Have you ever wondered what you should eat and drink before, during and after long rehearsals or auditions? Well here's the post for you!
The week before (or the weeks between rehearsals)
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The week before (or the weeks between rehearsals)
- Do not drastically change what you eat; it won't make much of a difference
- Do not drastically reduce portion size, or skip meals
- Stick to the same amount of food you normally eat
The night before
- Steer clear of anything that causes water retention, especially if you're required to wear all black form fitting clothing for an audition!! Minimize sodium intake, particularly by avoiding highly processed foods
- Stick to whole, natural foods like fresh fruits and veggies, legumes, salmon, brown rice
- Drink LOTS of water (see my water post here)
- Eat a hearty dinner since during rehearsals/auditions you'll have less of a chance to eat a larger meal
The morning of
- Don't skip breakfast!
- Some options include: Greek yogurt, banana, berries, granola, oatmeal egg and wheat toast
- Make sure you include a protein
- Bananas will help increase the potassium level and decrease cramping
- Drink at LEAST one glass of water before you leave the house
- Avoid refined sugar, since it will give you very short term energy
- Put something in your stomach about 1-2 hours before moving so you can keep up your strength
- Some options include: trail mix (no chocolate in it!), granola, banana with peanut butter
- If you eat a bar of some sort, get one with few ingredients and make sure there are no additives or preservatives; one I love is the Lara Bar
- Avoid anything with sugar alcohols because they tend to cause gas, cramping, and bloating. Ingredients to look for are sorbitol, xylitol, malitol and any other ingredient ending in "-ol" which are all sugar alcohols
- If you like cow's milk or soy milk, both give you protein and the energy you need but aren't hard to digest so they won't sit heavily in your stomach
During
- I like to pack a myriad of snacks so I always have something I can quickly grab
- Some of my standby options: fruit, granola bar, Lara Bar, applesauce pouches (no added sugar), fruit leather (no added sugar), raw natural almonds, dried cranberries, and raisins
- Stay hydrated throughout! Aim for about 8 ounces an hour, at a minimum
Afterwards
- If you ever talk to someone who works out a lot, the same rule applies: eat protein!
- Some options: edamame, hummus, nuts
- A friend mentioned her trainer told her to drink a glass of 2% chocolate milk! Make sure to get the good stuff though, so look for antibiotic free, hormone free milk
- Keep hydrating after your rehearsal or audition
Avoid or Reduce
- The sugar alcohols we already mentioned
- Caffeine: A small amount is okay, but only one cup of coffee will do the day of
- Alcohol (for those guard folks in independent groups and are older): it dehydrates you and will make you feel icky if you drink anything the night before
- Energy Drinks: most of them are full of non-natural ingredients, caffeine, and SUGAR
And to reiterate the point about water, you should drink half your weight in ounces every day, and more when it's hot outside or when you're highly active. For example, your baseline should be if you weigh 150 lbs, you would drink approximately 75 oz of water per day.
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