59. Preparing for Competitions: A Round Table with Kristin Koskinen RDN, Linda Bluestein MD, and Jennifer Milner NCPT

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00:00
Jennifer Milner
I think at the end of the day, what we're talking about here as we talk about competitions and being ready for these long haul events, is that preparation is so important. Whether we're preparing our foods, whether we're preparing by calling ahead and making sure hotels have a refrigerator in them, whether we're preparing by getting enough sleep, by training correctly. But preparation will do so much to get us ready for those competitions. And then when we're in the competition phase, we've all been talking about how much it's about maintenance, really trying to maintain our energy levels, really trying to maintain our stamina, trying not to overdo things where we can and be as smart and efficient as we can during it. And then afterwards give ourselves the rest that we need. Make sure we're eating those nourishing foods to rebuild our bodies. Make sure we're taking that time to sleep, making sure we're taking time off from the dance so that we can really give ourselves the recovery time that we need. 

00:54
Jennifer Milner
So we have to look at it not just in that isolated pulling those two or three days out. We have to look at the beginning and at the middle and at the end of it in order to have a really successful competition or event weekend. Welcome back to the Bendy Bodies Podcast, where we speak with experts bringing you state of the art information to help you improve your well being, enhance your performance, and optimize career longevity. This is co host Jennifer Milner, here with the hypermobility MD, dr. Linda Bluestein. 

01:37
Dr. Linda Bluestein
We are so glad you are here to learn tips to help you self manage your conditions and live your best Bendy life. This information is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. 

01:48
Jennifer Milner
I'm Jennifer Milner, a former professional ballet and Broadway dancer, and I struggled my whole career with hypermobility related issues and injuries. Now I train dancers and want to make sure the next generation of hypermobile artists are better equipped to work to their fullest potential. 

02:05
Dr. Linda Bluestein
I'm Dr. Linda Bluestein, and I started Bendy Bodies as my second podcast to educate the hypermobile community. Despite being a physician, I experienced decades of symptoms before being finally diagnosed with Hypermobile Eds, and I, too, have been gaslit and felt completely alone in my journey. 

02:23
Jennifer Milner
For today's podcast, we are deviating from our usual style a bit and doing a roundtable conversation with Bendy Bodies'own team member Kristen Koskinen, founder of Eatwell Pros and registered Dietitian nutritionist. Hey, Kristen. Welcome back to bendy bodies. 

02:38
Kristin Koskinen
Thank you. It's always good to meet with you, too. 

02:41
Dr. Linda Bluestein
We love chatting with you. 

02:43
Jennifer Milner
Yes, we do. Honestly, I have to say, I'm not sure how this conversation is going to devolve into just sort of a free for all with the three of us. But everybody just stick with us, okay? Kristen, before we dive into our topic, can you tell the listeners who may be new to you a little bit about yourself? Sure. 

03:00
Kristin Koskinen
My name is Kristen Koskinen. I'm a registered dietitian nutritionist. I work with dancers and hypermobile people to find best solutions for their performance and health needs. And I'm delighted to be part of the Bendy Bodies team. 

03:14
Jennifer Milner
Excellent. You always have so much wisdom to offer us on nutrition and how people can fuel their bodies and simple steps that we can take to live our best hypermobile lives. So today we want to talk about competitions and how to sort of prepare for them and get through them, not just barely by the skin of our teeth, but in as healthy of a way possible. And I often get questions on how to prepare for competitions and I know Kristen is constantly asked for tips on how to get through those long days. Kristen posts really great information on her Instagram account. Kristen Koskinen RDN just throwing that out there now, although I'm sure we will talk about it later as well. But she's always posting great information on sort of how to get through those long days. And Dr. Bluestein is also asked about pain management and how to sort of be ready for stress on the body. 

04:03
Jennifer Milner
So we just thought we would put our heads together and share our combined expertise on this topic, all in one big discussion. And hopefully this information will be helpful whether you're heading into a big convention weekend or you are going to be doing a long ballet competition or a cheer competition weekend, or the Olympics. Right. Even though I know it's not the year of the Olympics, but you might be listening to it in an Olympics year. So we are here to talk about preparing for that long haul and what it takes to get through an intense few days. So before we dig in, Dr. Bluestein, why might people with hypermobility disorders need to do a bit more planning and preparations for a long competition weekend? 

04:42
Dr. Linda Bluestein
So I think the big thing is a lot of people who are walking around with symptomatic joint hypermobility, they might be dealing with a wide array of symptoms that are not optimally controlled. So they might be dealing with pain, they might be dealing with orthostatic intolerance, so they have difficulty with upright posture when they go from sitting to standing, they get dizzy and they might have GI symptoms, which of course I'm sure Kristen's going to talk about. And so anything that they can optimize would be really helpful before competition. So if they've noticed that they get injured more easily or they recover more slowly, you definitely want to pay attention to those things. You want to really try to get everything as optimal as possible, really focus on your technique and your sleep and all of the variables that you can possibly get under control. 

05:32
Jennifer Milner
That is right. I mean, we all should be doing that, right? But when we're talking about people with hypermobility disorders as you said, there are people out there with a wide variety of symptoms, as you said, that are not being controlled very well. So it's great to try to get those under control before we are trying to go into what is going to be a really stressful time on our body. And if we are going to talk about any kind of competition or intense weekend, we have to start with the time before the time. This means that if you first start thinking about how to get through your competition the night before the kickoff, then you're already behind. Right? So when should artistic athletes first start thinking and planning for a competition and how? Kristen, let's start with you. At what point should someone plan their fueling not just for daily needs, but for an upcoming competition? 

06:21
Kristin Koskinen
Right. And I think that can be. I'd say a month in advance isn't too soon for a number of reasons. So we want to look first. When I'm working with dancers who are going to a competition, first, we pull the lens way back. The first thing I want to know is, where's the competition? Because if you're going to be changing time zones, we want to take that into consideration. If you have travel, we need to look at that. If your competition is in your hometown or a short way away, that makes things a bit different too. So if you're going to be traveling, a month in advance isn't too far, and if you consistently are in competitions, this should be part of your repertoire. Right? It's not just something, it's not a tag along. This should be built in. So I'm going to speak as if you're traveling and you may be crossing a time zone. 

07:07
Kristin Koskinen
So the first thing we want to look at is, what are you going to be doing to prepare for that destination? So you may need to scout things out and know what's available to you. Then that can take some time. So when we look at that time frame, it's about having time to plan for practical matters, like where can you get food? What are your accommodations going to be like? Do you need to drive to get things? Is there anything near the venue where you're going to be performing? This is all one level. And then, of course, there's the idea of preparing your body and getting used to it. The nice thing is bodies are adaptable, and so you can start to do things to prepare yourself, to eat and drink, and so that your body's ready for those things in advance of your competition. 

