Food Habits as an aerialist

This post is on the sensitive topic of food and eating…

I am amazed at how many people mentioned that aerial played a part in healing eating disorders and anxiety around food. The idea that food became something to fuel aerial instead of something to be feared and controlled. It was an emotional read and something I feel so strongly towards.

With aerial being such an intense activity, nutrition is important. However, I know my brain loves jumping to extremes and there was a chunk of time, particularly in my dance days, were I got too caught up in only eating the ‘right’ ‘best’ ‘good’ foods which spiralled out of control.

There were also many comments that also said that aerial impacted them negatively around eating from comments and judgement in studios, comparing images/videos on social media and watching videos back from training.

There seems to be a complete mix of experience in the aerial community around food, from complete non-judgement, to extreme judgement on what you ‘should’ be eating as an aerialist. I think its important to be aware of the negative impact this can have. Personally I think it can be harmful to be told what to eat or be judged on what you eat even if it is not coming from a hurtful place. 

When students ask me about my diet I used to get insecure about it and want to say “a very strict athletic meal plan”. When in reality I usually eat what I want to eat (took a while to get there) and that can change drastically week to week and I try not to judge it.

Not to mention there’s also the practical issue of when to eat when you have just squeezed your insides with a apparatus 🥴

It’s a very intense and weird thing that we do and as we are all so different we are all going to fuel our bodies differently and that is ok.

Im going to do a story comment box if anyone wants to comment on any of this anonymously