need to give it fuel. Small snacks and light meals throughout the day actually encourage your body to keep metabolizing (burning) food, especially when you feed it healthy, nutritious foods. Eating frequently also helps to maintain your energy. One of the worst triggers for cravings or overeating is letting the body get low in blood sugar.
No single eating plan can work for everyone because each body and life is unique. Some people are grazers and feel best eating many small meals. I really enjoy food and hate being hungry! I feel best eating three to four square meals a day, with healthy snacks, to keep me satisfied and on track.
Breakfast is non-negotiable—an absolute must for any healthy lifestyle. I try to start each day with a healthy breakfast, no matter when I rise. What I eat varies depending on how much time I have, so I keep lots of options handy. My approach to nutrition and diet is that it needs to be sustainable over a lifetime, not just until you get into a summer bikini or a dress for a big holiday event. I find that this attitude about food and eating keeps my weight consistent and prevents the wide fluctuation in numbers that I used to see on the scale.
As you will see in the menu plans in the pages ahead, you can time your snacks and meals in a way that works best for you, your unique lifestyle, and what you know your body needs.
FOOD CHOICES I AVOID
Aside from the obvious things to avoid—processed, fried, and fast foods—there are other foods and situations I try to avoid whenever possible.
1.
Large portions
:
At restaurants I often start with a full-sized salad with a vinaigrette and split an entrée or order a second protein-heavy appetizer like salmon tartar for my main course. This is a great way to sample new things on a menu and satisfy your appetite without overdoing it.
2.
Carb concentration
:
I love pizza—it is one of my favorite exceptions to the principle of avoiding white flour. To compensate, I eat a slice or two of pizza and then balance it out with a lot of salad and a vegetable side, like broccoli rabe or sautéed or steamed spinach. I also avoid the sugary sodas on the menu when I’m ordering pizza; instead of a Coke, I order a glass of red wine, an unsweetened iced tea, or water with lemon.
3.
Sugar
:
Read the labels! Everyone knows that we need to avoid the high-fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils in processed foods, but white sugar is not much better for you. Sugar is everywhere if you start looking for it—in most breads, in crackers, in pasta sauce . . . in fact, most packaged foods, even ones you might not consider “sweet,” are chockful of sugar. Our bodies don’t need this added sugar, so I try to avoid it whenever possible. Some fancy organic labels use cane juice in place of sugar, but don’t be fooled—it’s sugar all the same.
4.
Salt
:
Avoid salt when you can. Salt makes you bloated, and not just in your tummy: it swells and puffs your eyes and face and is terrible for your blood pressure and your heart. As with sugar, many packaged and processed foods are loaded with salt. Be sure to check labels, choose low-sodium options, tell the waiter to ask the chef to hold the salt when you order in a restaurant, and go easy on the salt when you cook. There are so many other spices and flavors to explore!
5.
Cream sauces—no exceptions
!
I don’t have a lot of don’ts on my list, but cream is one of them. Does it taste good? Sure. Do you need it? No. Cream is full of saturated fat, it’s very high in calories, and it’s not healthy for your heart or your waist. Can you enjoy a healthy, balanced, and satisfying diet without ever consuming another bite of cream? Absolutely! I don’t particularly like cream sauces, so this one isn’t too hard for me. But then again, it’s almost impossible to eat more than about two bites of any food covered in cream without tipping the scale, and that’s just not my style. I would rather have an entire plate of steamed or grilled fish and vegetables than one bite of pasta with cream sauce.
All of us need to feel satisfied. The trick is staying open-minded enough to let yourself try unfamiliar foods and to not be afraid to make a change in the go-to snacks and foods you think you can’t live without. As you begin to make some of the substitutions, give yourself enough time to try these new whole foods. Pay attention to how they make you feel fuller and more balanced. You will adjust your thinking accordingly.
One of the best ways to incorporate healthy eating habits is to take your current way of eating and begin making changes at the margin. I have found this to be a great way to avoid feeling like I have to eliminate my favorite foods, and an important part of staying satisfied. For example, I changed my diet a few years ago to include more whole grains in place of white flour. Some of my favorite changes include:
•
Brown rice
(instead of white)
•
Whole-grain pasta
(instead of white)
•
Olive oil
(instead of butter) (I use olive oil on everything from mashed potatoes to cooked veggies to toast. Almost any recipe that calls for butter can be modified to use olive oil, the taste is terrific, and it’s great for your heart.)
•
Herbs and spices
(instead of salt—a little garlic goes a long way!)