07:53
Kristin Koskinen
So you want to know what works for you? Mostly we want to know what works for you. If we know what works for you, great. We don't need to worry about what doesn't work for you, because we know what does work, and so we want to stick with those things, and that can take some time to figure that out too. You may try things out and they work you may try things out and they don't work so well. So having some time to figure those things out is great. And after you've done it once, then it takes less time in subsequent things. But a month, I think is good, maybe more. 

08:18
Jennifer Milner
And that's true because it's not like you're going to eat one bowl of spinach and become popeye. Right? So we can't expect that instant reaction from the superfoods. How might someone change their intake in order to be more well prepared for the weekend? Might they change and try to up certain nutrients to have it already stored in their body? Might they be changing their carb to protein to fat ratio? Or might they just try to continue doing whatever is optimum for them? 

08:48
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Right? 

08:48
Kristin Koskinen
Hopefully we're doing all these things that you're optimizing all the time. Your nutrition will impact your training and better training means better performance. So these are things that you want to have in motion all the time. That's part of the long game with your nutrition strategies, as you get closer to the time you really need to look at that'll depend on what your training and rehearsal schedule looks like. So if you notice that you're in the studio more, if it happens to coincide with work or holiday or school changes, where you have more stressors on board, those are things to address. And you may find that stress, whether it's physical or emotional, can increase the demand of certain nutrients. And those nutrients include magnesium, sodium, vitamin C, B vitamins. So we want to be mindful of those things and making sure you're getting enough in advance of your performance. 

09:39
Kristin Koskinen
And we know when you get to competition, things may not be ideal, and so we're going to do the best with what we have. So in that time, up to it. It's not about being perfect or perfectionistic about your eating, but recognizing are there things that you need to pay particular attention to make sure that when you get to that competition, you don't have a gap? And nutrients of focus would definitely be vitamin C, sodium, magnesium, B vitamins. There are others too, but those know, zinc, vitamin D, it's all of them. But those are some that we see stress really hits hard. 

10:13
Jennifer Milner
Absolutely. Let's move to sort of our non fueling preparation. Dr. Bluestein, are there steps that people can take in advance of a grueling few days to be able to better handle the physical challenges? 

10:25
Dr. Linda Bluestein
So one of the things that I think is most challenging for dancers, particularly and other performers that might be often rehearsing late in the day or especially if they go to a competition and they have these really long days right, is sleep. Because our bodies are designed to be asleep when it's dark outside and be awake when it's light outside. And the circadian clock controls everything in the body, all of our hormones and our body functions optimally. When we are able to follow a circadian rhythm, when we're able to get up every day at the same time, go to bed every day at the same time, get good quality, deep sleep. We also know that injuries are related to fatigue. So the more fatigued you are, the more sleep deprived you are, the more likely you are to get injured. And you're also going to heal better from injuries if you are able to get more rest. 

11:13
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Because we know that sleep is really restorative, and in order to heal optimally, you really need good sleep. So I think this is where it's so challenging when you're at a competition and you're dancing for 14 hours, days, or even beforehand. Dancers are so often dancing late into the day and then they come home, and oftentimes they'll come home and have something to eat. So by the time they get to bed, it can be later than would be ideal because you also don't want to eat and then go right to bed, which isn't great. I think sleep is one thing that I really wish we could change the timing of things a little bit. Like have performances earlier in the day, have the competition. If it was me in charge of competitions, I would definitely have the days a little bit shorter. Well, actually probably a lot shorter so that people could get more rest. 

11:59
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Obviously you want them to get so much out of it, but I think what often happens is people run on adrenaline so they can get through the weekend, but then they crash. And the things that happen after you crash, then you realize that you really are injured at the time. You're so distracted. You're aware of the pain, maybe, but you're able to kind of push it back into the background and you're not aware of just how injured you are until afterwards. When those endorphins go back down, you can get headaches. And you realize too, like, how much pain you're in. And also the immune system, your immune system can really take a hit when you are pushing your body that hard. You're not sleeping. You're focusing on external factors. Obviously, competition is you're being judged externally. And so one of the things that I really work with dancers on is listening to internal cues, really paying attention to what is your body trying to tell you? 

12:54
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Is that pain sensation trying to tell you that you need to work on your technique? There's some nagging injury, and if you modify your technique, maybe those tissues won't be under so much strain. And I'm sure, Jen, you're going to talk about this later about technique and things that you can do in that regard. But I think one of the best skills that dancers can acquire and other athletes is really listening to the body with the right ear, not right as opposed to left, but the correct ear so that you can interpret those bodily signals appropriately. And we can really learn from previous experiences as well. So if in the past you had some discomfort and then after a competition, it was like you were really injured and it took you a while to recover, then try to learn from that and try to when you go forward. 

13:42
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Don't try to get into the anxiety part of it, but try to be analytic and think, okay, what is my body trying to tell me? Is this something that's potentially serious or is this something that's kind of more minor? A last thing on this that I see people do sometimes at competitions, they come out, they ice something, and then they go right back in. And that just makes me crazy, because then you can't feel the part of your body, and also it's cold and so it's stiff, and you're more likely to get injured. So don't just cover up the pain. Don't live on non steroidal anti inflammatories all weekend, don't live on acetaminophen all weekend, don't live on ice all weekend, because those things just cover up the pain, and they don't actually get to the root cause or help you not be injured. 

14:29
Jennifer Milner
And a whole bunch of people just were like, I don't want to listen to this anymore. I have been to so many conventions and competitions where there's literally an ice station and the dancers just keep coming by to grab them and throw them on their bodies, and they're like, if I can't take anti inflammatories, how am I going to get through the weekend? Never fear, people, we are going to talk about that. But right now, we are talking about what you can do before the competition. And I think, as you said, it's so important to be able to learn to listen to your body, and you have to do that before the competition. You've got to develop that inner ear to be able to sense what's going on and to be able to make those judgment calls. Now it's time to go see the PT. 

15:11
Jennifer Milner
Now it's time to ease back on my workout. Now it's time to get that technique checked out. So that's a great thing that we often miss when we're thinking about how do we get ready for a competition. Learn to be able to listen to yourself and judge what you need to have and what's going on in you. 

15:27
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Yeah, and ice isn't always a bad thing. Obviously, lots of athletes will use that. And when we get injured, we get inflammation. And inflammation isn't a bad thing either. Inflammation can help heal an injury, but it's know everything in moderation, right? So I think that's part of that point. Jen, I'm really curious to know, when do you start working with a client on preparing for a competition? 

15:51
Jennifer Milner
Honestly, like months ahead of time. And when we first start, I consider august, September to be the start of our season. So when we first start that season, we do all every year, no matter how many years they've been with me, we do a complete new discussion. What are your goals? Let's look at your body. What are you feeling? What do you wish you were doing better? What are you proud of? And then we sit down and look at the season that they have. And we know Yigp is going to be this month. The submissions are going to be due this month. And then the competition for pre would be this month. Audition season is going to be January, which means we have to have the reels ready by here. So we're really looking at that whole season and what do we need to be ready for? 

