Isabelle, try Cascadian Farms "Meals for a Small Planet" grain & bean mixes. (Not the meal starters, these are "complete" as is.) I normally have this for lunch, often with a bit of soy protein added, and I'm never hungry later.
PJ. (who is also a big fan of Amy's)
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----- Original Message ----- From: Isabelle Bracamonte To: vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2001 8:55 PM Subject: Re: [vocalist] Weight Control
I see two opposing sides to the issue of weight.
Being healthy and fit (falling broadly into the formula of 100 pounds at 5 feet and 5 pounds for every inch after that -- for women -- with flexibility if you have a very large or very small frame) is undoubtably good for you. Met Life Insurance is currently revising their height/weight charts to reflect evidence saying that a lower body weight is healthier in the long run, and that the weight ranges we often see (i.e., 108-148 for someone my height) leave too much room for fatness. The human body is designed to exercise 7 or 8 hours a day -- most of us have a hard time making ourselves exercise for 30 minutes a day. We were made to be thin. The whole "fat acceptance" or "my body just wants to weigh 10 pounds over the charts" thing just allows for people to rationalize being in sub-optimal shape. You do your instrument a disservice by not keeping it running at the top of its performance potential.
I am trying to convince myself of the above, and am actually finding out that it's not so hard to eat a healthy 1000 or 1200 calories a day and exercise every single morning. I'd like to eat loads of pasta for lunch and sleep in, but these extra five pounds really ought to go. I'd never let myself get away with keeping my voice out of shape -- and opera/theater uses the body in conjunction with the voice to express the art -- so why have I convinced myself that an extra five pounds is okay?
On the other hand, there's all this hubbub about how an extra x-number of pounds can help you sing. I've felt it... when I was at my lowest, my top thinned out and my breath control went away. When I was at my heaviest (this is a total swing range of about 15 pounds), I had big fat full notes and phrasing for days.
Right now, I'm working on building muscle (getting slim and fit, rather than just skinny), to see if that makes the difference. I still suspect that it's better to have a little extra fat to "lean" into.
However, the number of great singers with very little body fat (all those shirtless baritones, the big-voiced Anna Netrebko who is so slender she looks like a piece of china onstage, even Wagnerians like Behrens who never fit the "big person, big vocal cords" stereotype) seem to prove there's another way to do it. Carol Vaness said she had to re-learn her support when she lost about 70 pounds (i.e., it's harder when thin; you can get lazy about it when fat).
I go back and forth. Do I eat what I want and let these ten pounds help me out, or do I exercise and watch every morsel, and learn to sing and support the "right" way?
There's also the issue of the singer's lifestyle: Always travelling (meaning lots of restaurant food or room service, and making it harder to exercise regularly) and often eating a big dinner when you're famished late at night after a show.
Isabelle B. (who used to think that 1200 calories a day meant miserable, hungry death... and then she discovered vegetables, and Amy's Organics vegetarian frozen meals...)
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y... ibracamonte@y...
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