•
Dark buckwheat honey
(instead of sugar)
•
Old-fashioned oats
mixed with walnuts and fruit (in place of granola and boxed cereals, which can be sugary and overly processed, even the organic brands)
•
Sweet potatoes
(instead of white)
•
High-quality dark chocolate
(in place of candy bars or baked goods made with butter and white flour) (Move away from milk chocolate gradually by starting with a 55 percent cacao mix and working your way higher as your palate adjusts and you begin to enjoy the new taste.)
•
Air-popped popcorn
with sea salt and olive oil (instead of chips) (Prepare this quick, inexpensive, and high-fiber snack yourself if you can’t find it in the grocery store.)
You will find a complete list of healthy, delicious foods from which to choose in the very next chapter. For now, begin by thinking of the foods that are high in saturated fats or sugar that you might want to swap out. By and large, the emphasis here is to avoid white flour and sugar and to cut back on processed foods. Everyone is different when it comes to the foods they find satisfying. I am going to give you guidelines that will help you discover foods and meals that make you feel happy and satisfied—without skimping on taste and the pleasure of eating.
Substitution will help you build healthy habits and patterns without feeling deprived. Don’t underestimate the importance of the small things you can do to take better care of yourself! Every little bit adds up, making a big difference when it comes to your health. I am not asking you to stop drinking coffee or to never have another sandwich when you can use unsweetened soy (or other nondairy milks) or skim milk in your coffee with a little dark honey and make the switch to whole-grain bread to achieve your Ballet Beautiful goals while keeping yourself satisfied. You do not have to live on salads and puréed vegetables or juice fasts to reach your goals! I eat meat, cheese, whole-wheat pasta, and chocolate and drink wine regularly. But I also make an effort to choose skim or low-fat milk for my coffee and cereal, I eat roasted potatoes instead of fried, and I squeeze in 15 or 30 minutes of exercise if I don’t have time to do a full hour.
BEWARE OF SWEET DRINKS!
Remember the importance of staying hydrated? Your body can confuse thirst with hunger, and the best way to hydrate is with water. I drink lots of water throughout the day and avoid sugary beverages and sodas, whether diet or regular. Sugary beverages are loaded with calories I would prefer to eat than drink, and I’m not a fan of sugar substitutes like aspartame and Splenda. And keep in mind that diet soda is not good for you; it does have fewer calories because it is made with sugar substitutes, but it’s unhealthy, and you will look and feel better without it. Dark sodas are particularly bad because they contain not only high-fructose corn syrup and caramel coloring but also phosphoric acid—an ingredient that will sap the strength of your bones and tax your kidneys. I have suffered from stress fractures before, and I can tell you that it isn’t fun. As women, we all need to cautious about eating and drinking foods that are high in calcium to increase our bone density rather than deplete it! So nix sugary beverages and keep your bones strong by drinking water or unsweetened iced tea with fresh lemon. When it comes to drinking dairy alternatives like soy, almond, or rice milk, I choose an unsweetened version. I also stick to organic nonfat or 1 percent milk, even in my coffee.
Flexibility is the key to building a balanced, satisfying lifestyle and the enemy of the negative mindset that can undermine your feeling of self-control when it comes to food. When I left the New York City Ballet, I didn’t work out for a solid year. I had a lot of misconceptions about what foods were “good” and “bad” based on my experience with dieting in the past. As soon as I relaxed my “rules” about what I could and couldn’t eat and became more flexible when it came to my relationship with food and my body, I started learning how to eat differently and become more flexible. I not only learned how to forgive myself for getting off track if I overdid it at a meal, but I soon lost 10 pounds—fast!
Don’t Be Afraid of Carbs
!
T
here was a time when I was scared of eating carbs. Everyone said that carbs are fattening and talked about how great they looked when they didn’t eat carbs, and that made me think I should avoid them too. This was the 2000s and low-carb diets were all the rage! I succumbed to this silly fad like many others. But in the process I also learned a lot about what works best for my body—most notably that, for me, avoiding carbs is a very bad idea. Eating the
right
carbs, I discovered, can help me whether I am trying to lose weight or maintain my weight (two very different goals—more on that later).
With no carbs in my diet, I was constantly hungry and grouchy. I had unbelievable cravings for sweets, and I think that leaving carbs out of my diet set me up for weight gain in the end. Today whole grains are a staple of my diet and the center of many of my favorite meals. Whole grains provide long-lasting energy and tons of fiber without spiking your blood sugar. I consider them key to keeping your waist slim, your heart healthy, and your appetite under control!
