Episode 2: The Nutrition Behind the Dancer with Amy Gallery

In this episode of Behind the Stars, Amy Gallery shares her unique journey from dancer to qualified nutritionist, and how her time training and performing full-time sparked a passion for dietetics. Drawing from her own experiences, Amy opens up about the challenges she faced as a young dancer when she wasn’t adequately fuelling her body, and how this led to fatigue, soreness, and struggling to perform at her best. Her story highlights the important connection between nutrition and performance, especially in a demanding industry like dance.

Amy also provides practical and easy-to-understand guidance for dancers and families, including healthy snack ideas for busy schedules, key nutrients to prioritise, and strategies to maintain balanced eating habits. She offers thoughtful advice for parents navigating the demands of supporting a young dancer, balancing training schedules with everyday family life, and ensuring their children are properly fuelled to thrive both in and out of the studio.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in Behind the Stars podcast are solely those of the Behind the Stars team and guests and do not reflect the views of any affiliated organisations or individuals. The content provided is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical, legal, psychological, or other expert advice. Always seek the guidance of qualified professionals with any questions you may have regarding your health, legal situation, or mental well-being. Hey listeners, welcome back to Behind the Stars, where we bring you conversations with experts, educators and industry professionals who help support the growth, well-being and success of young performers. Today, we're delighted to be joined by Amy Gallery, an accredited practising dietitian with a passion for helping dancers, performers and active young people fuel their bodies for both performance and life. Amy specialises in sports nutrition, gut health, and building healthy relationships with food, empowering individuals to develop sustainable habits that support their physical health, mental well-being, and long-term success. In this episode, we'll explore how dancers can feel for training, performance and recovery, the importance of gut health and overall well-being, common nutrition misconceptions within the performing arts industry, and practical strategies for parents, teachers and students to support healthy habits. We'll also discuss how proper nutrition can help prevent burnout, improve energy levels, and contribute to a positive relationship with food and body image. So whether you're a dancer, performer, parent, educator, or simply interested in learning more about the connection between nutrition and well-being, this conversation is packed with invaluable insights and practical advice. Here is Amy. Amy Gallery, welcome to Behind the Stars Podcast. We're so happy to have you here today.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. We should probably say welcome back, actually, because Amy has been one of our star students. I have. Fun little fact, Amy was actually on our first ever elite team, our first comp. I want to say in maybe about 2014. Around that 13, 14. I reckon I joined about 2014 until about 2019. Yeah. So our very, very first ever competition team. And I think we had about six kids.

unknown 2:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

It was little. And I've just got a vision of Amy in a uh some sort of dress doing a phone dance. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

It feels like a lifetime event. But we always we've always loved Amy.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Exactly the same, Amy, to me anyway.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

She was always the most beautiful dancer, and we've loved having you as a student. So we're very happy to welcome you back today.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

So yeah, welcome back. For those who may not know you, like we do, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and where you've been and what you've done and how you ended up here as a dietitian?

SPEAKER_03 2:47

Absolutely. So yeah, as I, as we just said, was a student here at Star Academy. And then when I graduated year 12, I moved over to New Zealand to complete my complete my full-time studies in contemporary dance. And then that was during COVID. So that kind of stuffed up those plans a little bit. And I ended up having to come back to Australia and I went to Sydney Dance Company instead. I got my diploma of dance there. And then just my experience in full time kind of led me into really loving nutrition and nutrition for dance and how that can improve performance and things like that. So yeah, it led me to go and study dietetics at uni. And then I graduated yesterday, actually. Oh, congratulations! Congratulations. Officially yesterday, but I did actually finish up at the end of last year and now working as a dietitian.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

So yeah. So you took your knowledge of dance and your experiences here, and you branched off into the dietetics. Is that right?

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Exactly. So nutrition and dietetics. Yeah. I think because it just plays such a big role in dance. And I think it's so important to know about how food can fuel your performance and recovery and all the things. So I think I just found a really strong interest in it, particularly when I was training full-time. So yeah, I just really wanted to learn more about it and help others in that field as well. So that's what led me to it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

So when you were training full-time, tell us a little bit about that. What is that like physically? What sort of demands does that put on your body? And how did that kind of lead you to learning a little bit more about diet and food and fueling yourself?

SPEAKER_03 4:18

Yeah, that's a really good question. I learned a lot, and I think a learned a lot the hard way as well. Like when I was doing full-time, I sort of was eating the same that I was eating when I wasn't doing full-time, thinking that everything would be the same. But when you're dancing full-time or well, you're dancing a lot more than you know, like recreationally, really, it's it places a lot more stress on your body, and you actually need to eat a heap lot more, and you need to kind of look at the types of foods that you're eating so that you're getting enough energy and you're getting enough nutrients, and you actually need to, well, I needed to be eating a lot more than what I was eating. Um, so it was, yeah, it was really interesting to see. Like when I was dancing full-time, I had so many days where I was just so low in energy, and yeah, it was a really shock to the system, I think. Did you realize straight away that that was related to your diet and nutrition? I think I was just like, oh, this is just full-time, and like this is just you know how we're meant to feel when I'm working really hard, so that's why I'm tired. But like it kind of got to the point where I was like, hold on, like something's not right here, like I'm actually not feeling very well, like I'm not feeling like I've got the energy to put in the effort that I want to. Um, yeah, so I guess I kind of took it into my own hands to look into nutrition, learn more about nutrition, and kind of see that, like as a full-time dancer, like I was an athlete, so I needed to eat like an athlete. Yeah. And no one really told me that, I think.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

