Healthy Living

Since living a healthy lifestyle is essential for me to dance at the level I do everyday, for as long as I can, I wanted to share my thoughts on why it is so important and beneficial for everyone to live a healthy life style. There are many ways to practice healthy living and I want to cover as many ways that I know. The essentials that I want to explore in this essay are: Regular physical activity, a balanced diet, and positive self-awareness. 

     

Living a healthier life can not only extend your life, it can also improve the quality. Feeling physically better and having control over your own life can greatly increase your mental health as well. Although there are some aspects of physical and mental health that are beyond an individual's control, there are many things that people can do to improve their quality of life.

       

Health is a quality of life involving dynamic interaction and interdependence among the individual's physical state, their mental and emotional reactions, and the social context in which the individual exists. Three major components that contribute to general well-being are: Self-awareness, a balanced diet, and regular physical activity. In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, it is essential that individuals constantly monitor their health. This involves not only physical, but also mental and emotional aspects of the body's functioning, as they relate to the home, school, work, and leisure environments. If necessary changes are made sooner rather than later, then a stable, balanced and healthy lifestyle will be more consistently maintained. Some things that can help people reach this goal are nutrition and meal preparation, exercise and physical fitness and maintaining regular check ups with doctors.

Our bodies, like cars, need fuel to run. And like cars, the quality of the fuel that we use can affect our performance. Making sure that you are giving your body all the fuel it needs and the best quality fuel you can will improve how your body runs and feels. Our "fuel" comes from food and the nutrients that food provides. A number of government agencies in the United States (including the Food and Drug Administration [FDA], Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Agriculture) have spent years researching proper nutrition and developing guidelines for food intake. To read more about their guidelines check out the FDA website as well as the Department of Agriculture's website. They have come up with seven general dietary guidelines for healthy adults. These seven general guidelines are: 

• Eat a variety of foods to get the energy, protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber you need for good health. 

• Maintain a healthy weight, this can lower your chances of having high blood pressure, heart disease, a stroke, certain cancers, and the most common kind of diabetes. 

• Choose a diet low in fat and cholesterol, this can lower your risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer. A diet low in fat can also help you maintain a healthy weight. 

• Choose a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, and grain products. These types of food provide needed vitamins, minerals, fiber, and carbohydrates, and are generally lower in fat to help you maintain a healthy weight. (A great blog to follow to get ideas on vegetable rich meals is Oh She Glows).

• Use sugar in moderation, sugar has many calories and few nutrients and can contribute to tooth decay. 

• Use salt in moderation, this helps lower your risk of high blood pressure. 

• If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation. Alcoholic beverages supply calories, but little or no nutrients. Drinking alcohol is also the cause of many health problems and accidents and can lead to addiction.

Exercising and staying physically fit are an important part of maintaining your health. Proper exercise and fitness can improve your health in many ways. It can: 

• Improve the health of your heart and lungs, which lowers your chances of heart disease. 

• Lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, which lowers your chances of heart disease, stroke, and other chronic diseases. 

• Maintain your weight, which lowers your chances of heart disease, stroke, and other chronic diseases. 

• Improve your strength and flexibility, which makes daily activities easier and lowers your chance of osteoporosis, broken bones, pulled muscles, and other injuries.

• Improve your mental health, by lowering anxiety and depression and increasing feelings of control and well-being.

The type of exercises you do and how often you do them can vary greatly from person to person, but all healthcare professionals agree that exercise is beneficial to everyone's health. There are many different kinds of exercise (walking, running, swimming, dancing, and weight lifting, to name just a few).  A good exercise program will include some combination of these three types of exercise: 

1. Cardiovascular: Cardiovascular exercise improves and strengthens your heart, lungs, and circulation and helps people lose weight. Cardiovascular exercise is any type of exercise that raises your heart rate to a 'target zone' (determined by your age, weight, and health). Some of the most commonly discussed types of cardiovascular exercise include running, aerobics, bicycling, walking, and stair climbing, but could also include dancing, skating, skiing, martial arts, tennis, or any type of exercise that raises your heart rate.
2. Strength training: Strength training helps you by making you stronger and giving you better endurance (so you can do things longer). This makes day-to-day activities easier and reduces your chances of injury. While many people think of weight lifting when they hear 'strength training', there are many different types of exercises you can do to improve your strength (and you don't have to be a muscle-man or woman to do them.) Some common strength training exercises include sit-ups, push-ups, and using nautilus machines, strength bands, and free weights.
3.  Exercises that increase your flexibility: Flexibility exercises give you greater range of motion in your joints and make your body more supple, again, making day-to-day activities easier and reducing your chances of injury. Many people do specific stretching exercises to increase their flexibility but other types of exercise (such as dancing, yoga, and martial arts) can also improve flexibility.

