Nutrition for Musicians

Performing for a couple of hours or more requires superior cognitive functions and incredible body coordination. Add to this the energy required for moving all over the stage to interact with your band and the audience, dancing/moving along with your own playing and the emotional effect of the music on you. Your performance is almost a HIIT workout!!! Even sitting musicians can burn a lot of energy 2 Cellos are a good example.

On average, the calories burned playing some instrumental music per hour are (based on 65 kg of body weight) as follows:

Violin, Piano, Organ, Trumpet 181 cal

Guitar, Rock and Roll 217 cal

Drums 290 cal 

Cello, Flute, Horn, Woodwind 145 cal

Trombone 245 cal

In my opinion, those numbers make sense if you are practicing or playing in a really boring orchestra. But passion has a price!! If you think Ara Malikian and Lindsey Stirling are burning 180 calories an hour think again! I am not even going to talk about rock bands!

So if your performance is like an 8 pm soccer game with extra time, you need to prepare for it the moment you wake up in the morning. 

Since the most preferable source of energy for our brains and bodies is glucose, you will need to make sure there is enough of it to provide your body and brain with energy during the whole evening (carb-up). 

What happens if you run out of energy? Just like athletes, if dancers and musicians run out of energy in the middle of a show, their performance will decrease and their chance of injury will increase (stay tuned for the post about injury). The body and mind will start slowing down to preserve the little remaining energy for vital activities, your muscles will start failing you and you will lose focus. 

I am not saying you will collapse on stage but you will be putting a lot of pressure on your body and mind to push you through the event using alternative energy sources and organs, this will leave you drained after the event and it will take you longer than normal recovery time. 

If you wake up feeling like you got beat up in the night and/or depressed then you did not carb-up properly before the gig.

Depending on how much effort you do on stage you will need some good amount of healthy carbohydrate, protein and fat.

Healthy carbohydrates include whole foods like roots (potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnip,etc…) and whole grains (whole wheat, bulgur, barely etc..)

Healthy protein includes grass fed beef, chicken, fish etc…

Healthy fats include cold pressed olive oil, coconut oil, butter, lard avocados and nuts 

Your intake of carbohydrate amount depends on the effort you do on stage and the amount of energy you need.

Adding moderate protein and some fat will enhance your energy, support your brain function and prevent your muscles from breaking down. 

Carbing-up means eating whole carbohydrates a few hours before the performance to make sure that your body has enough reserves  of energy to use during the performance. 

Here is an example of meals and snacks to start eating 4 hours before the performance (assuming performance starts at 8:00 pm for a 70 kg performer):

3:00 PM - high carb, moderate protein, low fat 

 Pork chops with potatoes and mixed vegetable 

Ingredients:

2 potatoes (200 gm) – 34 gm carbs 

1 cup red cabbage – 9 gm carbs

1 cup sweet corn (canned) – 50 gm carbs

1 cup chickpeas or pinto beans (canned) – 32 gm carbs / 15 gm protein / 4.3 gm fat

150 gm pork chop – 55 gm protein / 8 gm fat 

1 small diced onion 

2 tablespoon of white flour – 12 gm of carbs  

Salt and pepper for tasting

Direction:

Boil potatoes with skin on high heat for 15 min, let it cool and cut it in cubes

Chop cabbage, add onion, chickpeas and corn. Stir in a pan greased with a little butter or coconut oil until cabbage tender.

Add ½ cup of water and 2 tablespoon of flour to the mixture and stir on low heat for 2 min (until sauce thickens) 

Pan fry marinated pork chop. 

Approximate total carbs = 103 gm  Approximate protein = 55 gm Approximate fat = 12 gm 

5:00 PM - high carb, low protein 

Corn and sugar beet salad

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon apple cider or balsamic vinegar diluted 1 tablespoon of water

1 tablespoon honey – 17 gm carb

1/2 cup beet greens or arugula (optional)

½ cup parsley (optional)

1/2 cup Swiss chard (optional)

2 tablespoons scallions (green onions), thinly sliced 

2 cup beets - 18 gm carb

1 cup sweet potato– 27 gm carb

½ chicken breast – 25 gm protein 

Salt and pepper, to taste 

Directions: 

Boil beet and sweet potato until fork tender. Allow to cool, peel, and cut into small dice. 

Boil ½ chicken breast – (use the broth for soup later!) 

Cut the leafy greens of your choice into small pieces 

Combine beets and sweet potato with leafy greens and chicken breast cut in small pieces. 

Mix vinegar, water, honey, salt and pepper in a small jar and mix them well, then add the dressing to the salad.

Eat with 2 slices of whole wheat toast or bun – 25 gm carb (optional)

Approximate carbs = 87 gm  Approximate protein = 25 gm 

OR

Smoothie Bowl 

Ingredients:

1 cup papaya (cooked/boiled) – 16 gm carb

1 cup pumpkin (cooked/boiled) – 8 gm carb

1 cup squash (cooked/boiled) – 18 gm carb

1 tablespoon grated ginger 

¼ teaspoon cinnamon 

½ teaspoon curcumin 

1 scoop protein powder - 20 gm protein / 3.5 gm carb (optional)

½ cup of granola – 36 gm carb

Blind all ingredients except granola in a blender, add the mixture to the granola 

Total carb = 82 gm  Total protein = 20 gm

7:00 to 7:30 PM (just before performance starts) Snack 

Raw sugar beet juice – rich in nitrates that converts into performance enhancing nitric oxide!!

During Intermission - Recharge with natural energy drink.

250 ml lukewarm water 

2 tbsp raw unpasteurized honey 

Small pinch of salt

Lemon or lime juice to taste (optional) 

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