So it's really interesting because I think you would go into something like that, and you would just kind of assume that it's just it's a result of the physical exertion and the training, and it makes a lot of sense what you're saying that you might not necessarily straight away think that that's got to change the way you're eating.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

Yeah, exactly. And it is so important. And so I think when I researched more into it, I kind of realised like, wow, like firstly, I need to be eating like a lot more, but just also just learning about the roles of different kinds of food and what I should be eating beforehand, what I should be eating after, um, to not only help with my energy levels, but my recovery and like being less sore and like all these things that can be so helpful for you as a dancer and like to recover just in general. So much of it can come from food. And I think just like going into full time, I just had no idea.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

So yeah, so what you put in, you get out, obviously. What sort of symptoms were you? You said I learned the hard way before. Yeah, tell me what that entailed. Like, did you feel drowsy? Did you feel sore? Like, tell me how that came about.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Yeah, absolutely. I think that was the the first thing I was just feeling really fatigued and just really, you know, I would start the day feeling fine, I'd go in, and as soon as I started dancing, I was just like so lacking in energy, really fatigued.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Um so had you had breakfast at this point, like what were you doing, or what were you not doing? 100%.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

So yeah, I can pretty much taking you through a day. Like I would wake up, I would go to the gym in the morning before I trained, because you know, that's what I thought I needed to do. Get up, get really strong. And I didn't feel before that. I just went on an empty stomach, which no one should do. Um, yeah, so I did that, and then that probably didn't set me up for a very good day at all. And then I'd eat breakfast probably like three hours after I had woken up, and then that that would feel me for a bit, and then after about an hour or two, I'd be like, Oh, okay, like I have no energy. Yeah, and then just like I would just I was injured quite a lot, like I just kept getting heaps of injuries, was always sore. Yeah, I don't know, there was just a lot of things that I just noticed that were not helping me. Yeah, um, and yeah, like other things like for females, like, you know, I lost my period for that full year because like that, my body just fueled. Just wasn't eating enough. Yeah, exactly. And like, you know, I saw a doctor and they were like, oh no, like you're just a dancer, like that happens. And I was like, okay, like should it happen? Should it happen? And you know, when I got went and did my own research, I was like, actually, no, like that shouldn't happen. It's really important to get the right fuel, not just as a person, but as an athlete, remembering that dancers are athletes. So yeah, I think just kind of a combination of things, I wasn't feeling very great, so kind of had to take matters into my own hands and learn more to kind of get to the root of the problem.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

It's so smart of you to do that because we know from the dancers that come here, and we always try and enforce those sorts of um habits, you know, good good eating habits, good healthy habits. But you know, sometimes, as you know, when you're sort of running from here to there, school to dance, and you know, I'll just grab a packet of chips and then you know, half an hour later you're tired.

SPEAKER_03 8:22

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, and I think that's like kind of why I say, like, yes, we want to make sure we're eating enough and eating throughout the day, but it's also like knowing what to eat so that you know. Which hopefully you're gonna tell us about in a minute. But like, you know, if you're eating something on the go, you want something that's gonna fuel you for the next couple of hours and not, you know, eat something and then you're just hungry again and it hasn't actually done the job that we needed to do.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

So this leads us on to our next question. What are some of the key nutrients or habits that performers and dancers should prioritize to support their heavy, intensive training load?

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Yeah, that's a really good question. I think we're looking at sort of like what we want to eat before and after training, um, or rehearsals or performances. I think the key nutrient I like to look at before your training is carbohydrates, which are your foods, things like bread, cereals, fruit, things like that. And they provide your body with sugar, and then that provides your muscles with energy to move. So that is really kind of our key and primary source of fuel for dancing. So that's why it's so important to have carbohydrates before you train. I like to say try and aim for some carbohydrates between 30 to 60 minutes before you train. Okay. Sometimes that's not achievable, but if it is, we want to aim for around about that 30 to 60 minutes. It's that time window, like how long it tames to absorb and turn into energy.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Okay, so that makes sense. Yeah, that's sort of the gold standard kind of time frame. But you know, if it's a little bit later than that, if it's a little bit earlier than that, you know, that's life and that happens. Um, but kind of looking to have a, you know, a snack that's high in carbohydrates. So yeah, that's things like fruits, muesli bars, a sandwich, things like that. So yeah, that's what I would say to have before you train. In terms of when you're training or when you're, you know, in a long rehearsal day, having a very similar kind of food to what you've been having before you train just helps to top up your energy, essentially, because when we're training, we're getting rid of that carbohydrates which is fueling our performance. So we want to top that up when we're training. So that could be having, you know, another sort of half of a sandwich or a banana or something when you're training. And then when we look at post-training, that's when we really want to focus on recovery. So when we're focusing on recovery, we think about our muscles and we try and recover well so that we can perform as but as well as we can the next rehearsal, the next day, or whenever that might be. So I like to focus on carbohydrates again because we've just kind of, as I said before, expended all of that energy. We've used up those carbohydrates, so we need to make sure that we are having them back and that we're restoring what we've just used. But also protein is another really essential nutrient that we need to have after we train because that's going to support our muscle repair and recovery.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Okay, fantastic. Now you've sort of mentioned a few little ideas of things you could be having before training. I think one of the things we see with a lot of our dancers and dance students is it's quite hard to time things. So they're coming m straight from school and then they might start dance at four o'clock and then they dance until nine o'clock at night. And it's, you know, it's how do they be prepared with something that they can grab on the go that's gonna stop them from, you know, reaching for that chocolate bar, you know, at the snack bar across the road. So what's some other suggestions you would say to students training that they could have on the go, bring with them just to give them that that fuel before class?

