Sunday, January 04, 2009

Badly Behaved Belly!

can anyone help me out?

I am sick and tired of my stomach. I just can't seem to eat ANYTHING at all within at least 4 hours of dancing (and even then it still has to be fairly light otherwise I still suffer) . When I say suffer- I mean really truely- i get lightheaded and dizzy, sweat uncontrollably and feel nauseous with severe stomach cramps thrown in. Not nice. I take anti-acids to work with me, but they don't seem to have a great deal of effect, unfortunatly!

now the ideal solution of course is to eat 5 or 6 hours before I dance... which is all well and good... but if I have 6 shows in a day... how can I eat healthily and early enough to last the entire day/night???!!!

so far i try to have my main meal as soon as I wake up.... then live on chocolate between shows to keep the energy levels high, although if I haven't managed to eat in the morning, for whatever reason, then i tend to have a heavy meal just before bed- which isn't ideal either. Small meals or snacks dont even work- even a sandwich or a glass of orange juice can have an adverse effect on me!

I guess what i am looking for is a miracle cure to stop my stomach reacting to the food in the 1st place!

I know lots of dancers who can eat anything at all before they dance and not be affected- its not fair!!! Its driving me crazy........!

last night I danced at 4.30pm, then again at 8pm and again at 10.30pm. doesn't leave much space in the day for food and digestion! However- I am pleased to say, that despite the pain I performed 2 of my best shows ever. Maybe of course it was because rather than despite of the pain- I always find I dance well when the adrenadline is high ( like if I am late, or have people in the audience I really want to impress!)

It was a good night.... just wish my belly would behave!

Any tips????

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My dear,
First you work many hours and you stomach needs something to hold on. The problem is that now you need something to take to protect your stomach before you eat , I forgot the name , but I took it before and it worked. IT looks like a white syrup, ask at the pharmacy.
Its wonderful, I loved it :)
Good luck sweetie and I hope to meet you one day .

Georgina said...

Hi Lorna, I love to read your blog and I feel sad to find you are suffering stomach problems... I'm a bellydance lover myself and nowadays I am practising as much as possible. However not as much as I wish because I've been having severe acidity and coulnd't eat properly for a few weeks. After taking medicines and antibiotics I wasn't totally well. I am reading a book about misconceptions we have towards food which explains why people suffer acidity and well, maybe not everyone agrees with it but the author says that eating meat forces the stomach segregate more acid to be able to digest it. Also the author emphasizes the importance of eating raw veggies and fruits, the easiest thing ever for the stomach to digest. In fact the author is vegan, but that doesn't mean I am vegan... the book is 'The 80/10/10' diet. So far I've tried to eat more fruits than before and try not to eat much meat and for now I am doing fine. Also it's important the way you feel psychologically because if you are worried about something it makes it worse. And definitely not eating very hot food!!I hope you get better soon!

Annette said...

Oh Lorna - sorry to hear about your gippy tum!

There are all sorts of professions amongst Bellydancers - hope someone will be able to help you out.

Will you let us know?

All the very best for a fabulous 2009!!
Annette xx

Anonymous said...

Is it a stress related pain? My mum gets irritable bowel syndrome, which some link to stress, and she takes mint tablets for it. Or maybe mint tea. Mint and ginger both help with digestion.

Anonymous said...

I've found peppermint tablets to be quite good for helping calm cramps and stomach aches etc, here you can get colpermin, not sure if you can get them in Cairo?

spaceLem said...

Jules suggests that you try seeds, and avoid anything with wheat/gluten in it - that means no bread or pasta! Also avoid fruit with too acid e.g. orange juice.

Try some peppermint tea or Gaviscon (the white syrupy stuff someone mentioned earlier, can get in peppermint and aniseed varieties).

Maybe rice noodles if you can get them. You'll need to experiment for a while, and you should try only one thing at a time, to make sure it's not something else upsetting your stomach.

Anyway, take care, and good luck finding things!