Fuel for Performance
Food consumed prior to, during, or after performing is extremely important to maximize training, optimize performance, and improve recovery. When you experience hunger, your body is in a catabolic (breakdown) state. In reality, it will adapt best to training, especially for long performances, when it’s in an anabolic (building) state.
Fueling your body properly prior to long performances is essential to ensure you are providing your muscles with adequate nourishment in addition to ensuring your body is able to endure the length of the show. Muscle and liver glycogen are used to fuel your working muscles. This includes your lungs and diaphragm. Glycogen is the storage form of glucose.
Pre-Performance
With regard to your consumption of nutrients and liquids before performing, please answer the following questions:
What do you typically eat and drink prior to beginning a performance or rehearsal?
How many minutes or hours beforehand do you eat or drink?
In order to prepare for a performance, it’s important to fuel the body the right way. Feeling hungry can stress out the body, which can affect one’s ability to do their best.
Hydration
Sufficient water in the body is essential for optimal physical and mental functioning, and particularly for vocalists, hydration is the key to success. Because mucus protects the vocal cords, sufficient hydration status is imperative. With excessive use, vocal cords can become easily damaged due to their extremely fragile tissue. Dehydration can cause vocal fold tissues to become dry and potentially damaged. It is important that your body is adequately hydrated in the days leading up to a performance, rather than simply drinking water right before a performance.
Remember that water is a vital component performing well. You cannot excel without water in your system.
Drink liquids periodically throughout the day. One gulp of water is roughly equivalent to one ounce of water.
Drink water regularly throughout the day, even if you’re not feeling very thirsty. The feeling of thirst is a beginning sign of dehydration, not a sign of when you should start drinking water.
In order for water and/or fluid intake to be transported and utilized effectively, the body depends on you consuming a well-rounded diet on a day-to-day basis.
Snacking on Purpose
Eating frequently helps to provide sufficient physical and mental fuel and can be helpful in avoiding becoming overly-hungry. It is also important to remember that undereating can lead to poor performance. Listed below are some tips that can help you snack appropriately throughout the day.
Snack-Related Tips:
Most performers and competitors should be eating a small meal or snack every three hours. This can help ensure that you have enough fuel to perform at your best.
Have healthy snacks available in your dressing room.
Have a small snack during intermission and after the performance. This can help you from becoming overly-hungry and feeling the need to overeat after a performance.
Plan your snacks to combine foods from multiple food groups. Doing this assures that you’re getting the nutrients you need and can help keep you fuller longer.
Eating Concerns
A wide variety of factors can influence one’s appetite and eating behaviors, including stress, fatigue, lifestyle, and body-image concerns. Be aware that these things can have differing effects on appetite and intake depending on the person, including undereating, overeating, and binge eating.
A performer’s or competitor’s lifestyle can greatly affect their eating behaviors. Developing a daily routine can help to normalize eating behaviors and ensure that you are adequately nourishing your body each day. Consuming multiple small meals and snacks throughout the day can help avoid the feeling of being overly-hungry or overly-full. This in turn can help with the temptation to overeat or binge. Fatigue and inadequate sleep also can disrupt your hunger and fullness ques. Working to establishing a regular and healthy sleep schedule can help to regulate these hormones.
When one is feeling stressed, it can disrupt the body’s normal routine, which in turn can affect their relationship with food. Some may feel the need to grab their “comfort” foods to cope with this feeling. Work to identify sources of stress and challenge yourself to find remedies or solutions whenever possible. This could include visiting with friends and family, as well as sending emails or making phone calls to people you enjoy, and who are supportive.
Challenge yourself to communicate authentically in those moments, not only sharing the good news. Keep in mind that being isolated can make matters worse, in terms of being hungry or engaging in unhealthy eating behaviors.
Following a Performance or Competition
After the performance or competition has ended, several factors can change a performer’s eating behaviors:
Feeling overly-hungry after going hours without eating
Limited food options
Celebrating with food
Less food and/or body-related scrutiny
Return to eating previously restricted or forbidden foods
Less worry regarding immediate impact of higher calorie foods on performance or appearance
Less immediate concern about the nature or quality of food choices
Among the possibilities for sustaining healthy eating habits and reducing the risk of unhealthy eating are the following:
Focus on your health and self-care.
Focus less on your appearance and the numbers on the scale.
Make healthy snacks in small quantities readily available.
Pay attention to adequate intake of fruits and vegetables.
Drink plenty of water. Adequate hydration can help individuals identify and regulate hunger signals. Keep a full glass or bottle of water near you during the day.
Better Body Image via Insight and Self-Acceptance
How you feel about yourself and your body can powerfully impact your confidence as a performer and as a person. It may be useful to reflect on factors in your history that may influence how you view your body.
Shifting your perception of your body to a more positive place is possible. Among the strategies that you might consider are the following:
Remember that all bodies come in different shapes and sizes.
Success and happiness are found in people of many different shapes and sizes.
You did not select your genetics, which is largely responsible for body shape and size.
Make a list of 10 things your body “can” do well.
Write a letter of gratefulness to your body for its history of supporting you.
Avoid comparing yourself and your body with someone else’s body.
Focus more directly on your own personal goals, values and your progress.
Recall the many parts of yourself that make you the person and performer that you are.
Challenge yourself to prioritize your personal values more than your appearance.