Health

Food Diaries: How a Dancer and Mom of Two Eats for a Day

Sara Lavan strives to create healthy meals that are still kid-friendly. Find out how she does it.

Are you a local health, nutrition, or fitness expert with a love of food? Keep a food diary for us! E-mail tpai@washingtonian.com for details.

Among all the wonderful things about children, an adventurous palate is unfortunately not always one of them. As the mother of a nine-year-old and a six-year-old, it’s a challenge Alexandria resident Sara Lavan understands well. She aims to feed her kids balanced meals with plenty of vegetables and whole grains, but still makes time for the occasional indulgence, such as homemade ice cream. (You can find some of her recipes on her blog.)

Sara is the owner and operator of Alexandria’s Local Motion Studio, where she develops the adult classes and creates the curriculum for the children’s dance program. She also teaches Pilates and barre, dances in the local modern company Choreographer’s Collaboration Project, and in her free time volunteer-teaches dance at Mount Vernon Community School, where her children go.

Read on to find out how Sara keeps herself—and her kids—fueled for busy days.

Breakfast: “One of my favorites: greens (chard, spinach, and/or kale), two free-range eggs, and hot sauce.”

Morning snack: “To sip during the morning at the studio—either during teaching, or before or after class—juice (this time celery, carrot, green apple, spinach, and orange), and a yogurt-and-fruit smoothie. (homemade yogurt, grass-fed gelatin, chlorella, spirulina, and fruit).”

Lunch: “Gluten-free lasagna with spinach and grass-fed beef, left over from the night before.”

Snack: “An oatmeal-applesauce cookie—flour-free!”

Dinner: “Had dinner with the kids—brown rice and shrimp stir-fry with fresh ginger, half an avocado, a Caesar salad, and mushrooms.”

Dessert: “Homemade pumpkin ice cream. Really made for the kiddos, but of course I had a little.”