SPEAKER_03 11:39

Yeah, that's a really good question. It's honestly down to planning and being a really good planner and just having something, you know, if you're coming straight from school, like packing the night before or even in the morning and making sure you've got a plan for ahead. I know it feels like it's so far away later in the day, but just having something ready to go. And I think being dancers, it's a snack for us, is needs to be a lot bigger than a snack for an everyday person.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

So that's good advice, actually. You are an athlete. Exactly. Yeah. So you can't eat like me who sits at a desk all day. Yeah, it's different.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

You know, you need so much more fuel. So a snack for you could be a sandwich, a snack for anyone could be a sandwich, but you know, rather than something like a piece of fruit, that's probably not gonna be enough fuel for a four-hour rehearsal. Yes. So, you know, I think shifting your mindset as to what a snack could be and what it could look like. It could be a sandwich and a piece of fruit and some lollies. Like that all of that has your carbohydrates that are gonna fuel your training. So I think it's just being really planning and just looking at what your snack is and how that's gonna fuel your training and just being really strategic about that.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Yeah, and I think that's really good what you've said about yeah, the differences in what a snack looks like for a dancer versus an everyday person. And I think a lot of it to do has to do with mindset. So someone might look at having a sandwich as a snack and be like, oh no, that's that's too much food. Yeah, yeah. So I think for a lot of our dancers who may be also struggling with things like body image and worrying about weight gain, it's something that mentally they have to have to get over as well. Talking about body image in in your world, have you had to deal with that with dancers and making sure that they're meeting their nutritional needs?

SPEAKER_03 13:22

Absolutely. And I think the biggest mindset shift that I found found helpful for myself and I think will be helpful for others is just viewing yourself as an athlete. Like we are, you know, we need to eat so differently from the everyday person. We need so much more fuel. So, like when you're seeing, and I think like things like social media make it really hard. Like you see things like, you know, what I eat in a day, and it's someone who's maybe at a nine to five corporate job, and it's like you actually cannot compare what they're eating. Your snack is three almonds. Literally, like, no, you need way more than three almonds. Like you, yeah, your snacks and even your meals, like they're gonna look so much more different. As I said before, carbohydrates, so important for dancers. You're gonna need a lot more carbohydrates than the person you've just seen on TikTok. So, you know, like yes, you can find meal inspiration on there, but I think you know, you gotta view yourself as an athlete, you are a dancer, you need so much more fuel, and yeah, I think it's just shifting the mindset is the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Yes, yeah, definitely. And I think also like there's all these kind of weird rules we kind of get taught and we absorb through social media and the media in general. Like, for example, like I've always been taught like you shouldn't have a big heavy meal late at night. But as dancers, often we come home late at night, and that might be our dinner might not be until nine, ten o'clock. And so, how do we kind of combat, you know, that that messaging we're getting, getting taught, but being able to actually fuel ourselves adequately?

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Yeah, yeah. It's it's so hard when you've got these kind of myths out there and like they've been around for generations, really. And it's of course it's kind of just looking at I guess trying to ignore as much as you can because those are they are myths. Like something like, you know, eating late at night, it makes no difference. Like you actually need that fuel. And I think again, something that helps me is just shifting that mindset to all right, if I have this meal now, at even if it's like nine or ten o'clock at night, what's this gonna do for my body? It's gonna repair my muscles, it's going to restore my all the carbohydrates that I've just used. We store carbohydrates in our body as something called glycogen, and we've just used that while we're dancing. So we want to make sure that when we're refueling, we are refueling and restoring our glycogen. So that's, you know, when I look at my post-exercise meal, that's what I'm seeing. I'm not saying like, oh, you know, I shouldn't be having this. I'm like, cool, this is giving me more glycogen, this is gonna repair my muscles, um, this is gonna make me perform better tomorrow. This is gonna make me stronger because it's repairing my muscles. So I think it's just trying to look at, right, what is this meal doing for me? It's actually doing so much. And if you don't have it, you're very likely gonna pull up quite sore the next day or you're not gonna perform as well. Like when you start training again, you're gonna feel quite fatigued. So it's so, so important. And I know it's hard when you get home and maybe like your family's gone to bed or they've all eaten. So I think it's important for families to know as well and to work with your families to like, you know, if your families are having a meal, just you know, ask that they can maybe put one aside for you. So when you get home, you're still having a meal. Of course. Yeah, it sounds funny, but that's really good practical advice. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Coming from a mum point of view now, I'm just gonna uh reach out for the parents that are listening. You know, I've got two daughters in dance and they're both teenagers now and they're old enough to make their own meals. You know, inevitably, if I cook dinner for the family, I will put two, you know, meals aside for them. But I work too, so I may make pasta, let's just say. They get home at say nine, you know, they eat the meal that I've provided them. What advice can you give mums to help do for their teenagers, but help their teenagers with? E.g., what's a great after-school snack? Like, is it oats and you know, like oats and banana, or should should we be packing an extra sandwich in the lunchbox? Like, what's a good a good tip?

