Monika Saigal RD & ms nutrition

07/07/2025

This quote from my friend and colleague, the wonderful Josh Spell, opens Chapter 9 in Nourishing Dance (you’ll find Josh’s wisdom sprinkled throughout the book✨). This final chapter of the book covers important aspects of “Whole Dancer Health” including sleep, rest, managing perfectionism, mindset, dance/life balance, and coping tools.

I chose to focus on these particular topics because they affect how dancers nourish and care for themselves; dancers’ relationship with food and their body; and health, well-being, and performance. I also wanted to highlight that nurturing and supporting dancers’ health requires considering the whole dancer—mind, body, and spirit.

Want to learn more?  Order your copy of Nourishing Dance! Links in bio 🩰🌎❤️🌱

   

06/25/2025

I cannot believe it has been one whole year since Nourishing Dance came out! Writing this book is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my professional life and is one of my proudest accomplishments.

If you know me, you know how passionate I am about making the dance world a healthier and safer place for dancers, and I’ve been working on this mission for many years. My goal in writing Nourishing Dance was to create a resource that is an expansion of and complement to the work I’ve been doing in dance and to get the information out to a much wider audience in an accessible way. I really do believe that together, we can create a better dance world.

One of my greatest joys in the past year has been seeing pictures you’ve shared of my book out in the world and hearing feedback from readers. Help me wish Nourishing Dance a Happy 1st Birthday by posting a pic of you with your copy or sharing your thoughts about the book. And if you don’t have a copy yet, order one today! Links in bio 🩰🌎❤️🌱

06/24/2025

Dance and diet culture can make it challenging to have a positive or even neutral body image as a dancer. There’s lots I’d like to see change (and am working hard to change) in the dance world to better support dancers in having a healthy relationship with their body.  And I also think it’s important to help dancers in their current reality. 

There are several research-based practices that can help dancers feel better in and about their body (and surprise!, they don’t include dieting or weight loss). I love framing these as “practices” because, like any important relationship, building a healthy relationship with your body takes work and practice (especially given all the messages and forces that contribute to a fraught relationship with your body).

Want to learn more? Ch. 8 in Nourishing Dance is dedicated to “Nourishing Balanced and Resilient Body Image in Dancers” Link in bio to learn more and order your copy 🩰🌎❤️🌱

   

06/13/2025

Dance educator and dance medicine friends - This workshop is happening tomorrow (10am-1pm ET) ❗We still have a few spots left. Hope you'll join us for this interactive virtual session packed with essential info to help you better support the health and well-being of dancers 🩰🌎❤️🌱 Can't attend live? The recording will be available for 2 weeks after the session. More info and link to register in comments.

06/03/2025

Yesterday, June 2nd, was World Eating Disorders Action Day - a day dedicated to increasing awareness and inspiring change (which fittingly, given the focus of my career, is also my birthday 😊). I’m a day late in this post, but as far as I’m concerned, every day should be eating disorders action day. 

Eating disorders remain much too common among dancers. These complex, life-threatening illnesses can impact every organ system in the body and every aspect of a dancer’s life. Eating disorders are not a choice, but they are preventable and treatable. Sadly, MOST individuals with eating disorders do not get the help they need, but TOGETHER,  we can change this. 

Lack of understanding about these conditions as well as stereotypes, myths, biases, and stigma are significant barriers to early recognition and timely treatment. Not everyone has to be a specialist in treating eating disorders, but EVERYONE who trains and cares for dancers has a responsibility to:

✅Be able to recognize warning signs & symptoms

✅Refer to specialists when needed

✅Evaluate and shift your language & practices to help create a more protective & supportive environment

Here are some action steps you can take today to learn more about these serious conditions & be a part of creating positive change (links in bio):

💻Register for my virtual course on June 14th with Bridging the Gap: Essential Education and Strategies to Support Eating Disorder Prevention and Recovery 

📖Order, read, share my book Nourishing Dance: An Essential Guide on Nutrition, Body Image, and Eating Disorders (Hint: My resource list with recommended books, websites, organizations, & tools is available as part of the “Read Sample” feature on Amazon)

🍏Book a Head to Pointe® Workshop for your dancers, teachers, staff, and/or parents 

✨Check out, and if you have the means consider donating to, organizations doing great work like

05/29/2025

For my 📗 Nourishing Dance, I interviewed several dancers from different dance genres and at different stages in their professional careers. This quote is from a female modern dancer in response to my questions:

What would you tell the younger you about body image? What do you know now that you wish you knew then?

🌟The value of body acceptance and celebrating your own unique qualities🌟 was a theme present in most of the dancers' responses.

Let me know in the comments 👇🏻what you would tell the younger you? What do you know now that you wish you knew then?

And if you want to learn more about helping dancers build more balanced and resilient body image, check out Nourishing Dance (Ch. 8 is dedicated to this topic) 🩰🌎❤️🌱

   

05/15/2025

I am so looking forward to this course next month. You can learn more and register here: https://www.dancemedei.com/bridging-the-gap Hope you'll join us!!

05/09/2025

5 Reasons why EVERY dance provider & educator needs to learn about eating disorders, disordered eating, and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs aka under-fueling):

1️⃣You care about dancers’ health

2️⃣You want dancers to dance better

3️⃣Prevention is everyone’s responsibility

4️⃣Early identification is key

5️⃣When you know better, you can do better

Ready to learn more?

💻Register for the Bridging the Gap virtual course I am offering on 6/14 with

📖Read my 📖 Nourishing Dance

🍏Book a Head to Pointe® Workshop 

📧Gein touch to learn more about how we can work together 

Links in bio. Happy Weekend!

   

05/07/2025

I had such a wonderful time last week having a Nourishing Dance discussion with these lovely students in the ABT/NYU Master’s Degree cohort. We delved into several of the topics from my 📖 like the impact of diet and dance culture on dancer’s health and well-being and how we can help dancers better cope with challenging environments WHILE ALSO working to to make dance settings healthier and safer. 

Huge thanks 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻to .s.levy for inviting me and organizing the event and to all who participated. Such a great conversation and questions! Teaching teachers (and especially the future generation of dance educators/staff) is one of my favorite things to do. Together, we can build a better dance world! 🩰🌎❤️🌱

 

04/29/2025

Happy International Dance Day!!!

04/28/2025

04/15/2025

There is so much to be learned from dancers’ lived experiences & one of my favorite things about Nourishing Dance is the content from the dancers I interviewed. I asked dancers from different genres and at various stages in their professional careers questions about what they’ve learned about nutrition/fueling that they’ve found most helpful; what they would tell their younger selves about body image; their experiences with injury, including what helped/hindered recovery; and more.

I’m so grateful for all the dancers who allowed me to share their wisdom, including the amazing , Principal Dancer with (his quote above opens Chapter 7: Nourishing a Dancer through Injury). Want to learn more from Steven and the other wonderful dancers included in Nourishing Dance? Order your copy today! Link in bio 🩰🌎❤️🌱