I know what you're thinking. You're thinking this is going to be another one of those predictable, vanilla articles about foods you should and shouldn't eat before singing. Boooring!
The conventional advice that we singers often hear about diet goes something like this:
DO:
- Drink Water (room temperature)
- Eat Fruit
- Eat Vegetables
Do NOT Consume:
- Caffeine
- Dairy
- Hot Beverages
- Cold beverages
- Alcohol
- Salt
- High Fat Foods
- Spicy Foods
- Citrus
You know what you really ought not to consume? The generic kool aid above! Instead, let's look at some actionable strategies, which are rooted in a lifetime of dietary experimentation, that's taken me from a Standard American Diet (SAD), to vegetarianism, to veganism, to fruitarianism, to the slow carb diet a la Tim Ferriss, to what I follow now (modified paleo). In addition to years of OCD self-tracking, blood testing and subjecting myself to various supplementation regimens, I'm also drawing on my experience as a competitive athlete (submission grappling), and since singing is a sport in its own right, I hope these parallels ring true for you.
Let's start with first principles
A singer is, above all, a human being. Agreed? Human beings are a species of animal, which has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to consume a very specific type of diet. This isn't even actually a "diet", that's a word invented to sell books and ab machines. This is simply our natural way of eating and it has profound implications for our health and quality of life.
Have you seen what happens when you feed a cat (or a dog for that matter) a vegetarian diet? It gets sick, weak, and lethargic. It loses its desire to mate(!) and dies prematurely. This is called a "failure to thrive". If a human animal is fed the wrong things, what do you suppose happens to it?
About 10,000 years ago, humans began farming and went from a nomadic tribal lifestyle, to a relatively stationary, city-based lifestyle. Consequently, we transitioned from our ancestral diet of mostly animal foods to a high-carb diet of grains and other farmed foods. Because we were able to grow our food almost year-round, we could stay in one location and reduce the need to hunt wild game and gather nuts, berries, tubers and roughage.
Unfortunately, our bodies were not (and still aren't) adapted to eating grains (they're toxic), high levels of fruits (also toxic), and many raw vegetables. Like the example of the vegetarian cat, we've been consuming the wrong things for roughly ten millennia and have been getting sicker and sicker as a result. Pile on top of that the modern laundry list of synthetic chemicals we're routinely exposed to, stressful work schedules, and sedentary, indoor-based living and you have a MAJOR failure to thrive.
You see, most diet and lifestyle advice you hear for singers is generic and incomplete at best, totally wrong at worst. A singer's actual vocal instrument is certainly important but any professional singer can tell you that it's only half the story. Being an effective singer and musician requires mental and physical endurance that has nothing to do with your voice per se. "Don't smoke, don't drink yourself stupid and don't party your ass off 5 days a week" is fairly common sense advice that you'll learn on your own. But the advice below is of a more counter-intuitive nature, and not only will you not hear it very often, but you'll be told the exact opposite!
So here's the deal: Singers need a steady supply of even-keeled energy, enthusiasm, mental acuity, memory, plasticity of thinking and nerves of steel when it comes time to go on stage.
So, then, how should you eat if you're a singer? The answer is, the same way you would eat if you weren't one! The idea of a profession-specific diet is actually quite ridiculous. Yes, certain tweaks and allowances have to be made based on activity levels and genetics, but fundamentally the healthiest diet is the one that most closely approximates your ancestral way of eating. This way of eating is popularly known as a "paleolithic" or "paleo" diet and here's what it can do for you:
- Increased energy
- Longer life
- Higher sex drive
- Improved mental acuity
- Improved physical performance
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7104129
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