SPEAKER_03 17:01

Absolutely, yeah. So I think like if we're thinking about like a school day and I'm thinking about like, you know, my schedule back in the day when I would go to school, then I'd come here and I'd be here for like five hours, you know. So I guess post-school it's around about four o'clock. Like, I would honestly say, like, try and get in a little meal. I would say something like a sandwich or some overnight oats with some yogurt and some fruit. Yeah. Or it can be whatever you want it to be. We're just trying to get some carbohydrates in there, um, potentially also a little bit of, yeah, like protein and fats, and you know, try and make it a balanced meal because it's gonna help keep you nice and full and satisfied, but also give you the energy to be able to last through a long rehearsal.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

So, yeah, I'd probably say what could the child or the teenager do for themselves on a Sunday evening so for the week? What could they make that could bring them through the week?

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Absolutely. I mean, my go-to is overnight oats. Right. I do love overnight oats. Right. Um, little quick, quick recipe for you. Just do a half a cup to a cup of over of oats, rolled oats, and then adding your milk of choice, stir that through, add whatever flavouring you like. You can do cinnamon, you can do maple syrup, um, things like that. And then I put yogurt on top, and then I put any kind of fruit, usually berries on top. And I just make a batch of that for the week, and that is the most convenient meal. I love it. Um, you just take it out the fridge in the morning, add your toppings, and then it's so like so easy to bring around with you. And that's yeah, a really good balanced, quick grumble meal.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

And you can just stay in the fridge all week and every morning you can take what you need. Exactly. Yeah, and that's so quick to prepare.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

Yeah, it's so quick to prepare.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Sunday evening preparation, I think, is the key there. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Just being organized, prepared, thinking ahead.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

Yeah, and I think that also goes for like, you know, your your after dance dinner as well, like just being prepared for that, if whether it be your family's cooked you something, but if not, maybe it's preparing on a Sunday night and freezing some meals so that when you come home, you've got some spaghetti ball and A's in the freezer that you can have within, you know, five minutes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

So speaking about body image, and you know, there's so much pressure around body image because everyone just sees what's on social media, they want to be like that. What are some of the things that are that are being posted on social media that aren't necessarily true?

SPEAKER_03 19:07

Yeah, good question. I think just in general, you just see like, I'm gonna go back to the what I eat in the days. Yeah. I've got strong opinions about those.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Right. Well, tell me about that. Because I don't actually know what that is.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Yeah, so you know, people post what I eat in the day, essentially, and they'll start from the start and they'll go to the end. And I think they've got a place, like if they come from a dietitian, great, because then you're understanding of course, yeah. You're understanding like why they're eating those things and how to, you know, create a really fueled day, or maybe there'll there's an athlete trying to explain how they're fueling their performance. But there's a lot of ones from very uncredible kind of sources, and I think they kind of warp what you should be having, and I think people start to compare. And you know, in these one night eat in a day videos, for example, a lot of them start with like a body check, or it's someone, you know, posing in the mirror and they're showing their abs, and then it's like, well, this is what I eat, and maybe it's not very much, and then you know, it's you're looking at that video and you're like, Oh, well, I should probably eat that to look like that, right? And that's what I should be eating, or that's what I should look like. But everyone needs firstly, everyone needs such different things because everyone is different, everybody needs a different amount of food, and you should never compare what you're eating to someone else. But yeah, I think it just looking on social media just doesn't give a good picture of what what probably what that person's eating every other day, and yeah, yeah. I think just like I think social media is a big one, it just warps your perception, I think, of what you meant to have.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

You don't know, you know, a lot of these influences, what's going on behind the scenes. Either are they getting paid to promote a particular yes, they don't necessarily believe in this product or have any credible information about it, but that often leads to yeah, those misconceptions as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Yeah, exactly. So going from that, um, you you no longer dance or you still do?

SPEAKER_03 20:57

I still do. I don't full-time anymore. No. Um, but I do like some gigs throughout the year, things like free.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

So did you have to change your eating habits when you stopped full-time?

SPEAKER_03 21:07

Yes, and no, I think I I think my mindset has changed a lot now being a dietitian because I know a lot more. And so, you know, when I was doing full-time, I was not eating what I would eat now if I was doing full-time, just because I purely didn't know. And a lot of the time it's just people don't know. Yeah, so I just I definitely wasn't fueling enough, I wasn't eating the right things, I just I didn't know how to fuel properly. But now when I do my performances and gigs and things, like I I really look at how can I eat the best to be able to perform the best. So I look at what should I eat before I dance to give me the most optimal amount of energy. Whereas, and that's my mindset, and I'm very passionate about you know, trying to kind of look at what I'm eating to benefit me the most. Whereas, you know, when I was training full time, that mindset was very different. It was like, oh, okay, I need to eat to look a certain way. Right. Yeah. Yes. And it was a bit of a combination of. Not understanding and not having the knowledge and kind of just doing what I thought, but it was also there was definitely an element of like oh that person next to me is having that and they look like that, so I should be eating that and I should look like that.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

