Monika Saigal RD & ms nutrition

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Monika Saigal RD & ms nutrition

I specialize in dance nutrition & the prevention and treatment of eating disorders/disordered eating.

I'm passionate about building a better dance world and helping individuals develop nourishing and peaceful relationships with food & their body 🩰❤️🌱

11/10/2025

That's a wrap on my first conference in beautiful Montreal 🇨🇦 ❄️

It’s been a short but sweet couple of days filled with presenting, chatting about my 📗 Nourishing Dance, learning from dance colleagues, reconnecting with friends and making new ones 💕. I always feel invigorated after sharing space with people who share my passion for improving dancers’ health and well-being (and wow the wellness philosophy and approach gives me so much hope) ✨

Pictured:
🥨 Presenting on optimal fueling in dancers

🌷Loved this panel discussion with Maria Tanielian, , , and the wonderful Jo-Anne Laflèche on what it means to be well-nourished (this convo also provided the perfect set-up for my talk!)

📚Getting better at this book-table thing!

👏🏻Would it be a dancer health conference without dancing? I loved all of the performances, including this piece titled Rang: The Colour of Community danced by

🩷So lovely to catch up

🙏🏻Merci to for hosting and to everyone from who put so much work into this event. Hope to see you again soon!

😬Side note: my flight out of Montreal was cancelled last night. Please send good travel vibes my way. Hoping I’ll make it back home to NYC today 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

11/06/2025

I'm so looking forward to presenting and being an exhibitor at the Healthy Dancer Canada Conference this weekend! Hope you'll stop by my book table on Sat to say 👋🏻! I'll only have a limited # of books available, so DM me to reserve a copy! Can't wait to be in beautiful Montreal and connect with everyone ❤️

10/29/2025

Friendly reminder about Halloween candy 🍫🎃🍬

Candy corn goes in my avoid pile (strong dislike!) and Kit Kats go in the “I love these and am not sharing pile” 😂

What goes in yours?

10/22/2025

I ask this question in the Epilogue of Nourishing Dance 📖:

Are we willing to do the work of challenging our biases to protect the humans without whom there is no art?

But there are also MANY other things dancers need to better support their health and well-being. To protect the humans without whom there is no art, is the dance world willing to:

🌿Pay dancers a living wage?

🌿Provide dancers with nutrition and mental health resources?

🌿Challenge harmful traditions and norms?

🌿Create schedules that give dancers enough time to eat and rest?

I could go on and on...

How would you fill in the blank?

10/16/2025

My first time presenting at the conference and I'm so looking forward to it!! Let me know if you're planning to attend in person or virtually. Hope to see you there 🩰💕

10/07/2025

Feeling full of gratitude from my afternoon at my alma mater New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) , last Friday. This school holds such a special place in my heart and was instrumental in my training and journey to becoming a professional dancer. So many touching and full-circle moments being back here to do a Nourishing Dance book event for the dance and musical theater students and faculty:

✨I LOVED my conversation with these bright and thoughtful students who give me so much hope for the future of our dance world. Thank y’all so much for your insights, energy, and openness to discuss these important topics (pics 1 & 2).

🎭With Kesha McKey, who I was in the dance program with at NOCCA and is now Director of Arts at the school! Kesha - it was so wonderful to see you in person again..These students are lucky to have you at the helm!

💫With my first ballet teacher, Melanie Ryan. She was a huge part of the early steps that paved the way toward my dance career. Hearing her say she’s proud of me… I’ll be riding that high for awhile 🥺

📚Personalizing and signing my books does not get old!

⚜️I attended NOCCA before they moved to this location. Was so fun to see the new school and gorgeous studios (no crumbling ceilings for these dancers!). These artists are lucky to train here, though I’m not sure I would trade my my time at the old NOCCA on Perrier St. - the peeling layers of colorful paint, sounds of jazz filling the halls, and even the coat closet we crammed into to change were all part of the unique magic and energy of the school.

Coming home is always special. Thank you NOCCA for making this trip extra special for me 💕

09/23/2025

It’s Weight Stigma Awareness Week - Understanding it is the first step to ending it.

Weight stigma refers to weight-based discrimination and stereotyping. It is the result of weight bias –negative beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions related to body weight and size.

