Dance Competitions: The Preparation (Food Edition)

Recently I wrote a post about the preparation it takes when getting ready for a dance competition. To refresh your memory or give you a quick overview, I talked about the different ways I have been preparing for an upcoming dance competition. I discussed the different types of classes or exercising I have been doing and told everyone I would be posting pictures and recipes of different types of food I have been choosing to eat during my preparation for this upcoming competition! In today's post I'd like to go ahead and keep my promise and give you guys some ideas of foods that you can eat to help you start a healthier lifestyle through your food.

Breakfast. As we all know, it is the most important meal of the day! I know a lot of us have extremely busy schedules and don't always have time to cook something in the morning that not only tastes good, but will keep you full throughout the morning and until lunch. Well, I personally have those days too and have a solution that can be carried in the car, eaten at work, or at the breakfast table on those days that you might not feel like cooking. On these days, my breakfast has consisted of the Chobani Greek Yogurt with the fruit on the bottom! My personal favorite is the blueberry and my husband prefers the strawberry. This is a great choice because it contains 40% less sugar than regular yogurt and has 12 grams of PROTEIN!! For those of you that may have a gluten allergy, guess what! It's GLUTEN FREE so you can enjoy it too! You can find this amazing yogurt at your local grocery store in more than just these 2 flavors! Trust me, you will not regret trying it!

Lunch and dinner. I have been eating salads and some form of protein for both lunch and dinner. There are currently two different salads that are my favorites right now! The first is your basic salad that has a little bit of dressing, protein, tomatoes or cucumbers, and occasionally rice noodles! When I say protein, I'm talking about grilled chicken, chicken salad, tuna, turkey, or any other form of lean meat that you would personally like to pair with your salad! When it comes to the salad dressing, I personally use the Hidden Valley Ranch, however I don't use much because that is where you get a lot of your fattening calories from!

The second salad I am currently loving is something I recently tried at Dave & Busters. It is the Sweet Apple Pecan Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette! I had mine with grilled chicken as well and it was a great salad that was also extremely filling! Now, because you can't exactly get all the ingredients from Dave and Busters for your meal at home, I decided to do a little research and found a website that gave me a couple of great ingredients to remake it at home! These ingredients consist of, a bag of mixed greens, Emerald Original Glaze Pecans, Ken's Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette, sliced red Gala apples, and grilled chicken! The smoky flavors from the grilled chicken, sweet and tanginess from the gala apples and dressing, and the crunch from the pecans truly tie together to create an amazing salad that is truly enjoyable!

Snack time! We all have those moments where we question whether or not we're hungry or just bored. In these moments I like to drink about half a bottle of water, and if I'm still feeling hungry I will often snack on some fruit or carrots! I hope you've enjoyed reading a bit about how I have been eating to prepare for my upcoming competition! If you have any recipes you'd like to share comment below! Also, keep checking back for our upcoming announcement about our event we have in only two and a half weeks!!