16:33
Jennifer Milner
And for me, most dancers start working on their variations in their solos months ahead of time. So if they start working on them in August, September, I get to know, are you doing Ramonda's Dream variation? Are you doing Lorencia? Are you doing Gonzadi? And that will definitely affect how I train them. Do I need to train them for those big buoyant jumps? Do I need to train them for that slow adagio? Are you doing Giselle? We need to work that standing leg. What do we need to train you for? So we'll start looking at it months ahead of time. And a big part of what I do is teach them how to sort of work through their own schedule. And we talk about periodization and how we're going to start digging in and pushing harder early in the stage. And then we hit that point where we're really just kind of trying to maintain. 

17:21
Jennifer Milner
And so if a competition is in January, we're not busting our tushies in December. We are easing back on that throttle, partly because it's nutcracker, right? But we ease back on that throttle and we say, let's say the competition is the end of January. So we're going to look at the whole month of January and say, where can you take a few days off? Which is really hard for dancers, but where can you get one or two days in a row to really let your body rest? As we get close to that competition, we're going to do sessions, more like dynamic stretching sessions and release sessions, rather than let's exercise and work your core real hard. So we really look at that overall arc and try to first get exercises that will complement the choreography that they're doing. But then we also talk about when do we push, when do we ease back? 

18:08
Jennifer Milner
And as we're planning all of that, when I see technical things come up, if we're working on Gonzadi, and I see that she's not doing really great landing, and then she tells me, oh, my calf is really kind. Of bothering me. I'll make sure she gets into the PT, get some work done on her calf, and then we'll work on her technique and say, well, what are you using instead? Like, where are you landing from that you shouldn't be? So it all kind of fits together, but ideally, it's going to be months ahead of time and we're also going to be talking about preparing for that day, will include how do you warm up. So we will put together a 2030 minutes warm up outside of just a dance class that are going to have a few exercises that will target the things she needs to target so she'll have them in her pocket. 

18:53
Jennifer Milner
Ready to go in so that if it's a guy and he's doing Basilio, then we know that he's going to be ready and have a nice loose spine and ready to do those fancy cool turns and all the big bravado that goes with it because he's got the warm up that has worked for him. So we really want to make sure that we have as much time as possible to talk about these competitions and getting ready for it. So we all have sort of a bit different input on how to get ready, but we all agree you have to get ready and there has to be that time spent getting ready for it. So we're going to pretend that everybody has taken our advice and has gotten an amazing amount of sleep and eaten an optimum amount, variety of nutrients in their diet and has worked with their trainer and they have prepared as best they can. 

19:40
Jennifer Milner
And the competition is finally here. So, Kristen, do you suggest eating differently the morning of a competition? Do you say, like, eat a big breakfast? Because who knows when you're going to eat again? Or do you say go light? Or what do you usually say? Because I know this is the thing that stresses a lot of people out. What do you eat the morning when you start something like this? 

19:59
Kristin Koskinen
Okay. And it's going to depend. And so that's always the answer. 

20:03
Jennifer Milner
This is what I love about you. 

20:04
Kristin Koskinen
It'S always the answer. So then we start reeling it back again. So ideally, when you're preparing, you need to know what are the hours? And a lot of times people will have a general idea of the time frame that they're performing. They start to get an idea and when we know that, then we can oftentimes start dialing into what I mentioned before is that the body's adaptable. So we don't want to change anything when we get to performance or competition. Those are interchangeable. We've already figured it out by then. And we want to do everything as close to what we've done at home as possible. So if one thing you can do is the things we can control as a dancer, for the most part, we can control the bookends of meals. The bookends are breakfast and dinner because it's possible to eat early enough and it's possible to eat late enough that you can do that. 

20:59
Kristin Koskinen
It's not necessarily ideal, and sometimes we have to work that with how's sleep going to work and those kinds of things. But those for the most part, are things that we can maximize, and it's more challenging for the schedule to interrupt if we're conscientious about it. So what that means is at home, well in advance of getting there, you need to have practiced eating breakfast. And so many dancers say, oh, but I'm not hungry in the morning, and I don't like to eat in the morning, and all these things. And I get it. And I'm not saying breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I'm not saying that at all. But what I am saying is when we are starting to work on the most hours of the day, have limited availability to get in nutrition and hydration. We have to control what we can control, and that's where those times tend to do that. 

21:47
Kristin Koskinen
What we want to do is we want to prepare and minimize variables. So when we talk about breakfast, it can be really important. And if you are accustomed to eating breakfast at 07:00 a.m. Or 630 or something like that, it can be helpful when you have those later nights. That may not always be the case, and that's okay. That's something we work with. So when you're at your competition, generally speaking, you want to do something that's similar to what you do at home. You for sure want to eat foods that feel familiar. And this rolls back to that scouting activity. So we're going to act as if you're traveling, because I think that's where people get really stressed out. If you're at home again, you've got a lot more control. But if you're traveling, the first thing I have my dancers do is find out where the venue is. 

22:31
Kristin Koskinen
And then we want to look at a map, and we want to see what's available. Do you have grocery stores, mini marts, target? What food establishments? Is there food in the hotel? Do you have a refrigerator in your hotel? These are some of the basics that we want to we because that may even determine when you fly in. Some people want to fly in a day early to get things in place. If there are restaurants there that you may be frequenting because that makes the most sense, ideally, try those out at home first. If it's something people are surprised to hear me recommend McDonald's, but McDonald's is consistent. If you have McDonald's in Dallas or in Tampa Bay or in Seattle or Denver, you're going to get a very similar product. And there are some things that if you're accustomed to it and your body's used to eating that you're going to be in good shape. 

23:17
Kristin Koskinen
So try those things out in advance. An egg McMuffin and an orange juice can be a really good option. And it's pretty consistent and widely available. The other thing is for some people that feels too riskier, it doesn't meet their needs. So you may need to have shopped ahead and have things in the mini fridge in your room. But you have to call your hotel and make sure that there is a mini fridge in your room and if it's stocked, will you be penalized for pulling things out? Some people will go and just get a cooler or they'll travel with a cooler. They'll check a cooler so that they can have the foods that they're going to use on hand and ready to go. And minimizing that stress can be important. So some things that you can have, anything works for breakfast. Some people just feel more comfortable with what we consider traditional breakfast foods. 

24:02
Kristin Koskinen
Easy things to get include pre peeled, hard boiled eggs, English muffins, all kinds of bread things. Yogurt. Just make sure you've tried it at home first. So should you eat a lot or a little? That's going to depend. When are you performing? Do you have an adjudication class early on? Do you have a nervous stomach? If you have a nervous stomach and you may lose your breakfast if you try to eat too much because someone's pushing, you have to eat. You have to eat. But don't do that. Don't do that. Let's see what we can do instead. Again, try things at home to see what you tolerate. And sometimes for some people, they don't tolerate anything at all and that's not ideal. And this is where sometimes sports drinks can come in really handy. Find one you like. Find one that's readily available or that you can pack with you. 

