Come on April 4th

I feel like it's tax season and I'm an in-demand CPA...except for me it's dance team audition season and I'm an in-demand dance teacher/choreographer. I have been so busy this month...between teaching private dance lessons, workshops, and my regular classes and choreographing Golden Girl audition solos, I have not had much time to blog! Not a single post since March 6th! I have been cooking some, however, and have lots of pictures...just no typed-up and analyzed recipes - I promise they are on their way. GG auditions are April 4th...I can't wait (I'm sure CPAs feel the same about April 15th!).

I was an LSU Golden Girl for 5 years, 3 of which I was the captain and choreographer...I guess that makes me an "expert". To audition for the line, you have to bring solo dance routine (about 1 1/2 minutes long) to perform for the judges...in a 2 piece outfit. So you have to be a good dancer with a good solo (I can help with that) and you have to be in shape (hey! I can help with that too...I am a dietitian after all).

Whenever I start working with one of the girls who plans to audition, we discuss an appropriate weight for their height and body type. I get them to keep a food journal for me so that I can get an idea of how they eat. It seems that the closer it gets to the audition date, the less and less they eat...not a good idea! The other thing that I see a lot is an unbalanced distribution of calories between carbohydrates, fat, and protein. For example:

Day 1:

Breakfast - Fiber One caramel delight cereal with 1% milk and a banana
Lunch/snack - Apple and Fiber One snack bar
Dinner - Grilled chicken Caesar wrap and cantaloupe/pineapple cup; kiwi strawberry vitamin water

approximately 1200 calories - 62% carbohydrates, 21% fat, and 17% protein

Day 2:

Breakfast - Special K vanilla almond with a banana and pear
Snack - Strawberries and cantaloupe/pineapple cup
Dinner - Grilled chicken salad with cucumbers and fat free Italian caesar vinaigrette dressing

approximately 800 calories - 65% carbohydrates, 15% fat, 20% protein

My thoughts - not enough protein or fat...So many people think that fat makes them fat and avoid it all together...but it doesn't, unless you have too much (as will carbs and protein...if you eat too much). The body needs fat!

And as far as protein goes, I try to have some with every meal...for breakfast milk/yogurt; for lunch and dinner turkey/chicken/cheese/beans/eggs/seafood/meat; and for snack yogurt (sometimes I just have fruit, but I hardly every have starchy snacks like granola bars or crackers).

A better day:

Breakfast (336 calories) - 1 cup Kashi GoLean, 1 med banana, 1 cup skim milk; water
Lunch (390 calories) - Turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with provolone cheese, mustard, lettuce; grapes; water
Snack (150 calories) - Lowfat yogurt (without artificial sweetener)
Dinner (358 calories) - Grilled chicken (3 oz) salad with light sesame dressing, red bell pepper, green onions, mandarin oranges, shredded carrot, toasted almonds (2 tbsp); water

approximately 1200 calories - 51% carbohydrates, 21% fat, 28% protein - 25 g fiber and nearly 1000 mg calcium

Lagniappe...

Here is an article on losing weight...what to do and what not to do.