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I am starting to finally realize that diet is essential to learning this instrument. I am wondering if there are others out there who have found out that the cornerstone to playing well is through nutrition and exercise. Foods that strengthen proprioception, motor skills, processing and memory will give a student or professional an added advantage over others.
I think good health improves virtually every aspect of life but I doubt there is a diet that is specifically beneficial to piano playing but wouldn't also be just as beneficial for everything else .
I can't concentrate or be alert/comfortable enough to practice many hours a day without eating properly. You don't have to be a complete health nut, just eat generally nutritious food at regular times each day and go for a walk from time to time.
"Underestimated" by whom? I have observed over several years that there is a continuous trend in society in general towards being more conscientious about maintaining a well-balanced diet along with a sensible exercise/activity program.
I strongly doubt, however, that there is any diet that would be considered "musician-specific." As in all things, common sense and moderation should be the guiding factors in all activities and life-style choices. [1]
[1]
A rather bland generalization, I admit, but true, I believe!
The thing is, eating well for a healthy lifestyle and eating to strengthen the mind to make playing the piano easier are not always a match. For instance, meal plan 1: Breakfast: whole wheat bread with peanut butter, glass of milk, orange. Lunch: yogurt with banana and mango, peppermint tea snack: raisins, nut and seed mix Dinner: Pork chop, steamed cauliflower, baked potatoes, glass of red wine; pumpkin pie. Extra supplement. daily vitamin
Meal plan 2: Breakfast: Oatmeal with blueberries, cinnamon , vanilla and honey; Decaf coffee. Lunch: Omega 3 egg sandwich with whole wheat bread,carrots and spinach; green tea. snack: walnuts, sunflower seeds with fresh strawberries; glass of almond milk. Dinner: salmon with almonds, broccoli, whole grain brown rice; Jasmine tea with 80% dark chocolate. Extras: b complex vitamin(25mg), zinc supplement,omega 3 supplement, cranberry supplement, vitamin D. Sage leaf before bed.
Meal plan 3: Breakfast: Honeynut cherrios with milk and banana; two coffees Lunch: kraft dinner , diet soda snack: cookies,chocolate raisins, sport drink Dinner: T-bone steak , mashed potatoes, and canned cream corn; ice cream , 2 glasses white wine.
So there's three meal plans. The first one is healthy and will help a bit, but there are no real mind building foods in the list. The second meal plan if full of mind strengthening foods, the brains supper foods. I make sure I eat the foods in Meal plan two, 2-4 times a week, and I really notice a huge difference in my playing, HUGE!!!. Meal plan three, in my own personal experience, has created learning and memory problems and helped create injuries and pain while playing. Now, playing is pain and injury free, and learning is easy. Google the foods in meal plan three along with tag words: research,prevention, university, cancer, alzheimer's, dementia, memory,diabetes. You will notice a positive pattern. Then google the foods in meal plan three along with the words sugar, processed food, alcohol and hearing loss to the tag list and you will find they are linked to the cause of the above mention diseases.
Muscle joint strength: Brazil nuts(one a day is all you need), raw garlic, spinach, zinc, strawberries(yah, strawberries are a musicians super food), vitamin D.
thats it Disclaimer, I am a guy on the internet, not your Dr. . Do some research into the foods above -pro's and cons before taking them.Don't overdose.
I'm not a nutritionist, but based on my understanding of what data I've read along these lines, I think you're dramatically overstating the scientific evidence for the impact that particular food items have on very specific and often difficult to test physiologic and psychological processes. That being said, your ideal meal is certainly quite healthy, and if you feel that it makes you play much better, then more power to you
A continuous trend in society in general certainly, but I think it's fair to say that the high stress lifestyle of a musician can often, if one is not careful, lead to the neglect of one's personal health.
The thing is, eating well for a healthy lifestyle and eating to strengthen the mind to make playing the violin easier are not always a match. For instance...
If I ate that much food I'd wouldn't fit through a doorway! Eating well is simple: eat fresh, eat as many raw fruits and vegetables as you can, eat colorfully, avoid refined and processed foods, cook from scratch. And in my case, don't exceed 1200 calories a day to maintain weight. (Yeah, really.)
I'm not a nutritionist, but based on my understanding of what data I've read along these lines, I think you're dramatically overstating the scientific evidence for the impact that particular food items have on very specific and often difficult to test physiologic and psychological processes.
Exactly. Also I don't see why brain health is the key area of health for piano playing in the sense that it is more important than any other area of health. Finally, brain power is so basic for so many endeavors that even if brain health were the most critical area that hardly makes the suggested diet a "piano" diet.
Your body is 70% water. So why do people drink coffee, coke, tea, specialty coffees, energy drinks, and they never drink water. So no vitamins will get to your body without water.
Also, 8 glasses a day will give you a better good nights sleep too. And if you drink water, you will sleep at night!
Your body is 70% water. So why do people drink coffee, coke, tea, specialty coffees, energy drinks, and they never drink water. So no vitamins will get to your body without water.
Also, 8 glasses a day will give you a better good nights sleep too. And if you drink water, you will sleep at night!
Water. Pure and "simple" . . .
That "myth" about drinking eight glasses of water a day has long since been debunked!
As long as we're debunking things, I've switched to a low carb\high fat diet and my blood chemistry has improved. I eat as much meat, fish, or chicken as I want cooked in lots of butter or oil ... and my blood chemistry is stellar.
We were given a lot of bad nutritional information back in the 1970's with the lipid hypothesis of coronary heart disease.
My breakfast today was sliced chicken breast with blue cheese and zucchini baked in lots of butter. (I should add that by following this low carb\high fat diet I've managed to lose about 25 pounds\11 kg ... and I'm never hungry.)
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