Doing these exercises are available to you even if you don't belong to a gym. You can look up exercise videos online and workout at home. Below is a video teaching you yoga poses that you can do in your home. 

"Prevention is the best cure" is a popular saying among many healthcare related blogs like "The Health Care Blog". This means that the easiest way to get healthy is to avoid getting sick in the first place. While this is not always possible, there are many ways to prevent possible future health problems and illnesses. 

Having a healthy diet and exercise regularly can prevent very serious diseases like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and strokes, to name a few. Easy ways to stay healthy and prevent illness is to eat well and exercise regularly and have a yearly physical with your doctor or healthcare provider. This checkup should include checking your weight, blood pressure, listening to your heart and lungs, and a general physical exam; discussing your lifestyle (exercise, diet), health problems, and current medication; and answering any questions you may have about your health. 

Healthy living is a combination of many things, including good nutrition, regular exercise and a positive attitude. Taking care of your body and feeling pride in your accomplishments can improve both your physical and mental health. There are many things you can do to improve your quality of life-improving your diet and exercising regularly are two of the easiest steps. No matter how small you start (adding an apple a day to your diet or walking 5 more minutes a day), you can make a change and an improvement in your life.   

       

     

       

       

Recovery

I'm always in the best shape at the end of a season with The New York City Ballet. My stamina is awesome and I feel good about my weight. Some of us celebrate the end of a hard season with a big celebratory meal together. The group of us that goes out for dinner after the last show of the season is usually dancing every night with multiple ballets a night. Therefore, we feel the need to have a big meal to replenish ourselves. The week following my last show, I am always hungry and trying to eat as much as I can. I never feel satisfied with the amount of food I can intake; I call this the post season depletion. I thought that it would be nice to share a daily routine of a dancer who just ended a season. I want to show nutritious meals and snacks I have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as ways to recover from a hard season.

The next day after the season ends, I try to sleep in as much as possible. I truly believe that your body heals when you sleep, so the more the better! When I wake up, I continue to do my normal morning exercises, the ones I posted in Three Quick Exercises that Will Reduce Stress, including an abdominal series and stabilization exercises. However, I take my time doing them since I am in no rush to get to work. I think it is important to keep with a routine even when we are off from work because if you don't keep up with your exercises it will be so much harder to come back from break, ready to dance. After I finish my morning mini-workout, I make breakfast. For breakfast I have a smoothie and a big bowl of cereal. The recipes are:

Cereal:                                                

• Trader Joe's Granola                           
• Handful of walnuts
• Handful of almonds
• Half a banana
• 4 to 5 strawberries
• Dash of cinnamon
• Almond milk

Smoothie:

• 1/2 cup of almond milk
• 1/2 a frozen banana
• 1 tablespoon of almond butter
• 1 tablespoon of maca powder
• 1 table spoon of cacao powder
• Dash of cinnamon
• Handful of cashews                                        

After I'm finished with breakfast, I spend some time at my apartment. During the season it is hard to find time to clean and do laundry, so when the season is over I spend a good amount of time cleaning my apartment and doing loads of laundry. It is refreshing to be at my apartment during the day since it is so rare that I get to be any place other than the theater.

Depending on how long I am cleaning or doing errands around my apartment, I go to pilates or gyrotonics for a private hour long session and then have lunch or vice-versa. When I'm off from work, I benefit greatly from pilates or gyrotonics. I feel like I can work on things in pilates and gyrotonics that can help my dancing become stronger and more fluid. Below is a picture of me doing a pilates move that helps me engage my abdominals, butt muscles, and stablizes my shoulder muscles. Its called the Elephant on the Wunda Chair.

Below is a picture of me doing arm exercises in gyrotonics. These exercises help me stabilize my shoulders and abdominal while using my butt muscles:

For lunch I like to have a big salad, with a ton of stuff in it! 

Salad:

• A bunch of organic mixed greens including kale
• Shredded carrots
• Beets
• Quinoa
• Sweet potato
• Shrimp or chicken                                                
• Hummus                                          
• Broccoli                                             
• Cauliflower
• Corn
• Tomatoes
• Feta cheese

After I have lunch and workout I like to relax and catch up on a book or t.v. show that I didn't have time to watch during the season. A layoff from work means time for me to watch the shows I've missed and read as many books as possible. At the moment, I am reading I See You Made an Effort by Annabelle Gurwitch.

I like to read books that make me laugh. Also shows that make me laugh are my favorites. A guilty pleasure t.v. show that I like to watch is Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

When I finish the season I like to get a massage to release the tight muscles I've acquired. Like I've said in my previous post, Post Workout Fuel, it's important to get your muscles released to prevent injury. I like to get a massage at night because it's a nice way to unwind and relax at the end of the day. 

