<p>This is a topic that probably applies to everyone in MT. My D is finding it difficult to maintain a healthy diet when she is on campus for 12+ hours at a time. Once rehearsals and shows start up, she is often there from 8 or 9 in the morning until 11 or later at night. She lives off campus and usually does not have time to go home, even though she lives close. She tries to eat a good breakfast and then "tries" to pack a lunch, but she can't carry enough food to last her the whole day. There are no lockers on campus, and since she is already lugging around all of her dance shoes, she says she just can't carry anymore. She ended up gaining a few pounds (not much) over the year and has lost it over the summer, but she is trying to figure out how to keep a healthy diet this coming year. I think part of the problem is that during those shows, they tend to get little sleep anyway, so she is tired in the mornings and doesn't get up any earlier than necessary in order to make food for the day. She tends to be a healthy eater anyway and doesn't really eat junk food often, so that is not the problem. When she tells me she has just eaten 3 Cliff bars thru the day instead of meals, I know she is not eating a balanced diet. She is not a fan of prepared foods on campus, and sometimes finds she doesn't even have time to run to on-campus food sites anyway. Anyone have any tips/suggestions???</p>
<p>My D is just starting this process and I worry about her too. I would love to hear some tips on this to pass on to her. I know they all end up eating at the restaurant across the street from the stage since it’s easier than shlepping up the hill during winter.</p>
<p>This sounds crazy but some of the girls pack toddler baby food. It comes in single serving, squeezable pouches that don’t need refrigeration. Some are rice and fruit and some fruit only. There are vegtables of different varieties. MY d has a few in the bottom of her bag for emergencies. Leaving campus she drives through a fast food place for a salad. Some of them have really improved their healthy eating options.</p>
<p>Have you ever tried to make granola bars? I have not but a friend has. Her son loves them, she packs them in one of those plastic disposable containers. My friend chose a recipe off the internet. She says she spreads the fruit and nut mixture on a cookie sheet and bakes it and slices it at some point and then carefully wraps each one in plastic wrap. They aren’t as dry as most granola bars.</p>
<p>My d also packs those individual cartons of soy milk in her dance bag some mornings. Also she packs liquid instant breakfast by Carnation but I’m not sure how healthy that is. I sent her some organic dried apples slices and she liked those.</p>
<p>@takeitallin – I’m glad you brought this up as I’ve wondered about how MT kids eat on campus.</p>
<p>Do any MTs actually find time to make good use of a campus meal plan? We have to buy one, but knowing how D tends to cram her schedule I wonder if it will be possible to use it.</p>
<p>Same concerns here. D was on campus last year and did have campus meal plan - but with the schedule the PSU freshman have, it was usually late in the afternoon before they got lunch. With her moving off campus this year to an apartment a mile from the theater building, she will also have to carry her food. </p>
<p>I have heard that there are schools that provide lockers and/or a student “pantry room” where there is a fridge and cabinets that people can keep things. </p>
<p>PSU does not have this but I’ve heard that the students may be “organizing” and requesting this from the department. I think that any program that provides for the schedules that most MT students have should consider providing for lockers, a fridge and maybe even a microwave for their students in a central location (i.e. space where the majority of the theatre classes are held). That would go a long way toward making it possible for them to eat healthy on the run.</p>
<p>MomCares - D definitely used the campus meal plan. She typically kept breakfast (cereal, yogurt, granola type items) in her room and ate that in the morning before classes. I think her class did typically go to lunch together at one of the campus cafeterias during their late afternoon break. Then she’d go to dinner with her floor mates/dorm mates around 6. She usually had time to eat dinner between the afternoon classes ending and the evening rehearsals/tech assignments starting. Same thing on the weekends. But she did have to use snacks in her bag to get her through to the late lunch.</p>
<p>D stuck with the healthy options offered at the cafeterias. She did not typically eat any of the desserts offered (which are many and very high caloried!). She did partake of the wonderful PSU Creamery once in a while as a treat with friends. But with being vigilant with the healthy options in the cafeteria, the amount of dance she did and the huge amount of walking she did around campus to get to classes and dorm (she rarely took the buses), she came home lighter than she went. She did not gain the freshman 15. </p>
<p>What we did find is that we ended up lowering the amount of the campus meal plan because she didn’t use it as much as we had originally estimated. We were able to get everything she didn’t use back before the end of the semester.</p>
<p>Most of the parents here will not be the parents of the dancers who smoke but my d told me she was surprised at the number of dancers who smoke. She told me even a few singers do but more dancers, males and females who are concerned with weight gain. This group has most likely discussed smoking but just in case, I thought I would throw that out.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone! Checkbook- the granola bars sound like an interesting idea. I am going to check out internet recipes when I finish here. I’m not sure how the baby food idea would go over, but it is actually not a bad one. At least they would get some healthy nutrients. Mine also packs soy milk-helps tide her over. Stagecoach, hopefully PSU does organize a “pantry room”-that would really go a long way toward solving the problem! I also think they should all have lockers, given not only their schedules, but the amount of stuff they have to lug around! My D’s apt. is also about a mile from the theater building, so there is usually not enough time to go back and forth, even with the bus system. Fortunately, she and her roommate do cook together- they are both vegetarians- so if she does have time to go home for dinner, her wonderful roommate will often have it ready for her! Keep the ideas coming everyone!</p>