24:49
Kristin Koskinen
So powders that you can pack in your bag and then add to your water bottle are good. I like the ones with sugar. It'll give you some energy in the morning in that sugary drink if that is all you can tolerate. The other thing you can do is if you really struggle is to swish and then brush. You're going to need to brush your teeth. This is not optimal for dental hygiene, but it can be enough to give your body a little lift if you need it. This is for people who have really struggle with high anxiety prior to performing. Other things that you can have that also hydration is an issue too. And so things that you can have in the morning that could be easy and easy on the stomach are blended foods or drinks. So you can get chocolate milk if that works for you. 

25:36
Kristin Koskinen
Boxed smoothie drinks. I've mentioned yogurt that you can pair with you can turn into a parfait. You can get parfaits at the hotel breakfast area or put something together there. Applesauce pouches and veggie pouches can be really handy and they're easy on a lot of people's stomachs. Jello is really easy and it also provides some liquid and. Some sugar. I'm not wild about the dyes in it. However, sometimes we need to think about the here and now. You can travel with it. You can pack it with you. You can put it in your dance bag. Some people will even pack their food if they really want to make sure. So I have some clients, and we have protein bar and muffins and protein balls that they know their body likes and that serve them well. They will make them in advance. They will put them and they will pack them whether it's in their carry on or their checked baggage, so that when they get to where they need to be, they have what works for them. 

26:29
Kristin Koskinen
I use the bentos a lot for travel and because it brings that sense of home and consistency, they can use that for a vending machine kind of thing where they can pick and choose what they need in the moment. Fruit is another easy thing. If you can get that in the morning and salt it, that's going to help with hydration. Just kind of getting you started. Yes. So to relate back to the original question, what should you do? Do what you do at home. You're not at home and replicate as much as you can from what you do at home there. Check your schedule and you may need to adapt accordingly. We have a nutrient timing schedule where we work things back. This much performance or training, I want you to have this. The closer we come to training and performance, the more we're going to lean on carbohydrates, the farther away we are, the more we're going to have fat, fiber and protein, which tend to slow digestion. 

27:21
Kristin Koskinen
So all those things really depend. Get your time schedule. Notice if you're going to be shifting time zones. So if you're on the West Coast and you're flying to Tampa, then you've got a three hour time difference. Your body probably may or may not adapt in the amount of time you're there. So we decide, are you going to adapt to a Tampa schedule? Are you going to keep your body on a West Coast schedule and eat accordingly? Because that's when you feel those are there's a lot to consider. And I don't have one answer. I never do. But those are some of the things we work through with all the dancers. 

27:54
Jennifer Milner
Well, I love that though, and what you said at the beginning about how you want to be able to, number one, prepare and number two, manage the variables. And it's so great to think about. The two meals that you really do have the most control over are breakfast and dinner or start of the day and end of the day. Call them whatever you want. Eat steak in the morning if that's what you usually eat for breakfast. Right. But all the things that you're mentioning, like eating jello for breakfast, should they do that first time, the day of the competition? No, because they might throw up red food dye all over the stage. So, as you said, you want to practice this at home, train it, see how you do feel, see how it does work for you. So you're training yourself fuel wise just as much as you're training yourself physically and dance wise. 

28:38
Jennifer Milner
So that's really great advice. I know that. I'm so excited about starting this question because I love your answers. I know that a lot of times my moms, of my dancers who go to like, three and four day conventions, they're like, we don't know what to do. Our daughters are dancing for 14 hours, and they get 15 or 20 minutes breaks at the most in between each thing. And they're running to put on another costume. There's no refrigeration. We don't know if there's a mini fridge. We don't know how long it's going to take grubhub. They don't have time to eat grubhub anyway. So how do I keep this kid eating? What do I do to fuel them? So what do you say to them? How do you fuel throughout that impossibly long day? 

29:18
Kristin Koskinen
Yeah. Okay. First of all, if you choose to pack jello, don't pack red because don't pack anything. We're fine with convenience foods because they play an important role. But not red dye. It's going to stain your mouth. It could stain all kinds of things. That's a no. 

29:35
Jennifer Milner
The white tutu. 

29:36
Kristin Koskinen
Yes, the white tutu. Yeah. So we're going to stay away from this one thing that the moms can do. So this is an option, too, is you can take a team approach. And if you have a mom who is willing to coordinate that stuff, it can sometimes make things easier. Because then, depending on what your budget is, one person can if you're driving or it depends, are you driving or flying? If you're able to get there by car, you can pack a cooler. And we've got a lot more options. If not, you can even get a cooler when you get someplace, get a relatively inexpensive cooler. And if three or four families are dividing the cost of a cooler, it starts to break down to your grubhub tips. Right? So it's just not that big a deal. So, things you can do again, one, we want to test all these things at home. 

30:17
Kristin Koskinen
And I think that dancers sometimes work better if they know if it's that community, that sense of community, and we're going to have some things that are options for you. And if everyone's doing it as opposed to, oh, mom, this feels so weird. Why am I doing this? I'm the only one. But if it comes from if it's a culture where this is what we do, this is part of our preparations. Just like Olympians don't just wing it. And they have a dietitian who is bringing the food and fueling to them. This is how high level athletes work. Whether it's Division One athletes or Olympic athletes, there are dietitians, professional athletes that are creating the meals for them, creating the food, having the options ready, and you can do that too. Now, I don't expect dance moms to know what to do, to have this all planned out, because they've got a lot of other things to do and this isn't their profession, it's mine. 

31:06
Kristin Koskinen
But you can consult with someone like me and we can figure things out and make it really pretty easy. So one, we want to have things that we know work and that taste good and that are tolerated. Being tolerated, that means it doesn't make you sick, it doesn't make you gassy, it doesn't make you woozy, it doesn't give you a peak and a drop like a high and a crash. So these are all the things that we want to practice well in advance. Target can be a great option. And there are targets in most places where if it's big enough to have a competition, it's big enough to have a target. So we can do these things in advance and we can even shop in advance. And things that you want to have or could have on hand that are super easy, pretzels, goldfish crackers, string cheese. 

31:47
Kristin Koskinen
String cheese is actually shelf stable. People don't know that, but it is. So you can have groups like carbs, protein, quick carbs, and things that we can count as hydration and we can break things down. These are our normal categories that we talk about when we're talking about fueling. But again, these are things we're going through a short period of time. This isn't the time. We're going to have big green leafy salads. We don't have enough bites for that. You've got to chew, it takes too long. We don't have the refrigeration for it. So we really need to also shift our mindset as to what's the goal here. And the goal is to keep energy and to provide as many nutrients as we reasonably can in a confined space. So if you can get a cooler and if you're allowed to have one in, that can be really helpful. 