And unfortunately, there still is that little bit of pressure, I think, in the industry to look a certain way and to be a certain size. It is it's changing slowly, but I think as dancers, it's always something that we have to battle and and we have to really be aware of. And hopefully, now we can, you know, educate younger dancers. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

And it's so hard, and I think the the biggest trigger for me was being around people and my peers and dancers who maybe had a negative mindset around food and body image. You know, in hindsight, it's never really came for me from like the educators, it was more the people around me and seeing what they were eating and their mindset and then negative food talk. And I think it's trying to just shut that out as much as you can and kind of not absorb that negative energy around food, and it's trying to, I guess, like I said before, shift that mindset and stay in your lane and go, right, what do I need to eat to perform the best? And shifting the mindset of how I'm eating to look versus how I'm eating to perform and to feel.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

And can I just also say you look great now? I don't mean body-wise because I don't you guys can't see Amy, but she's wearing a baggy shirt, so I'm not talking about her body, but you look radiant, your skin is glowing, your hair looks shiny. Because you look so beautiful. So your eyes are sparkling, so whatever you're eating is bringing out the best in you. I'm sure you are beautiful in a in a you know, body-wise, but I'm talking about just looking at you, you do look very healthy and glowy. Thank you. So that's obviously, but I have to ask the question. Yeah. Do you ever eat junk food?

SPEAKER_03 23:49

Oh, 100%. Absolutely. My favourite food is chocolate. I eat chocolate most days. Okay, truly.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

It's good. Good chocolate.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

And nice chocolate gets the green flag. It's it's all about balance.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

How do you tell me about how you eat chocolate?

SPEAKER_03 24:05

I honestly, if I eat it pretty much every day in a you know, portioned amount, doesn't mean that some days I won't eat more, some days I won't eat less. Sure. It it keeps my my relationship with chocolate and with food and with unhealthy foods so much better. Like, I think if I were to restrict that, it would, I would just be craving it. And so I think if I'm just allowing myself to, when I want some chocolate, to just have some chocolate and that's the end of the story, then I don't put chocolate on a pedestal. I think like, you know, if you have this all or nothing mindset, you can restrict and try and have the perfect diet and not let yourself have junk food. And you're probably just gonna be thinking about that piece of chocolate that you didn't let yourself have, and then you're likely just gonna either binge on it later or you're just gonna keep thinking about it, and it it really warps your, it really makes your perception of food quite different. Like I think, yeah. I I very much have the mindset of like a an 80-20 diet, which is like 80% whole foods and foods that are gonna nourish you, and then 20% of I don't want to call them unhealthy foods, but soul foods, foods that you love.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

So if I'm gonna come and see you as a client and you're my dietitian, you're not gonna tell me off if I want to have a little bit of chocolate every now and then or a little bit of cake. Oh, cake and chocolate get the big tick from me. Awesome. That's because I think sometimes, you know, thinking about seeing a dietitian, a professional like yourself, it can be a bit intimidating because you might be like, oh uh, you know, I don't eat enough vegetables and I'm just thinking about my own diet, you know. Sometimes, sometimes I have a burger. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:40

So I think it's yeah, and I think I also love to have the mindset of like eat what you need and then add what you like. Like if you're ticking all your boxes for, you know, you're eating all your nutrients, you're having your micronutrients, you've got your calcium, you've got your iron, you've got your all your vitamins, you've got all your minerals, you've got your protein ticked, you've got your carbohydrates, and you've you're ticking all the boxes, there's always room for your soul foods. Yeah. So I love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Yeah, I love that too. And that really works in with everybody's lifestyle. So don't eat the whole packet of Tim Tams, just have one or two.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

And I think something that helps me in if you're thinking about like unhealthy foods or those kind of soul foods as I like to do it. Sometimes foods, yeah. If you're feeling like you can't just have one, or you're feeling like you can't control yourself around those foods, and so you're restricting them. I think my kind of mindset with those is just looking at those foods and going like, all right, if I eat that, how's it gonna make me feel? So if I had a Tim Tem, I know that that's probably gonna satisfy my craving, maybe two, or satisfy my craving, and I'll feel good, and then I can go about my day and I'll feel good. If I have the whole packet, probably not gonna feel great. I'm probably gonna feel a bit sluggish, probably gonna feel a bit of a bit yucky. Yes. And so I think that's kind of my mindset when I think about those foods. It's like, let's have it to satisfy that craving. And again, it doesn't, you know, if you eat a bit more than you meant to on one day, it doesn't matter. No. Like I think just on that kind of general overall um mindset of it, just think like, all right, if I have this, if I have this much, I'll probably feel good. If I have a little bit, you know, too much, I'm probably not gonna feel as good. Yeah, yeah, that's really good. Really good way to think about it.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

So, Amy, you have been uh a competition dancer and a concert dancer, and I don't know if you've done anything else outside of here professionally in the dance world. Yeah. But how would you fuel your body and yourself, your mind as well, to perform a show or a concert or a competition?