For dinner I'll usually make something light:

Dinner:

• A nice fresh wild caught piece of salmon                   
• Asparagus
• Quinoa or brown rice                            

Dessert:

• Bowl of greek yogurt
• Mixed nuts
• Blueberries or peaches
• Dark chocolate chips
• Peanut-butter                           

After dinner I will either take an epsom salt bath, which is good for recovering muscles or take a hot shower. I like to stretch after I take a shower, when my muscles are still warm. Doing easy stretches before bed clams me down and helps me sleep better. Its is important to get a good nights sleep so I'm well rested in the morning to get up and do my routine all over again!

The Right Playlist

Music is such an important part of my life as a dancer. It surrounds me in every thing that I do. I start my day by listening to music as a way to wake me up. When I get to work, I have the pleasure of taking class to a live pianist. I rehearse all day to different composers' music. Before the show, I warm up to oldies or the top hits. And at night I perform with a live orchestra. There is a saying by George Balanchine, the founder of our company, that reads "See the music, hear the dance". The music should be so encompassing when we dance that it looks like we are the music and not just a dancer dancing to the music. 

When I am off from dancing with the company, music is still a big part of my daily life. I continue to play music to help me wake up in the morning. And when I go to the gym to workout, I must have my music. I believe that I enjoy my workout more when I have a good playlist of songs. I feel great when I have my favorite songs come up on Pandora; it's like the station knows what I need to get through a hard workout. Right now, my favorite album to listen to at the gym is Beyonce's new album.

One of my favorite songs on the album is XO. Below is the music video.

No matter what your favorite kind of music is, when you are at the gym, make sure you get a playlist that pumps you up and makes you feel good. It will change the way you workout! 

Lookin' Good

There are so many options to choose from when shopping for workout clothes. In the city, I've personally bought workout clothes at Lululemon, Modells, Athleta, Gap etc. 

But how do you choose?! Going to each store and seeing what they have is one option. However, I can recommend my two favorites and save you the time.

My two favorite stores to shop at for workout clothes are Lululemon and Gap. I like both of these stores for different reasons. 

I love the variety of different leggings and pants at Lululemon. There are many different lengths of leggings or pants that you can choose from. There are baggy pants, tight pants, short pants, and long pants. Depending on what I am shopping for, either yoga or warming up for ballet class, I can find what I need in many different styles and colors at Lululemon.

At GAP, I like shopping for workout tops and sports bras. GAP has great tank-tops and t-shirts to choose from. The prices at GAP are also very affordable. I go through so many shirts when I workout that its nice not to spend a fortune on them. 

Overall, I would recommend buying workout clothes that are comfortable, but more importantly ones that make you feel good. I think that finding the right outfit to workout in will help you motivate yourself to actually go workout. If you feel confident in your look then there is no reason not to show it off!

Foam Rolling

As we age, our muscles lose elasticity in the joints and connective tissue and lead us to develop more aches, pains and injuries. The good news is that there's a simple way to maintain a healthy body that's easy to take on at any stage of life: Foam Rolling.

What foam rolling actually does is this: micro-facial release. By applying pressure directly to sore muscles with a foam roller, you're able to roll out knots (or adhesions) on the muscle. This allows your body to bring blood flow to the troubled area, transporting nutrients and oxygen to the muscles for faster repair.

Here are three tips to help you foam roll more effectively:

1. Don't roll directly onto the area of pain.

Avoid rolling directly on the source of pain, and, instead, target the muscles around the area which are likely causing an imbalance and tension in your body. By focusing your rolling a few inches away from the pain source, you'll help muscles relax and repair, rather than bringing unnecessary inflammation to an injury.

2. Go slowly!

You need to give your brain enough time to tell your muscles to relax in order to get the maximum benefit of foam rolling. Find an area of tension that allows you to feel the pressure at about a level of eight, on a scale of one-to-10 (this is called the sensation scale).

Sit into this pressure point and breathe deeply until you settle and the sensation drops to about a four on a sale of one-to-10. After this, work down the same muscle by rolling a few inches over from the original point and repeating the process of sitting into a pressure point and allowing tension to melt away.

3. Do foam rolling for at least ten minutes, twice a week.

This will bring stress relief, improve posture, support anyone who is pregnant and help prevent injury. Foam rolling will help you move better, stand taller and live a pain free life.

If you're exercising more than two times per week, then foam rolling should be a non-negotiable part of your pre- and post- workout routine. Maximize your potential by activating key muscle groups before you exercise.

As much as it is a recovery tool, the foam roller is also an active warm-up tool.

Before you embark on a big cardio workout (i.e. running, swimming, cycling, hiking, etc.), use the foam roller to prime the major muscle groups. This will help the body to fire muscles correctly. Muscles will get more oxygen and be able to work faster and harder.

Sit with your legs extended out in front of you and place the foam roller under the lower half of your calf. With your hands on the floor, lift your butt and roll your calf along the roller. Switch legs and repeat. By placing both calves side-by-side, you get deeper pressure. If you want less intensive compressions, work on one calf at a time.

