IF I DON'T FINISH DANCING TILL 9PM, WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT DINNER?

This is one of the most common questions dancers ask me and to be honest, the answer isn’t a simple one.
Firstly, and most importantly you must eat something! It takes energy to sleep (that’s why we always weigh ourselves in the morning) and you don’t want to be woken up in the middle of the night by hunger pangs! Eating a potion controlled healthy meal late at night, while not affecting your weight (despite the myths filling the media), will have a positive impact on your sleep. Let me explain…
It doesn’t matter what time you put food into your mouth so long as the food your putting in is healthy, portion controlled and balanced in carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats. Lets look at two different scenarios, which explain the situation:
Scenario 1:
You are busy dancing all day so you eat small lunches and snacks that you squeeze into your routine until 8pm rolls around and you’re starving! You decide to munch down a big healthy meal. In this case – even though you had a bigger meal late at night you are still in “calorie deficient” so you still may have lost a little bit of weight.
Scenario 2:
You go out for a massive lunch that goes on for hours and includes soft drink and plenty of food. Then you are still hungry at 3pm and have a sandwich. It get’s to dinner and you’re just not hungry so you have a light salad at 6pm and nothing after this time. You will still be over your calorie budget and therefore will still have put on weight even though you ate nothing after 6pm.
Can you now see that the time you ate isn’t important, what you ate and the amount is what really matters?!
So having a light dinner when you get home isn’t going to make you stack on the pounds unless you have already over eaten throughout the day.
In relation to sleeping. Eating just before you go to bed can cause indigestion, reflux and or heart burn if the food hasn’t had a chance to digest before you lie down. Another problem with eating just before bed is that it takes energy to digest the food. This can take away from the energy needed to sleep which may result in a restless nights sleep.
So what’s the answer?
Try eating something; however make it a small light meal that is easy to digest. Some examples could include: A light salad with tuna or a small bowl of chicken and vegetable soup and a piece of toast.
Remember the food you put in your mouth is like the money you put in the bank, it doesn’t matter what time of the day you make deposits, the amount you are depositing is what really counts!
By Mia Ballenden from www.bodyfusion.com.au