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Love that. I also love how you said like fuel your body and like yourself and your mind as well. Like it's you're you're fueling your muscles, you're fueling your body, but you're fueling your concentration and your focus as well. So nutrition's gonna tick all those boxes. So gold standard, eat something before you perform. Um, I think a lot of people probably forget as well. You know, if you've got adrenaline and nerves and you might forget to eat. So I think it's planning and having something is kind of like the gold standard. And then if we can have, you know, like we were talking about before, we can have some carbs, some of those that quick releasing carbs, so you know, the more high sugary foods, that's really good before a performance, around about that 30 to 60 minutes before your performance. If you're performing probably like later in the day as well, like having a proper good meal about two to three hours before is also really good as well. Um, so having yeah, a normal, balanced meal a couple hours before, but you know, within that hour beforehand, trying to get that that carbohydrate in. So that could be some fruit, that could honestly be some lollies. You know, some people might view lollies as an unhealthy food, but before a performance, it's sugar, and we need sugar, and that's literally such a good thing to have right before you go on stage. So we do that, we do that with our quick little energy bootloads. Yeah, exactly. So that could be yeah, it could be lollies, it could be a piece of fruit, it could be some oats, it could be some like a granola bar or yeah, so a little snack beforehand can make such a difference to all of those things, your energy, your performance, and yeah, how you recover after that performance as well.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

I was just wondering, obviously, I mean, you're a dancer and I'm sure you're keeping on top of the trends in the dance world. What we are noticing is that children are getting younger and younger and the demands of their training are getting more and more. So we are noticing now that very young children are training upwards of you know, 12, up to 20 hours a week. Can you tell us a little bit about is there different needs for young children? I'm talking seven, eight, nine, ten growing bodies versus maybe a teenager. What should we be looking out for when we've got very young kids that are training at such an intense level? Yeah, that's a really good point.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

It's it's similar in that they need so much more food as well. So it's just looking at which can be tricky. It can be tricky, it can be hard because some kids just eat like birds. Yeah, exactly. And it's hard because you've got the I think with young kids it's different because you've got the combination of they're expending so much energy, but they're also growing. So like you need you need the fuel to not only, you know, give them the energy, the extra energy that they're using compared to another kid who's maybe not dancing, or you know, there's that, but there's also like the element of growth. Yeah, and they grow like a foot over the holidays. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

And sometimes kids just seem to have boundless energy. Yes. So you don't see it. So with a teenager, you kind of see it a little bit more. You know, they you see them, they get tired, they crash at the end of the night. Young children don't you don't see that so much. They come to their dance class and they're just like little energizer bunnies the whole time. And sometimes I watch these kids and I think, how are they getting through all of this? And as a parent, I'm like, how can we support that?

SPEAKER_03 30:42

Yeah, that's that's honestly a really good question. I think it's you know, it's also elements outside of nutrition. It's looking at all right, let's make sure they're getting enough sleep as well. Make sure they're getting enough sleep.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

And you know, they don't like sleeping.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

No, so yeah, I think it's it's looking at that, and like, you know, if they've got the opportunity to on the weekend, like, can they sleep in an extra couple of hours? I think it's also looking at back to nutrition, like looking at how can we make the most out of the food that they're eating as well. Yeah so it's like, yes, it might be hard for you know, if they're not wanting to eat more, it's okay, how can we make the food that they are eating more energy dense?

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Is that mashing the veggies in the sauce and things that things like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:19

Sneaking things in, sneaking things in for their overall health, but even just for like purely for energy as well. Like looking at maybe having like a chocolate milk or something, because that's gonna give them some energy in a very easy way because they're just having a drink. So if you can add something like that to give them more energy, right, without having to have an extra whole thing. Exactly. Yeah, so I think it's about just looking at the snacks that they're having and how can we optimize it and and same with their their meals as well. So that's yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

So like smoothies, like what are some suggestions?

SPEAKER_03 31:51

Yeah, absolutely. So I think it could be, you know, if you're having pasta rather than having like a you know, a tomato sauce type, you know, like a Napolitana type sauce, it might be switching that out for something as simple as like a bolonese because that's gonna give them that extra. Some protein in there, yes. Yeah, so I think it's it's trying not to overcomplicate it either. Um, because you want to build a healthy relationship with food with them as well. You don't want to make them feel like they're eating differently from everyone else. It's just about like some smart swaps, I think. It's gonna be more like, yeah, something like adding in that that meat into the meal that maybe otherwise didn't have it, and then you know, giving them a a milk to have with that because that's gonna give them the extra, you know, calcium and nutrients, but also energy essentially.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

And maybe making it whole milk and not skim milk and things like that. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

And you know, I think that can be hard in family dynamics when you've got potentially you've got a mum and a dad who are wanting skim milk, and then yeah, you know, they might just automatically give that to their children. But children are growing and they probably do need the full cream milk. Yeah, so it's I think trying to be really mindful about my my child is is growing and they are putting, you know, expending a lot of energy at dance. So I think it's just being really kind of mindful of that and trying to optimize what they're having as much as possible.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Yeah. Talking about the demands of training now, it's more than ever than dance. You know, we are experiencing children and young adults burning out younger and younger because they are training so hard, so young, and what they're doing is completely different to when I was training at dance. Yeah. Can nutrition play a role in helping to stop this burnout of our young dancers?