<p>Checkbook- that is something we have always noticed and been amazed at. My D started working at our regional theater when she was fairly young, and one of the first thing she noticed was how many of the dancers smoked, and actually, there are a number of older singers who smoke also. Seems strange even though I know it is for weight.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips everyone and as for smoking, my D would rather die than take that up thank goodness!</p>
<p>Not to hijack the thread, but I never realized smoking was so pervasive among dancers until I saw this thread and that prompted me to do some research. I was astounded to find an ECONOMICS paper from Columbia University on the topic, “Why Do Dancers Smoke? Smoking, Time Preference, and Wage Dynamics” that included this introductory quote:</p>
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</p>
<p>Another great quote:</p>
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</p>
<p>Amazing.</p>
<p>The paper can be found at:
<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/~lm25/Smoking-03-2005.pdf[/url]”>http://www.columbia.edu/~lm25/Smoking-03-2005.pdf</a></p>
<p>I had no idea that many professional dancers (40%!!!) smoke – it seems CRAZY!! </p>
<p>I was serious dancer when younger, though, and I think their conclusion of present-orientation fits… “Dancers are passionate, if not obsessed, with their work; but their careers are short with dim, if not non-existent, prospects of future earnings.”</p>
<p>D is more focused on singing, and hopefully will never smoke, but I do think she also fits the present-oriented pattern – though maybe that’s just due to having a teenaged brain.</p>
<p>It’s not just dancers who smoke. Lots of theatre, MT and straight theatre folks smoke. In general, DD was amazed at how many college students smoked and had started when they got to college.</p>
<p>How to address the food issue can vary so much based on the physical layout of a school, where the cafeterias are, where students spend their days, whether the school is in a city where sandwich shops, cafes and food courts abound. When my daughter was in college, her school did not have a meal plan. Freshmen lived in apartment style dorms with kitchenettes and the school is in a major city where within a 2 block radius of the 2 buildings where MT’s spent most of their days, there were a load of places to grab food. (Now that my daughter graduated, of course, the school is now offering meal plans and is building a large cafeteria in a former restaurant 10 feet away from the entrance of the primary theatre building.) A solution for those who need to pack their meals could be a small insulated cold bags with reusable ice packs. We use them to transport perishable food when taking long car drives weekend getaways where we are bringing some of our own food. They come in a variety of sizes, are washable and many could fit in a student’s gear or dance bag.</p>
<p>As to dancers smoking, I once looked at a building used as the practice hall for a professional ballet company. The locker rooms were filled with cigarette butts. I work in the city where my daughter’s college is located and walk past the building that houses the college of performing arts. The number of students outside smoking is appalling. It’s really a college epidemic.</p>
<p>Do any of the colleges with big theatre/dance programs have especially great meal options for folks who need to be very concerned with healthy eating? Some schools I’ve looked at are all pizza and spaghetti…</p>
<p>^^ Not sure about all schools, but where I teach there are loads of healthy options… salad bars, sushi, etc… of course there are also le ss healthy options, but healthy options do exist on the campus where I teach… I actually sometimes go up onto campus to get food because it very good and they have healthy food options.</p>
<p>Agree that how a student manages to eat will vary from school to school. Where I teach all of the students have lockers, there is a green room with a microwave and a fridge, and the kids can use their meal plan at all establishments on campus… even the ones that are more “a la cart” or “to go” … so it seems to work out. </p>
<p>At a school that may not have as many convenient options, students can pack food for the day using an insulated bag like mentioned above… trail mix, granola bars, fruit, cheese, sandwiches, and salads are all pretty easy to pack. Remembering from my own college days… where I lost 15 lbs by Thanksgiving because I was not on top of the whole eating thing… I think sometimes the bigger issue is that it takes planning and packing of food, which not all college students do well.</p>
<p>UArts has just implemented a meal plan and is in the process of constructing a cafeteria located next door to the main building for the College of Performing Arts. While no one has yet experienced it up and running, here are some links to information. It sounds like the intent is to provide a variety of healthy food styles as well as traditional college fare.</p>
<p>[The</a> University of the Arts : Dining Services](<a href=“http://www.uarts.edu/studentlife/diningservices.html]The”>Dining Services | University of the Arts)</p>
<p>[The</a> University of the Arts : Locations](<a href=“http://www.uarts.edu/studentlife/8574.html#Mangia]The”>http://www.uarts.edu/studentlife/8574.html#Mangia)</p>
<p>@ KatMT, well you have some of the best food on any campus around!!! :)</p>
<p>^^ haha! Yeah… I think if I had been a student here I might not have lost 15 lbs by Thanksgiving freshman year. That being said… I think (HOPE!!) that most schools now have much better healthy food options than they did when I was in college. I ate A LOT of cereal!</p>
<p>MichaelNKat – that is great that UArts is adding a dining hall option!</p>