Foam rolling is a great way to proactively work stress out of the body. It allows you to access hard to reach spots like the shoulders and hips, where many people carry their tension. As a dancer, foam rolling is essential. We must roll out our muscles in order for them to not get bulky. View your time spent foam rolling as a physical meditation. Allow yourself to focus on relaxing the body, deepening your breath and unwinding muscular tension.

Healthy Competition

When I workout I like to be by myself. I am always determined to get the most out of all my workouts, sometimes becoming obsessive about doing all the exercises I know. When I work out by myself rather than with a friend,  I'm not distracted and can accomplish more. However, I recently found out that I will actually try and push my self harder when I workout with a friend. 

When I was home this past week, my friend and I took a pilates class together. We both do pilates regularly so I thought that I would be fine in terms of keeping up. However, I was wrong. I started to get tired about halfway through and I looked over at my friend and she was not even sweating! It looked like the class was too easy for her. At that moment, I started to work even harder than I already was. I didn't like feeling like the class was too hard for me and too easy for my friend. I needed to step up my game. At the end of the class I surprisingly felt great. I really felt like I accomplished something. I feel that my friends ability to make the class look easy helped me reach new limits in my own workout. She pushed me to work harder and it helped me to do exercises that I couldn't before.

In one of my previous posts For Fitness, Push Yourself I posted an article that explains how a chemical in our bodies signals to our muscles when we workout. And when we really ramp up our workouts, we gain greater results. The harder we workout the more pronounced the results are. After actually experiencing a hard one, I now understand that great benefits can result. Now, I don't think that every time you go to the gym you have to go crazy and run eight miles. I believe that pushing yourself to a new limit, like a half a mile more than you did yesterday, is all it takes to reap the benefits of feeling good.  

Thank You Mom

It's 1:30 pm on a Thursday. I'm 13 years old and yelling "drive faster, drive faster, get in that lane, no that lane" at my mother who was going as fast as she could possibly go. School doesn't end until 2:30 pm, but both my mother and I sneak out early to get into the car so she can drive me two hours, to Boston, to ballet class. I'm yelling because I'm afraid I will be late to my 4 o'clock class. We always cut it close, even with a police radar detector telling us if there is a police car around. There is no time to spare to be pulled over for speeding. 

You can never predict the traffic going into Boston. We always hit a stand still about half an hour away from the ballet studios. 

Its 3:45 pm and I'm starting to freak out. We are not that close to the studios and the traffic isn't moving. I've had my hair done in a bun for about 45 mins now and I'm dressed with my ballet uniform and shoes on. I'm ready to go, except we are stuck. I begin to bounce up and down in my seat thinking that if I keep moving so will the traffic. 

Its 4:01 pm and my mom pulls up next to a car that's already parked in front of the Boston Ballet studios, the car door on my side has been open half a block ago so I can dart out of the car and waste no time. There are always cars already parked out front so my mom is forced to double park while she lets me out. I'm already late, but only by a minute as I run into class. I never have time to properly warm up, but I feel warm already from being so stressed out in the car.

Its 5:30 pm and I'm done with class. I feel good. I always feel better after class mainly because I love to dance. My mom is waiting for me outside in the car. It's better she's outside of the studios so she won't have to take part in the conversations of the many stage moms watching through the class windows, gossiping. My mom joined a gym up in Boston so she didn't have to sit and gossip with my classmates' parent's. I think that was a very smart decision. 

Waiting for me in the car is my dinner that my mom so graciously picked up for me. I usually requested sesame chicken, and that's what she usually had waiting for me. 

Its about 6:00 pm and I'm starting to get sleepy so I take my shoes off and put them up on the dashboard. "Whoa" my mom says. I guess I am used to the smell of my feet, but they were rancid smelling after dancing in pointe shoes for an hour and a half. Most nights, including winter nights, we had to keep the window open for a while. Since we live the farthest away from everyone in my class, we get to drop off everyone on our way home. Making about three to four stops every night. 

Its 7:00 pm and I'm fast asleep. My mom has no one to talk to. She is also so tired, working all day and then driving two hours to Boston and two hours back is a lot and with no one to talk to it must be hard to stay awake. Once we get home I see my dad and sister for a few minutes and then head up to bed, only to get up in a few hours to repeat it all over again. 

My mom is a women like no other. I know that I would not be able to withstand driving my child to Boston every day of the week for three years. She is truly someone special. Without her I wouldn't be where I am today. I would have never made it to New York to become a professional ballet dancer. It was surely her dedication that brought me to live out my dream of becoming a dancer with the New York City Ballet. I feel guilty that there is nothing I can do to repay her for her generosity. I can only say that I deeply mean it when I say Thank You for Everything! 

Above is a picture of my Mom and me this past Christmas.