For most of my life, I’ve been one of those “lucky” people with a hummingbird-like metabolism. During the run of a show, I once ate a packet of Oreo cookies for dinner (I’d had a rough day!) and saw no change in my weight that week. Before you throw down the magazine in disgust, realize that even without weight gain, I faced serious consequences for my poor diet choices, including severe migraines and an innate crabbiness that made me difficult to work with once I crashed from all the processed sugar. As I’ve gotten older, that high metabolism has begun churning to a halt, and I have had to become much more careful about how I eat, especially while traveling for a gig.
One of the most difficult places to maintain a healthful diet is on the road. There are so many pitfalls—stress eating, peer pressure to eat late at night after a performance, odd changes to eating times that result in poor and last-minute snack choices. What follows is advice from singers who have spent years on the road and, through trial and error, have achieved a balance in their eating to both enjoy food and stay healthy while traveling.
Step One: Plan Ahead
Imagine: you’re at a gig in a new city for several weeks, or on a national tour where you stop in a new place every few days. The most recognizable food you’ll find is “fast food.” Reliable in its uniform taste and texture, I’ve even seen singers downing Big Macs in Italy in an attempt to find familiarity in their food. While homesickness on the road is normal, our diets cannot be determined by our emotional states.
Mezzo-soprano Lauren McNeese, whose next engagement is with San Francisco Opera in Der Ring des Nibelungen, is “committed to helping others find balance and happiness in life through a healthful lifestyle.” A proponent of planning ahead, she recommends “saving calories” on the days she will have a later rehearsal. By reminding herself that she’ll be eating when she comes home, she’s able to even out the calories throughout the day.
Planning ahead for meals can be fun as well as beneficial—and as an added bonus, can save you some serious dough, too! I love the recipes in magazines such as Taste of Home and Simple and Delicious. Both publications offer recipes with few, inexpensive ingredients and, in general, highlight using seasonal foods in your meal planning. For some of you, I’m sure the idea of cooking brings to mind horror stories of messes thrown into the trash, never to be spoken of again—but remember, all good cooks have to learn by practice! A little olive oil, garlic, and some vegetables sautéing is something even novice cooks can throw together, and is both more healthful and cheaper than most restaurant fare.
Dixie Roberts, a mezzo whose cabaret recital is on tour throughout the U.S. this season, remarks, “I have begun to love the ritual of grocery shopping once I get to a new place for the first time. It makes me feel settled.” By making trips to the grocery store part of the experience of your travel to gigs, you can create a routine for yourself that helps you keep on track for your diet.
In addition to stores, check out farmers’ markets, too. The local food movement in the country is growing exponentially, and a local produce stand or farmers’ market offers the best of what is in season from area farms. These are most often the most nutritionally packed foods available, and you may also find something new and exciting to add to your arsenal of recipes.
Step Two: Cook for Yourself
Cooking your own meals is a sure-fire way to control what goes into your food. Cynthia Hanna, a mezzo-soprano who recently performed with the Washington National Opera, is a devoted cook who enjoys creating intricate dishes. However, for cooking on the road, she recommends thinking of it “like packing for the road . . . you can do a lot with a little black dress and fun accessories. When buying food on the road, you also have to accept that the better the ingredients, the better the taste.” Hanna, a proponent of group cooking, suggests getting together with your cast mates for a home-cooked meal.
I followed Hanna’s advice over the summer while at a gig: cast members chipped in for cost of food, and I made an elaborate vegetarian lasagna. There was plenty for everyone, and because so many people were involved, there weren’t even leftovers! It also gave us a chance to socialize without having to go to a restaurant.
Step Three: Pack Your Snacks
By selecting a meal plan before heading to the grocery store or farmers’ market, it’s easy to fill in the gaps with healthful snacks and avoid last-minute pitfalls. For snack ideas, check out the sidebar “Singer’s Favorite Snacks” (p. 42) and my recipe for homemade energy bars. Also, be sure to plan ahead for dressing up your meals and snacks. Spices and oils are fairly expensive, but by portioning out a small arsenal into sandwich bags as you pack, you will be sure to have enough for the duration of your gig.
Stage manager and director Sarah Fraser, who spends the better portion of her year in a hotel with a kitchenette, says, “Take advantage of [the kitchen]!” Purchase inexpensive storage containers (these pack nicely and can be filled with clothing, jewelry, or other personal items in your luggage) and you’ll have somewhere to store leftovers or snack items.
Step Four: Think about Your Late-Night Choices
As performers, we head to the theater for hair and makeup just about the time “normal” people sit down to dinner. Cindy Sadler, a stellar singer, a business-of-singing guru, and author of the weight-loss and fitness blog
www.TheNext100Pounds.com, shares how she changes her schedule to accommodate performances.
“I just adjust my schedule,” she says. “I sleep later and eat earlier. It often works best for me to eat a bigger breakfast and lunch, then snack for dinner. Or eat one bigger meal mid-morning/early afternoon and just snack the rest of the day.”
All the singers interviewed agree that a protein-packed lunch with complex carbohydrates makes for the best mid-day meal on performance days. McNeese plans her days based on the role she’s singing, “It’s like with running,” she says. “You will not fuel the same way for a 15-mile run as you would for a 4-mile run.” Trial and error to know your body’s needs and limits will help you achieve the right balance.
It is also typical after the performance to face peer pressure from colleagues to go out and celebrate. Sadler reminds herself that she’d rather fit into fabulous clothing than eat greasy nachos. She has a simple glass of wine or club soda and sits far away from the food. If she does eat late, she is careful about choosing something light and healthful.
Roberts and Hanna both agree that even when you eat out, there is always something you can eat that is healthful. For example, Roberts, who follows “The Idiot-Proof Diet,” can find something on every menu—from soups to sweet potato fries—that fit her plan. “I never felt ‘left out’ or like I couldn’t eat anywhere, which is why I think this diet really worked,” she says. Hanna makes substitutions, such as a glass of red wine instead of sugary liquor drinks. She even asks the staff (after a polite apology beforehand) to use olive oil in preparing her meal instead of their regular oil. Most restaurants are happy to accommodate such requests, so don’t feel that you are a bother when you ask. It’s your body and your health, and when you pay for a meal, you have the right to ask for the most healthful options the establishment has available.
It’s also important on those late nights not to eat heavy or large meals. Overindulgence can result in acid reflux or indigestion that prevents a good night’s sleep. McNeese recommends a light salad with a small amount of protein. However, she does give herself “more breathing room for the last show. Once the run is over, I let myself have one crazy meal that fits nowhere into my normal singer/diet regimen. I plan for this night knowing that I will have to cut back in the days that follow. . . . You have to let go sometimes to stay on track.”
By allowing yourself the opportunity to enjoy a less healthful meal once in awhile, it makes it easier to stick to a regular diet on a daily basis. For me, this means looking forward to a fabulous dessert at the end of a week, rather than binging on cookies every day.
To sum up, preparation is key to maintaining a healthful lifestyle on the road. As Sadler points out, “When 2011 rolls around, I will have spent seven out of 12 months on the road this year. This is not vacation—this is my life!” It’s not just about weight gain or loss. It’s also about how healthful eating makes us feel. Since changing my own diet and eliminating processed foods and unnecessary sugars, I have felt like a different person—and, as such, a better and more capable performer.
