Feeding Your Voice

You Must Eat

All of us suffer from nerves from time to time and when that time comes it can often be accompanied by a lack of desire for food. Working on an empty stomach is never a good idea; at best it provides a distraction, at worst you find yourself lacking the required energy. Power through the nerves and make sure you have a normal sized meal approximately two hours before you need your voice to work its magic.

Don’t Overeat

Nerves can also have the effect of making you want to desperately comfort eat – just as you would combat the lack of appetite, don’t let the nerve monster get you with overeating. A food baby will inhibit the movement of the diaphragm meaning you’re more likely to burp and taking in full breaths will be a challenge.

The Night Before

It goes without saying that you should always get plenty of rest before using your voice, but did you know that carbs the night before will give you energy? It’s best to avoid rice or pasta as these become sugar, but sweet potato is a good choice.

Smoking is a No No

Smoking (even the second-hand variety) irritates your vocal chords, so steer clear of the cigarette counter.

Allergy Season

During the summer months pollen can play havoc with voice professionals. Don’t be tempted to use medicine ahead of heavy voice use though as it can dry you out. As soon as you wake up wash your nose out with saline and line your nostrils with Vaseline to keep allergens at bay.

Room Temperature Water

Eating or drinking anything too cold constricts the throat, so stick to room temperature water. As a voice professional your bottle of water is your best friend. If your throat becomes irritated don’t be tempted to clear your throat, simply sip on some water; coughing and spluttering can damage your voice.

Keep Hydrated

Besides your best mate water there are plenty of other ways to keep your water intake up. With the exception of tomato and cream based soups, -which cause reflux- soups are great for keeping you hydrated. Fruit and veg with a high water content such as melons, oranges and cucumber are top snack choices. Strawberries are good for the larynx and surprisingly toasted bread or non-salted crackers are useful foods as they encourage the mouth to produce extra saliva. Salads are a safe meal option, particularly those with avocado as the vegetable is a good lubricator.

Tea Time

Your throat likes herbal teas. Vocalzone Tea is specifically formulated with herbal ingredients that soothe overused voices coating the throat to help relieve any irritation.

Bye Bye Dairy

We don’t want to sound like negative nellies so thought we’d keep these bad choices in one section. Here is where the Vegan advantage comes in – keep away from the milky stuff if you’re using your voice today. Dairy encourages the production of mucus. Citrus fruits and alcohol dry you out, coffee and spicy food irritate the throat and fizzy drinks will fill your stomach with air.

Vitamin A

Found in orange and yellow fruits, sweet peppers, carrots, apricot and leafy greens, Vitamin A helps keep your soft tissue, skin and mucous membranes healthy.