Cheeseburger in Paradise: Healthy Eating Tough for Touring Musicians

Newswise — Musicians and singers say they don’t make healthy diet choices while on tour because nutritious food is costly and not readily available and they’re pressed for time, according to a small Saint Louis University study.

“Maintaining good health is essential for touring musicians and singers,” wrote the authors of the study, which was published in the June issue of Medical Problems of Performing Artists. “The stressful demands of touring may impact food choices, leading to detrimental effects on health and performance.”

Researchers surveyed 35 musicians on tour and found that 80 percent considered eating healthy to be a priority. More than 75 percent said they felt confident making healthy food choices and 82 percent knew how to cook in a healthy way.

However, they said they had problems getting access to healthy foods, with performance venues, fast food restaurants and airports topping the list of places that needed to beef up their healthy choices.

More than half said they’d make healthier food choices if others on tour supported those decisions.

Authors of the paper are Erin Cizek, Patrick Kelly, Kathleen Kress and Mildred Mattfeldt-Berman.

“A diet of constant cheeseburgers is no paradise when you’re a touring musician who needs to stay healthy,” said Whitney Linsenmeyer, instructor of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University. “Nutrition guidelines that address the unique lifestyles of touring performers would help them stay in better shape, as would mobile wellness programs.”

Long a leader in educating health professionals, Saint Louis University offered its first degree in an allied health profession in 1929. Today the Doisy College of Health Sciences offers degrees in physical therapy and athletic training, biomedical laboratory science, nutrition and dietetics, health informatics and information management, audiology, medical imaging and radiation therapeutics, occupational science and occupational therapy, and physician assistant education. The college's unique curriculum prepares students to work with health professionals from all disciplines to ensure the best possible patient care.