SPEAKER_03 33:29

Yeah, it's it's a really good question. I think it's it's looking at nutrition quite broadly. There's so many different elements we can look at. Like, for instance, looking at your eating before, during, and after training, there's that first. So looking at, you know, making sure you are fueling beforehand and that if you have got a long rehearsal, it's fueling during and then it's fueling after correctly. But it's also looking at like overall as well. So it's looking at making sure A, you're eating enough and having enough energy, but also that you're getting all your nutrients in. So you don't want to be deficient in anything. So it's looking at your overall diet, making sure you're getting carbohydrates, you're getting protein, you're getting healthy fats in, but yeah, also making sure you're getting your micronutrients that that come from a big variety of foods. So I guess my kind of biggest piece of advice to prevent burnout and um, you know, deficiencies and things like that is looking at your variety in your diet, trying to make sure that you're having a whole variety of foods because that's gonna get you everything that you need.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Which can be tricky because some kids only eat five things. Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_03 34:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

So is there a supplement that do you advocate or believe in supplements?

SPEAKER_03 34:35

Good question. I think I I like the the mindset of like food first. Um so I I'd like to be able to see can we fit this in in your your diet, but then it it gets to a point as well where it's like if you actually aren't meeting something in your diet, it's it's beneficial then to look at supplements. But that would be something that I would say to be done with either your doctor or dietitian.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

So that's where someone like you comes in, if you're not you're not quite sure how to get that particular nutrient in your diet, yeah, then you would be able to help them with that.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

Yeah, exactly. So, you know, good examples is if someone's vegetarian or vegan or even something as you know simple as you know, someone who doesn't eat you know much fish or they don't have they're not eating very many vegetables, or it's it's finding a way, all right, firstly, like I said, I'm a food first approach. So I go, right, how can we, for instance, sneak some veggies in, or how can we find a type of you know, fish that you like, or it's it's looking at all the strategies first, and then if that's not working and they are missing something in their diet, then it's looking at, all right, maybe we can start to look at supplements. But yeah, I guess kind of going back to what we were talking about before and in terms of variety and like fueling for your overall health, that's gonna really help to prevent that burnout on top of getting enough food and enough energy. So I think it's about putting those two together. Um, you know, you could be eating enough, but you might not be getting enough of everything, or you could be getting a good variety, but you might not be eating enough of that variety. So I think it's looking at both of those things is really important. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

Yeah. So coming to see you or a dietitian of some sort, because you're leaving us soon, I heard. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

I am going to Brisbane in Queensland. So just working out of practice over there as a dietitian. Exciting. Um, but yeah, we do do online consoles. Oh, good to know. Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

We'll get your details and we'll put it in the link.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

So coming to someone like yourself and saying, okay, look, this is what my child eats, or this is what I eat, um, you can sort of devise a plan or maybe offer some solutions for that person to make sure that they're getting a broad absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:43

And I guess the way I work would be I first things first will look at the goals of that person. And you know, a lot of clients will come with specific goals that they want, um, whether that be personal goals or maybe they've, you know, been referred by a doctor or something like that, and the doctor has goals with them, or you know, it could be like someone coming with their parents and they've got goals together, or it could be my recommendations, all right, this is what I'm seeing is maybe lacking, and this is what we want to work on. So that could be like, you know, increasing your energy and things like that, whatever that your goals are. That's kind of the first thing we talk about. Then I look at right, what do you what is your diet look like right now? What are we eating? What do you what does your exercise look like? You know, how many times a day or a week are you dancing and what your routine is. And I look at kind of everything that you're doing right now, and then we identify what changes we can make. Um, and that's done very collaboratively in terms of you know what the client wants and what, yeah, I guess kind of what the goals are.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

And then we look at strategies and then we, yeah, I guess we try different things and and sometimes just introducing something very minor, yeah, like, oh, I want you to take a bowl of homemade oats to school for after school snack. Yes, it could make the world of difference.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

Oh, 100%. And it absolutely often it's simple swaps. Simple things, yeah. And I think it's you know, people think it might be overwhelming to to see a dietitian and think that their whole diet change. But I will always work with the person. I always will hear what their diet is first because I'm not gonna tell someone to go and have something that they hate. I will never just go, here's this recipe, go and make it. Like I'll go, oh, okay, so it looks like you're liking, you know, a rice-based dish with this and that. I'll go, right, okay, let's swap this to this, try that, we'll see if we like that. If not, we'll try something else.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

So it's really good to know. So it's a very individualized. So you're not gonna give one meal plan where you've got to eat just chicken and broccoli. No, no, no. I think so. I think so too. I think a lot of people think that it's very, very strict and something you have to eat this and you have to buy.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Boiled chicken breast and boiled, no, I'm gonna eat that.

SPEAKER_03 38:43

No, absolutely. And some people don't like getting a meal plan either. And yeah, I can do that too. I can go, great, like, let's not have a meal plan. Like, let's let's just think of some strategies and have some kind of go-to snacks and go-to meals and more of an education around nutrition rather than like I'm not like gonna be the food police.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Do you consult for people who aren't dancers, like say myself? Like, I'm you know, in my 50s, so I feel a bit sluggish sometimes, and you know, what can I do? So you would consult anyone with any problem? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

So I yeah, we'll do kind of like your general or overall um dietetics um or nutrition um consults. I specialise more so in uh sports, dances, and gut health. Okay. My kind of key areas, but it doesn't mean that I don't do everything else. And I think everything else comes into play anyway. Um so yeah, definitely work with all kinds of clients.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

But you've you've lived as a dancer who was experiencing these problems, so you know exactly now how to combat that.