32:27
Kristin Koskinen
If you only can have shelf stable things, that's fine. You can wash fruit, grapes, oranges, apples, bananas, all fruits are shelf stable. Wash them ahead of time and bring them in baggies. If you want to have them individual baggies so they're easier to for grab and go, that's great. If you have a room that kind of acts as the team kitchen and there's one place and that's where the kids go and grab their things the day in advance, that's good too. If someone's there to give them reminders of, hey, do you have water? Do you have your sports drink? Do you have your hydration packet? That can be helpful. You can make emergency kits in, know, put them all in a sealable bag that they can put in one mom can be in charge of that. If you know what every kid's thing is, you've got a list. 

33:12
Kristin Koskinen
This is what Maddie's dairy intolerant, so we're not going to put that in there, but we have this option for her instead and pack them up so that they're ready to go and the kids can just eat what feels good to them at the time and give them that autonomy. Great. If it's a kiddo or dancer who needs to be reminded because they'll just forget to eat, they're too excited to eat, that's okay, too. Set a timer and a reminder, and then if their stomach can't handle it, then let's go to a liquid version and minimize the steps that they need to get in there. So minimizing chewing can be helpful and make it tasty. That's one of the reasons sports drinks are really effective, is they're palatable, and so having things that they enjoy can be helpful. This doesn't mean sending a vending machine of Oreos and Skittles and crappity dooda is not going to serve them well. 

34:06
Kristin Koskinen
That's a technical term. But we can find a lot of foods that are tasty and easy to work with. If you've done it in advance, if you've worked it through, then by the time you get there, it's a no stressor order. The food, call Target, put in your online order at Target, have it delivered to your hotel, have it ready for you to pick up so that you know when you're not getting there and spending 2 hours to find, oh, they didn't have what we expected at this particular store, you can do all that. One of the great advantages that we've come away from quarantine was delivery, and stores do that really easily. And you can get again at Target. You can get produce and all kinds of things. So I'm not a shareholder and I don't benefit from Target. It just is easy. And then you can pick up your hair gel that you forgot while you're there, too. 

34:55
Jennifer Milner
And your nail polish remover and anything else. 

34:57
Kristin Koskinen
That right. Yeah. 

34:59
Jennifer Milner
I had a competitive cheerleader, and she said that she just existed on Pixie sticks and Red Bull, and I was like, I feel like there's a better way to get through here. So these are great tips. And again, if anybody wants more information on this, you've created some really incredible posts on this topic of shelf stable snacks and tips and things for that. So please check her Instagram page for more details on this because you've got some great information on it. So we're at the competition, we're powering ahead. And Dr. Bluestein, what would your suggestions be for people who are worried about a flare or an injury? Are there any magic tricks that they can bring with them if there's a just in case or anything like that? 

35:47
Dr. Linda Bluestein
So I think one of the things that is important to be aware of, just like the listening to the body thing is, where is your autonomic nervous system? So there's actually a connection to the gut, and there's also the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. So the sympathetic nervous system is the flight, fight or freeze. And the parasympathetic nervous system is rest, digest, and restore. And a lot of times dancers tend to be very I don't want to say high strung, but we're perfectionists, right? And we go into competitions. We want to do well. We want everything to go well. And so I think that if you can, in advance of the competition and then practice it while you're there, learn how to tune into that parasympathetic part of your nervous system, because that will help you with your digestion of your nutrients. 

36:37
Dr. Linda Bluestein
That will help you kind of bring yourself back down. Because we know statistically that a certain amount of anxiety will help your performance, but then you get past that level of anxiety, and your performance actually starts to deteriorate and your risk of injury is going to increase. So if you can get familiar ahead of time and then practice it while you're there, of sensing, where is my autonomic nervous system right now? And when Kristen's saying you feel like you can't eat anything, if you're in sympathetic overdrive and you're in that fight or freeze, your stomach is not wanting to accept food, because if you think about if you're running after the saber toothed tiger, you shouldn't be eating at the same time. So you want to be able to tap into that vagal part of your nervous system and be able to calm that down before you go on stage or while you get to the competition and you start seeing all. 

37:32
Dr. Linda Bluestein
The dancers, and you start thinking, oh, my gosh, they all look so much better than me. And I don't think I'm ready for this. You also want to think about marathon trainers. They're going to peak with their number of miles and everything like that in advance of the marathon. They don't keep running 26 miles right up until the day of the marathon. So especially if you have like a nagging injury or something, if you can give it a little bit more rest beforehand. So maybe before that you were practicing your variation, I don't know how many times a day, eight times a day, ten times a day, whatever. And if the few days beforehand and then when you're there, you want to be going through it mentally. You want to be going through it as much as you need to, but not more than you need to. 

38:17
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Most of the work is kind of done before you get there because you want to rest those. If you do have a nagging injury or something, you want to make sure. 

38:24
Kristin Koskinen
That you're taking care of that. And then you want to make sure. 

38:27
Dr. Linda Bluestein
That you have any of your as needed medications with you. So if you have asthma, you want to make sure that you have all the different inhalers that you might need, even if you don't normally need that at home. As Kristen pointed out, if you're traveling or something, there could be different allergens in the air. So maybe you have inhalers that you use, maybe you have allergic rhinitis, maybe you have eczema. All these mast cell things that we know are more common in people that have hypermobility. So make sure you have your topicals and your antihistamines and if you take singular on it as kind of somewhat as needed basis, you want to have that. If you take an H two antagonist like the modidine, you want to make sure for sure that you have that. So I think you want to have all of those things. 

39:10
Dr. Linda Bluestein
And one thing that I wanted to mention from what you were talking about earlier Jen, in the planning phases and all of know there's so much executive function that goes into that and before we started recording, the three of us were all talking about neurodivergency and how common that is in people with bendy bodies, right? So all of this planning might be an extra challenge for dancers and other people who are hypermobile. So I think having someone like you or any of us in their corner, I think that can really help them with the planning and do a certain amount of the work so that they just need to do the last part of it I think is hugely beneficial. And especially since a lot of these kids are under age 25, so they still have a huge amount of frontal lobe development that's going to happen. 

39:58
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Their brains are still evolving. Not that they don't evolve through our whole life, but I think that those kind of things can be really helpful. 

40:05
Jennifer Milner
Absolutely. And just as with food, the time to try something is not during the competition. So I would think that you would say if you've never taken a Benadryl and you're having an allergic reaction in the convention, it's probably not best to pop one there right, for the first time and find out how it works with you. So again, you want to test things out and try them. So as you said, if you do have some sort of a mass cell disorder, make sure you've got those tools already ready to go and that they are all known quantities, they're not all unknowns. And I would say along with that, if you have a latex allergy, bring your own tape if you think that's something that's going to need to happen, right? 

