Plates to plié with
In a new book, ballerina Misty Copeland offers recipes for a lithe athlete’s body
IT may come as a surprise that ballerina Misty Copeland is a big fan of fat, but for the principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, fat is a virtue. “Eating it, absorbing it and burning it for energy — is the key to building the muscle and providing the strength so important for ballerinas and all elite athletes to perform at such a high level for hours, day in and day out,” Copeland writes in her new book, “Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger and More Graceful You” (Grand Central Life & Style, out now).
For Copeland, getting her ballerina body meant eating plenty of f ish, nuts and avocado — all foods that are high in the good kind of fat that sharpens muscle tone and helps our bodies burn unhealthy saturated fat, all while giving us energy. Fiber-packed vegetables, such as kale and spinach, are also a huge part of her diet.
“When dietary fat meets dietary fiber, you’ve got a great duo for shaping your body and boosting weight loss,” she writes.
Here, Copeland shares one of her go-to fat-and-fiber dishes: flounder with sauteed kale. It’s one of her favorite dishes to make for her husband, Olu Evans, who also helped her overcome a binge-eating disorder early in her career and find a more healthy way of eating.