The ballerina's diet is intended to be a slimming diet. However, if you take a closer look at her menu, you can come to the conclusion that the ballerina's diet is a very restrictive diet that involves starvation, which debilitates the body and guarantees the yo-yo effect. Nevertheless, some women, deluded by the vision of rapid weight loss, are ready to sacrifice he alth for the sake of a temporarily slim figure. Check what the ballerina's diet is and what damage it can do to the body.
The ballerina dietis a 10-day slimming diet that - theoretically - produces stunning results. It allows you to lose 10 kg. Even for a slimming diet, the rate of weight loss is very fast. All because the ballerina's diet is in fact a half-starvation that leads to weight loss at the expense of the destruction of the body.
However, the ballerina diet is popular nonetheless. Why? There is a large cultural emphasis on the ideal of a slim figure, and the name of the diet suggests that it results in a figure of a ballet dancer that is perfectly, even unnaturally slender. Yes, ballerinas are very slim - after all, their career is associated with the need to maintain a low body weight and proper build. However, they often pay a heavy price for it. Many professional ballet dancers suffer from eating disorders that result in a lack of menstruation, and overuse psychoactive and analgesic substances .¹
More than half of the surveyed group of Polish dancers, both younger and older, believe that men prefer thin women - with younger women the percentage of affirmative answers was higher (80%). ³
One study found that 63% of dancers tried to lose weight during their ballet career, and 32% tried to lose weight three times or more .¹ It was also shown that 40% of female dancers smoked cigarettes (25% daily), 36 % used painkillers frequently, and 25% got drunk at least once a month .¹ Although the study was conducted on only 21 professional ballet dancers from the Croatian National Ballet Group, experts agree that ballerinas around the world, including Poland, have similar problems .
A study conducted on 16 girls aged 14-16 at the Ballet School of the Artistic Education Foundation in Krakow showed thatthe surveyed girls were underweight. Only a few of the tested ballerinas had the correct weight .² Comparing the content of nutrients in the daily food rations of the tested girls with the recommended norms, deficiencies of fats, fiber as well as K, Ca, Fe, Mg and vitamins B1 and PP were found .²
Ballerina diet - what is it, menu
- 1. 2nd day - drink only water for the first two days. You can also drink coffee, provided that it is not sweetened (possibly with the addition of skim milk), in an amount not exceeding 4 cups of 250 milliliters per day
- 3. 1st day and 4th day - you can use only skimmed dairy products - white cheese, yoghurt and milk
- 5. and on the 6th day - jacket potatoes dominate the diet, which can be eaten in the number of max. 11 pieces
- 7. and on the 8th day - the menu includes only white, cooked meat (up to 0.5 kg per day)
- 9. and the 10th day - during the last two days of the diet you can eat only vegetables - mainly green
Author: Time S.A
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Find out moreBallerina diet - is the ballerina diet safe?
The ballerina diet is considered by nutritionists to be one of the most unhe althy weight loss diets. Its very beginning, i.e. fasting, leads to a shortage of many nutrients necessary for the proper functioning of the body, and consequently to its slow destruction.
- Avitaminosis: causes and symptoms of vitamin deficiency
This process will occur much faster if a person who is slimming decides not only to drink water, but also only coffee, which "flushes" some of the vitamins and minerals from the body, resulting in dehydration.
For the next two days of the diet, it is recommended to eat low-fat protein products, and then suddenly there is a jump to potatoes, i.e. a large amount of carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index. The only he althy part of the diet is vegetables.
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Ballerina diet - expert opinions
I am 24 years old and on the 3rd day of the so-called ballerina diet. I know it is unhe althy, but I have really tried everything (workouts, pills, he althy eating, diets and fasting). All hunger pangs, except this one, so it can be said that it is my last hope. The problem is, I can't go without food.
Agnieszka Ślusarska, dietitian: With such radical diets and fasting, you terribly disturb your body, it doesn't know what to do. You will not lose weight by using the above-mentioned methods, you will only slow down your metabolic rate even more, because you will burn muscles. If you do not provide your body with fuel to work, it first draws energy from muscles, not fat, as you would like […]
For all of the expert's advice, see "Is the Ballerina's Diet Safe for Your He alth? [Expert's Advice]"
Ballerina diet - effects
The ballerina's diet is not effective. Already in its first stage, i.e. fasting (it begins when you have not eaten anything for 6 hours), your body switches to energy-saving mode. Then it stores absolutely everything it needs to survive, including fat.
Therefore, weight loss is mainly due to water loss. Even if someone manages to lose weight on a ballerina diet, he should take into account the yo-yo effect, i.e. the return of an excessive number of kilograms.
After the slimming treatment is completed, the "starved" body demands a large dose of calories, because it has to stock up in the event of another starvation, which results in a ravenous appetite.
Unfortunately, the metabolism is still operating at the level of the low-calorie diet, it is slowed down, therefore the excess kilograms arrive at an alarmingly faster pace.
How to lose weight he althily - advice from psychodietetics
Each of us dreams of a slim and shapely figure. However, not all methods of losing weight are good for our he alth. How to wisely and he althily lose weight? Listen to our expert - psychodietician and he alth coach Elżbieta Lange.
Source:
1. Peric M., Zenic N, m Sekulic D, Kondric M., Zaketel P., Eating disorders, amenorrhea, and the use and abuse of psychoactive and analgesic substances among professional ballet dancers - preliminary analysis, MedicineLabor 2016; 67 (1): 21-27
2. Zulawa G., Pilch W., Assessment of the diet of students of the ballet school of the artistic foundation in Krakow, "Annals of the National Institute of Hygiene", 2012, 63, No. 1, 105 - 110
3. Ołpińska-Lischka M., Assessment of anorexic readiness and body image of dancers from Poland and Germany, "Journal of Education, He alth and Sport" 2022, 7 (7), 423-440.
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