40:47
Dr. Linda Bluestein
And taping and braces and sleeves can be very beneficial, especially when you're getting there for the competition. And maybe if you do have some swelling or something, if you put a compression sleeve on, some of them have there's so many different types now that are available, but that can help with swelling, that can help kind of an injury kind of get a little bit more optimally controlled. And so that's something that can be very beneficial. Same thing, yes, definitely. Try it out ahead of time, see what level of support works best for you, what parts of your body do best with having that additional support. And that can help with proprioception as well. So we know that people who are hypermobile, they're not as good at knowing where their body is in the space without looking. And especially if you're in a competition, you've got all this sensory input, it's overwhelming. 

41:35
Dr. Linda Bluestein
You're paying attention to all these things. You're not going to be as aware of where your body is in space. So every single tool that you can have, whether it's tape or a support sleeve, bracing, something like that, I think it can be really helpful. And Jen, I want to know, what do you tell clients to get them through a long. 

41:57
Jennifer Milner
You know, sometimes I tell them, don't do it. I feel like some people there's too many out there sometimes. And people need to learn to pick and choose. But on the topic of picking and choosing, I tell them to pace themselves first and foremost when they're at a competition. If they're doing a big competition or convention weekend, they might be in four pieces in half a day, they might be in ten pieces over the entire breadth of the day. And so they're constantly going from a solo to a trio to four group numbers. So I really want them to figure out how to pace themselves. And some of that would be just us preparing beforehand to make sure they have the stamina right. Not just the stamina to get through one number, but the stamina to get through a whole day. You might feel great after you've done your first variation, you might feel great after you do your second variation. 

42:46
Jennifer Milner
And then if you have your contemporary solo that night, you might be like, oh my gosh, I've never done all three in one day. So learning to have that, making sure you know what your stamina is going to need to be ready for, and then when you're at the convention, it's so hard, but you've got to hold yourself back until you're on stage. It's so much fun to run around backstage with your friends and do all the fun things and hear a song and be like, I used to dance to this and go full out on that dance number. Or if you are doing like a ballet competition, they give you that time on stage. They give you the practice room to practice in for a while, like an hour or so. That's not the time to run through your whole variation three or four times. 

43:26
Jennifer Milner
Full out. That's the time to work on your trouble spots. Mark through it body wise, go through it full out with your upper body. But if you have 16 Foites in a variation, and you've already done 48 of them when you have been in the practice room and then on stage, because you just want to get them right, by the time you do the next 16, you've done so many, your leg is literally too tired to do them again. So I really encourage dancers to pace themselves at the competition, and that might include kristen was mentioning you might have an adjudication class. Sometimes there are bonus classes that are offered that you can take just for the sake of taking them. Everybody wants to be in front of the guest judges and the guest teachers. Everybody wants to get every drop out of it. But if you go and take a ballet class that's on a hard ballroom floor and you're competing an hour later and you've just done a full out 90 minutes class, you do the class, you rush into the preparation room, give yourself another class because you feel like you got to warm up again, and then you're exhausted. 

44:27
Jennifer Milner
So if it's not required, maybe you don't take that class. Maybe you take a different class another day and still try to get what you can out of it. But pick and choose, because you really want your peak physical effort to come when you're on stage with the curtain up and not ten minutes before the curtain goes up, and you're working yourself to death thinking, I've got to do this. I've got to do it. And then you want to have a set warm up like I talked about before. You want to have those few things that you're already so familiar with that you do them and your body feels more comfortable, those dynamic stretches, something to get your heart rate up, something to tweak whatever it is you need to tweak, whether it's your turnout, your standing leg, your balance, whatever it is. Bring your release items with you. 

45:08
Jennifer Milner
Bring that lacrosse ball, bring your little foam peanut, whatever your favorite things are, bring them with you so that you have them so that you can dig into those spots that might get tight. I also tell my dancers, if you have a five or ten minute break and you can lie down and put your feet up the wall just to sort of encourage that blood flow, five minutes with your feet up the wall is going to help calm your nervous system. It's going to get some of that swelling out of your legs. It'll do a lot for you, and then you can get up and keep running at full tilt again. So talking about feet up the wall, talking about swelling, reminds me of that whole hydration thing. Something that is hard for me if I'm doing a big, long day, is figuring out where can my breaks be so that I can hydrate as much as I need to, but also not need to use the bathroom in the middle of a big group. 

46:00
Jennifer Milner
Can people how can they do that? I know it's difficult, Kristen, figuring that out. So what are your tips for that? For staying hydrated? 

46:09
Kristin Koskinen
Sure. Okay. That's going to vary a little bit. I'm sure you're surprised to hear that. 

46:14
Jennifer Milner
Shocking N equals one. 

46:16
Dr. Linda Bluestein
What? 

46:16
Kristin Koskinen
I know. 

46:17
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Yeah. 

46:17
Kristin Koskinen
So, again, it really depends. It depends on what your schedule is. So if you have the two or three pieces in the morning and then you have a big break and then something in the evening that's going to change compared to if you have three pieces over the course of the day or ten or whatever. So one, you have to take those things into consideration. So if you have short amounts of time between things, one thing you can do is to use foods as hydration. So then you're kind of hitting two. You're knocking out the nutrition component as well as the hydration component in one thing. So things like melon, the applesauce, brackets, chocolate milk is a liquid food. Those kinds of things are going to give you nutrition. If you salt your food, it's going to help with the hydration as well. So if you're salting fruit, veggies I particularly like fruit because it tends to be a little bit lower fiber and more ready energy that you need that salt as part of the hydration process. 

47:16
Kristin Koskinen
It's not just the fluid, which of course is important, but we need the salt, too. And a bit of sugar helps you to absorb and utilize the water, which is we want to get the water in the fluid in. We don't just want to have it come in mouth and then run to the loo. Right. So having some salt and some sugar in what you plan to use for hydration is helpful. So salted fruit is good, or your sports drink alongside something pretzels with water is good because you're getting the salt. They don't have to be in one convenient lump, but pairing them is helpful. Chocolate milk is actually a decent source of sodium, and sodium, when we're looking at electrolytes, is the primary electrolyte we want to replace from sweat. So that works. If you can get that in short periods of time and then hydration, don't think of it as if you can avoid fire. 

48:09
Kristin Koskinen
Hosing so taking massive amounts at once, one that'll leave you feeling sloshy, another technical term, we all know that, and it can make you go to the bathroom. You're just going to get in more than your body can absorb. So pace yourself. So we're going to pace ourselves on drinking, too. Taking sips of liquid is good. Paying attention to getting hydration in the morning and if you have a gap and in the evening when you're done and maybe can have a little bit more or during longer breaks, then that's when you may want to say, oh, I'm going to drink closer to 16oz here because I've got a lot of time after. But otherwise taking sips of things and small bites can be really helpful. If it would count as a liquid going through TSA, it's a liquid. So things that will melt at room temperature count. 

48:55
Kristin Koskinen
As you know, fruits are pretty liquidy. You can think of smoothies and again, jello, which surprises people. 

49:03
Jennifer Milner
Yeah, those are all great, and I love that it harkens back to what you said earlier about control what you can control. So, really, drinking a fair amount in the morning, not ten minutes before your first thing, obviously, but drinking a lot in the morning and drinking a lot in the lot is a relative term in the evening to sort of do the long view of hydrating is so important. So the competition is over. 