SPEAKER_03 39:42

Exactly, and I think that's why I am so passionate about it. And I just see myself, you know, a couple of years ago, and I just want to be that person that I didn't have. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

You just said before that your one of your specialties was gut health. That is something I'm really interested in and know nothing about. But just tell us a little bit, just for someone who doesn't know much, what does that mean and how is that important for young people, dancers, performers especially? Great question.

SPEAKER_03 40:08

It's gut health is very complex. Um, but essentially, you know, a good gut or good gut health is having a healthy gut microbiome, um, which is essentially the bacteria in your gut and the ecosystem in your gut. So there is many foods that we can have to support a good gut health, um, which is things like foods rich in fibre. Um, so things like your fruits, vegetables, seeds, breads, things like that. So there's lots of high fibre foods. Cereals?

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Cereals, yeah. Um say that with a question mark because you know, there are, I guess, I shouldn't say good and bad, but there are better cereals out there. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

Definitely cereals with a question mark. Okay. It's like, yeah. I think, you know, most if you're looking at a box, you've just a really good way is to just flip the box around, look at the back. What are we looking for? We're looking for fibre. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

And what how much do we want per?

SPEAKER_03 40:57

We want per serve. I say for like, you know, a snack, um, we're wanting to look for around about four grams. Um, honestly, even for a meal, we're trying to look for four grams per serve of a product. Okay. Um, that's a very kind of loose guide. We want to actually have, like for females, we want to have at least 25 grams of fiber a day. Yeah. Okay. Um, so we're kind of looking across the day. But if you're looking, you know, at least kind of four grams in like a snack or, you know, in some cereal, that's kind of a bit of a good guy, but we're trying to get up to that 25, maybe 30 grams per day. Okay. So depending on kind of like where you're getting that in in your diet. Yeah. But no, fibre is kind of, you know, it's it's really key to a really good gut health. Um, something as simple as hydration is really good for your gut health. Okay. And then there's a bunch of other things like you've got your pre- and probiotics, which I think a lot of people kind of think of that being just supplements, but it does come in a lot of foods as well. Um, lots of things like again, vegetables and things like that. But yeah, even as I said before, variety is just so important. You know, you get so many different nutrients from different foods, and particularly plant-based foods. So vegetables, fruits, legumes, so things like chickpeas, lentils, um, they all provide different nutrients, and that your gut loves variety. So just having different foods is really helpful for a good gut health. You know, so that could be like again, simple swaps, things like switching a can of chickpeas to like a four-bean mix that just adds in more variety. Or just instead of having blueberries, have like mixed berries because all of the berries are gonna give you different nutrients. Yeah, right. And your gut loves that. So I think it's yeah, they're probably my my three kind of key bits of tips, I guess you could say, for gut health is fiber, yeah, hydration, and then just variety, and I guess things like your pre and probiotics as well.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

That's I mean, it's obviously a very complicated topic, but that doesn't sound too complicated. Yeah. Just having that big variety of of whole foods and exactly.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

And I think it kind of, yeah, if you're thinking about getting as much colour as you can into your diet, like eat the rainbow. Yeah, and it really does help because it's it simplifies what can otherwise feel complex. You know, you can you can name all the different kinds of things that we need, but really, if you're having a really good variety of colour, you're gonna get a lot of the nutrients that you need and it's gonna support a really healthy gut. So that would be my biggest tip.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Yeah. Sometimes I think about vegetables and I go, oh, I just think about the boiled vegetables. But there's so many other things you can do, right?

SPEAKER_02 43:20

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 43:20

But to make it interesting, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

Yeah. Spices, sauces. Yes, yeah, absolutely. And like hidden veggies are great. I often hide my veggies. I don't love vegetables. So I hide still. Maybe it's a bit childish, but I do love hiding my vegetables. Like I'll make spaghetti and meatballs and I'll put the vegetables in the meatballs. Or I often load my bolognese with vegetables, or I make like soups and put veggies in there, or you know, things like that.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

You can't really see, but you know they're there.

SPEAKER_03 43:49

There's still those nice, hardy, comfort foods and you can just sneak in those extra cookies. We definitely hiding vegetables is not just for children. You can definitely do it as an hour too. Even not to just get in more vegetables because it can be overwhelming to you know get your five vegetables in. Yes. But you know, if you're having, you know, one meal and you've got some broccoli, great, but it's like, oh, do I how am I going to get more in? Just yeah, kind of hiding them in places can be really helpful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

That's good. Well, thank you, Amy. That has been such insightful information, especially for our young dancers and even our parents, you know, for maintaining this and for helping our dancers get through a day or a week or a year or whatever it might be. How can people find you on socials or in person?

SPEAKER_03 44:32

Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram, it's just dietitian Amy underscore. Um, and I'm about to start working at a company called Ideal Nutrition. So they you can find them on Instagram as well, just ideal nutrition also underscore. And then you can go to their website. Okay. And when I start working with them, you can just book in with me through there. So, yeah, all kind of through Instagram is the easiest way to do it. Yeah, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

We'll put those links there so if anyone wants to get in touch with Amy, they can.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

And thank you so much for providing us with all your information, and we wish you every success.

SPEAKER_03 45:02

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

Thanks, Amy.