Why it matters: Weight stigma is prevalent in our society and in dance and can harm dancers’ health, affect their livelihood, and impact the quality of health care they receive.

Ways weight stigma shows up:

Telling a dancer to reduce food intake and/or exercise more based on their body size (without considering they may be undereating, over-exercising, or might have an eating disorder).

Only flagging dancers with low weights for concerns about under-fueling or disordered eating.

Dismissing concerns about missed periods because a dancer’s weight is “normal.”

Body shaming

Praising weight loss

Using “fat” as a negative descriptor or insult

Want to learn more so you can help end weight stigma? Check out these resources:

➡️WeightStigmaAwarenessWeek.org

➡️allianceforeatingdisorders.com

➡️My book, Nourishing Dance (link in bio)

09/08/2025

✨SF trip highlights✨

🌟Always thankful for opportunities to collaborate with Sasha Gorrell - this time speaking with the staff about Creating a Culture of Mental & Physical Wellness 🧠💪🏻

🌟Had an awesome time presenting a Head to Pointe® Nutrition Workshop to these lovely dancers (+ 2 more great groups that I forgot to take pics with!) 🍏

🌟My first time visiting the beautiful spaces. Thanks for the tour, conversation, and lunch 🌮

🌟A long-awaited in-person SFBS/SFB Wellness meet-up. Loved this hang with & Bridget Whitlow 😊

🌟Tia and sobrina bonding time (adorable sobrino not pictured) 💗

🌟The prize at the end of the hike 😍

09/05/2025

If you don’t have a copy of Nourishing Dance yet, NOW is the perfect time to get your hands on this indispensable resource to help dancers flourish on and off the stage! The publisher Routledge is offering a 🌟25% off discount🌟 through September (use code Nourishingdance25) and it’s also currently on sale on Amazon!

Head to nourishingdance.com (link in bio) for more info and links to purchase 🩰🌎❤️🌱

08/20/2025

What a fab way to kick off this fall season of nutrition & wellness workshops!! I LOVED speaking with this awesome group of dancers yesterday! We covered A LOT in this session including

🥪How to stay well-fueled and hydrated during busy dance days

🕛How to use meal timing to support performance and recovery

🍽️Why under-fueling is so common in dancers (and strategies to prevent it)

💓Building better body image

🤗The part we all play in creating more supportive dance spaces.

Big thanks to for having me and to all the wonderful dancers who attended 🙏🏻I loved your energy, enthusiasm, and great questions. Wishing you the very best semester ✨

08/18/2025

As the fall dance semester/season kicks off, it feels like a good time to share these gentle reminders. We all have a role to play in creating more positive and nurturing dance environments.

Will you take the pledge? 🩰🌎❤️🌱

08/11/2025

Last week I wrapped up a busy summer of nutrition and wellness workshops and am so grateful for all the opportunities I had to do this work that I am so passionate about 💗

I loved working with summer intensive dancers at and over the last few weeks and with dance educators and dance health providers in the Bridging the Gap course with and Mid-Atlantic Dance Educators Summit earlier this summer 🩰🌎❤️🌱

As summer winds down (bring on the fall weather 🍂), I’m thankful I got to squeeze in a bit of rest and recovery this weekend in the beautiful NY Catskills 🌳🌻. Don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s not until I actually stop to take a breath that I realize how badly I needed it. A bit of nature, extra sleep, and clean air helped me recharge (I kept saying “It smells so good here” - words never uttered in the summer in NYC…iykyk 😅).

Now on to prepping for an even busier fall season full of events I’m really excited about…starting next week with a workshop for . See you soon dancers!!

How are you spending your last days of summer?

Address

39 West 32nd Street
New York, NY
10001

Telephone

+19175664699

Website

https://nourishingdance.com/, https://msnutrition.com/

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About Us

Monika Saigal, MS, RD, CEDRD-S, CDN is the founder of ms nutrition, PC, a New York City based nutrition counseling and consulting practice that specializes in: eating disorders/disordered eating, nutrition for dancers & performing artists, and a non-diet approach to health and wellness. We love helping clients Learn to Nourish so you can Live to Flourish!