49:29
Kristin Koskinen
Yay. 

49:29
Jennifer Milner
Well done. And you've had an amazing time. What happens now, Chris? And how do these competitors help their bodies recover? 

49:38
Kristin Koskinen
Food wash. Sure. Well, one of the things so we want to replenish what we've lost during the day. So hydration is one of those. So getting enough fluid, that's going to vary depending on the person. So if you had two pieces that day, that's not quite so much as if you had ten or Adjudication class and four pieces. So hopefully you've been able to get things in over the course of the day. And then we want to make sure that you've had a minimum, if not more than half your body weight influence over the course of the day. Using something like tart cherry juice can be really helpful, and that's readily available in a lot of stores. So tart cherry juice can really help with relaxation. It can help with sleep, which when your time schedules and your sleep schedules may be off a bit, that can be helpful. 

50:24
Kristin Koskinen
It helps with the recovery process, maybe even having if you have some cacao you can take with you and mix into some warm milk. If you have a microwave in your room, it brings in magnesium. It's relaxing. It can help bring things down. You definitely need to eat. So if you haven't had a dinner break during the day and you need a time to refuel, we want to make sure that you get glycogen. That's the way your body stores carbohydrate, we want to make sure those stores are refueled. You need to have some carbohydrates at the end of the day, we want you to have some protein. And this is the time when it's most ideal to have foods that you can sit down and chew mindfully and slowly. So that may be the time where you have the big, beautiful salad or where you get more fiber. 

51:10
Kristin Koskinen
Again, don't introduce foods that are unfamiliar to you. Avoid Taco Bell. This is like a sports dietitian. Avoid those things. Avoid saying, oh, now I'm down for the day. If you have the next day, this is preparing what you do the evening before. Prepares you for day two or three or four. So it's not, Woohoo, let's go off the rails. It's okay. Now we're going to get ready for day two. And when we're looking at those hydration things, if you're old enough, avoid alcohol. This is not a time for drinking. And anyone can get a hold of caffeine. And that's something I want to address too. If you're leaning on Red Bulls, celsius, any of these drinks that come with caffeine in them, it's not recommended. We can use caffeine strategically for performance. It's not recommended for kids under the age of twelve and for people over the age of twelve, a maximum of 400 milligrams a day. 

52:04
Kristin Koskinen
If when you get to that evening time and to recover and to go to sleep, you need to have cut off your caffeine for most people by noon. So some people longer, some people metabolize caffeine more quickly than others. And you may or may not know if that's you, this is not a time to start bringing those things in. I definitely recommend avoiding energy drinks because they most often have other components that may not play nicely with you and can negatively impact your health and, in the short term, your sleep that night, which, as Linda has mentioned, is imperative for some people, making sure you get and also making sure you get protein at the end of the day. And that can help with sleep. So we want to do everything we can to help bring things in, make them calm and plan that ahead too, so that dinner isn't a rush or an afterthought. 

52:54
Kristin Koskinen
Know what you're going to do? Is it going to be a little picnic in your room? Do you have a reservation someplace? If you're going to try to eat as a group, please have a reservation and don't try to wing it. You don't have time for that. If you're eating in the hotel, make sure that you know ahead of time. And this again is where the support team can be so important. The dancer needs to worry about dancing. If the coach or parents or anyone can take the burden off and say, we have a reservation at this time for the people who want to eat here, review the menu, make sure it's good, meaning it's going to meet the needs of everyone there, then great. If we don't have time for that, we're just going to have to eat in our rooms and everyone's on their own. 

53:34
Kristin Koskinen
That's fine. Take care of your dancer. Don't leave them to make decisions after they've already they've been making decisions all day long. Is this a good time to do this? Where am I going to find a spot? They're emotionally drained. They're psychologically drained. They're physically drained. It's a wonderful gift you can give to them to nurture them. And it takes the pressure off them, which allows them to concentrate. It takes the emotional stress off so that they can eat and rest and recover. It's not babying them per se. It's really being an important part of the staff. And so when I get people or coaches or companies that want to incorporate nutrition and some of these things in, I'm always really grateful. And I know that the dancers are too. They feel it's comforting and they can relax as much as they can relax. 

54:29
Jennifer Milner
As much as you can. As much as possible. Yes. Well, Dr. Bluestein, we know that there may be a lot of aches or flare ups of other comorbidities after sort of pushing the body to its limit. What do you recommend post competition to help the body recover? We've finished with our three long days, we're crawling our way back home. What are some things they can do? 

54:53
Dr. Linda Bluestein
So in addition to all the amazing things that Kristen recommended, I think some of the other things that can be helpful are a lot of people have heard of the acronym Rice, but I like to use Price, so I had a P in front of that. So the P stands for protection. So if you have a nagging ankle, little ankle instability or an overuse injury in your ankle, and now it's probably a little bit more flared up after being in this competition. Put on that sleeve to help reduce the inflammation, use some more tape, do something to protect that part of the body. And the R stands for rest. So again, depending on how flared up it is so there's four stages, actually, of overuse injury. So the question is, does it hurt just while you're doing the activity? Does it hurt during the activity and afterwards? 

55:45
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Does it hurt in the middle of the night? Is it waking you up from sleep? If an injury is waking you up from sleep, that's a far more serious situation than if it just hurts during or after the activity. So you want to be paying attention to how much is this injury bothering me and you want to rest it accordingly. I love what you said, Jen, about putting the feet up against a wall. I think that's positively brilliant, whether you have any issues with your ankles or knees or whatever. But we know that ankle injuries are extremely common amongst dancers. I forget the actual statistic, but it's something like 80% or something of injuries in dancers are in the ankle. And if you think about it, we put our ankles through a lot. There's not a lot of muscular support for the ankles. So it's a very common area of injury. 

56:33
Dr. Linda Bluestein
The body needs rest in order to heal an injury. It needs that part of the body to be either rested completely or relative rest. So rest doesn't mean that you have to just stop everything. But it might be relative rest. It might be that you are doing like you said, you're maybe going full out with your upper body or you're doing some other things, but you're really resting that part of the body afterwards for a while. Ice can be used in moderation. You don't want to be going more than 20 minutes and you don't want to be covering something up, but you want to be looking for things like swelling, redness, all the typical signs of an injury. Is there discoloration? Is this a little bit of an exacerbation of some overuse injury that you already had? Or did you really do some damage? And you need to get this evaluated. 

57:28
Dr. Linda Bluestein
So if it's waking you up from sleep, if it's starting to get really swollen, discolored and those kind of things, then you want to get this checked out. So that would be another thing I would recommend. And then C stands for compression. So again, the sleeves and those kind of things can really help a lot. And then E stands for elevation. So the feet up against the wall or whatever it is, or sleeping with your legs on a pillow or something like that, obviously they don't always stay there. So that's the first thing that I would recommend. And then the second thing I would recommend, like Kristen, I recommend all the time supplements like magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin D. I measure blood levels of vitamin D and I monitor them pretty closely to keep them in the closer to the upper limits of normal. Not okay. 

58:15
Dr. Linda Bluestein
It's not a single digit. And so a lot of doctors, if you're not in the single digits, they think you're fine. It's like, no, we want to have this in a comfortable range. We want to have this in a very good level. And vitamin C is something that we need more of when the body's under stress. So whether it's during the activity or afterwards, we want to make sure we're supplementing those well. And then the other things that I mentioned earlier, like sleep, are just really important to be trying to do so that the body can recover from this intense load that you put on your body. So, Jen, what things do you recommend people do after a competition? 

58:53
Jennifer Milner
Well, first and foremost, rest, just as both of you have mentioned. And I work very hard as much as I can with the studios that I work with and the companies that I work with to make sure that they give their dancers a day off afterwards, which sounds like common sense, but many times is not the case. Sometimes studios feel like, oh, we've got another competition coming up in two weeks. We got to get back in the studio, we got to keep going. But after a Friday, Saturday, Sunday of dancing, 14 hours, days, you have to take a day to let your body rest and to let your brain rest to be something other than a dancer. If you have been away all weekend doing a big cheer competition, to be driving back all Sunday night and then to race to school and then have a four hour cheer practice after that is a lot. 

59:42
Jennifer Milner
It's a lot. So giving yourself that time off from dance or from cheer or ice skating or whatever it is that you're doing is really key mentally, I think, as much as it is physically. And then when we do start moving, I like to do really mindful training. Sometimes I teach a post show recovery class that I like to do for companies or studios that have been working really hard, and it's just a way to reset their nervous system and to check in with the things that might have gotten a little tweaked during the long weekend. And then we can start moving again and start doing a class. So I know that some people think, let's just jump back in and push through the soreness. And I don't want people to stop moving completely and lie in bed for 24 hours. But we do need to let that body take that time to heal itself and then start moving in a really mindful way. 

01:00:33
Jennifer Milner
And then I want to talk about what did work, what didn't work, where did you run out of gas, what could we do better next time? What did you think was great about your solo or your variation? What do we want to work on for it for the next one? So having that sort of that post game recap I think is really helpful for me, for Kristen, for you, for whatever branch that people are in that they want to talk about. But I think just sort of having that conversation is super helpful. Speaking of conversations, I know this is like one of the longest ones ever. I feel like we could be teaching a five hour workshop on this topic. But before we wrap things up, this has been so great and has had so much information in it. Was there anything that I didn't ask or that we got left out that you guys wanted to make sure was covered here? 

01:01:21
Kristin Koskinen
I think we covered a lot. 

01:01:23
Jennifer Milner
I think we did cover a lot. I know I'm kind of proud of us for getting through so much. 

01:01:27
Dr. Linda Bluestein
We did cover a lot. There was one thing that I wanted to mention, which was getting back to the topic of inflammation, that there are different ways to approach inflammation. If you've had extra load on the body, it's not uncommon to have inflammation, and inflammation again, isn't a bad thing. But I prefer to resolve inflammation in a different way than oftentimes. A lot of people, they want to take a prescription anti inflammatory and it does give you kind of that quick reward. It often does feel good pretty quickly, but if you can use things like fish oil or sometimes if you're over 18 because of the risk of Ray syndrome. But aspirin again, you never try any of these things for the first time at the competition, or you want to make sure you've tried it in advance. But there are some things that people can use that can help with inflammation. 

01:02:17
Dr. Linda Bluestein
Melatonin has anti inflammatory properties. So using some of these things that can help resolve the inflammation I mean, they actually call them resolvens rather than taking a prescription NSAID, which sometimes can it's hard on the gut. It's hard on the kidneys, and especially if you're not optimally hydrated and or if you've had some gut issues, which we know are quite common in people with hypermobility. I think some of the other approaches to inflammation can better. 

01:02:45
Jennifer Milner
I would agree with that. I think at the end of the day, what we're talking about here as we talk about competitions and being ready for these long haul events, is that preparation is so important. Whether we're preparing our foods, whether we're preparing by calling ahead and making sure hotels have a refrigerator in them, whether we're preparing by getting enough sleep, by training correctly. But preparation will do so much to get us ready for those competitions. And then when we're in the competition phase, we've all been talking about how much it's about maintenance, really trying to maintain our energy levels, really trying to maintain our stamina, trying not to overdo things where we can and be as smart and efficient as we can during it. And then afterwards give ourselves the rest that we need. Make sure we're eating those nourishing foods to rebuild our bodies. 

01:03:34
Jennifer Milner
Make sure we're taking that time to sleep, making sure we're taking time off from the dance so that we can really give ourselves the recovery time that we need. So we have to look at it not just in that isolated pulling those two or three days out. We have to look at the beginning and at the middle and at the end of it in order to have a really successful competition or event weekend. As we wrap this up, I know you guys have given so many great pieces of advice. Where can people find you if they want to hear more about what you talked about? Kristen, what about you? Sorry. Sure. 

01:04:07
Kristin Koskinen
You can find me on my website, which is eatwell. W-E-L-L pros.com. Or on Instagram at Kristen. K-R-I-S-T-I-N underscore koskanan. K-O-S-K-I-N-E-N underscore R-D-N. Excellent. 

01:04:27
Jennifer Milner
Dr. Lucian. What about you? 

01:04:28
Dr. Linda Bluestein
And people can find me@hypermobilitymd.com, or they can find, of course, the podcast@bendybodies.org, and I'm most active on Instagram. I'm also on Twitter and Facebook as Hypermobilitymd. And then, of course, bendy bodies. Bendy underscore bodies. And what about you, Jen? 

01:04:46
Jennifer Milner
People can find me on Instagram. I'm pretty active there at Jennifer. Periodmillner. Or you can find my website at jennifer Milner.com. So there's easy ways to find us. I know we all check our socials and our email boxes, so you can absolutely reach out if you have got questions. You have been listening to bendy bodies with the hypermobility MD. And our guest today for our panel discussion was Kristen Koskinen, RDN. Kristen, thank you so much for coming in and gabbing with us on this really important topic. Thank you. 

01:05:22
Kristin Koskinen
I love it. Thank you so much for having me. Yay. 

01:05:25
Dr. Linda Bluestein
It was great to chat with you. 

01:05:27
Jennifer Milner
If you love what you have learned, follow the Bendy Bodies podcast to avoid missing future episodes. Screenshot this Episode tagging us in your story so we can connect. Our website is WW bendybodies.org and follow us on Instagram at bendy underscore bodies. Leaving a review following the Bendy Bodies Podcast and sharing the podcast helps spread the word about hypermobility and associated conditions. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information shared is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please refer to your local qualified health practitioner for all medical concerns. We will catch you next time on the Bendy Bodies Podcast.