5 Diet Rules of Cirque du Soleil Artist

Hello, Oleksiy Kononov is in touch.

Communicating with you via live chats, I often hear questions about nutrition:
What are you eating? How often? Do you use sports nutrition? Do you eat meat?

In this article, for 5 minutes, I will share my 5 nutritional rules that helped me perform on stage at Cirque du Soleil in 10 shows a week. And feel impeccable and confident on the beach :)

The article will help foster better eating habits. That will enable you with more energy, athletic look, and you will eat whatever you want.

Let’s go ahead, 5 top food rules by Oleksiy Kononov:

I have imagined myself as a sports car since childhood that needs high-quality fuel to win the race. I have no gastronomic expectations from regular meals during the day. I deliberately separate: food for recharging and food for pleasure.

Food at Cirque du Soleil is even a more entrenched habit as a professional tool. When working at the limit of human capabilities, the quality and quantity of food plays a vital role, like the ability to roll over your head and land correctly.

So, when I look at food, I see:
⛽ Gas / petrol - carbohydrates - (cereals);
⚙ Small parts - proteins - (meat);
☘ Grease - fat - (oils, nuts).

Perhaps, it looks like a strange approach, but it works for me.

During the week I got used to eating ‘bland’, simple food to recharge, but once a week I go to a restaurant with my family – and there I open all the taste chakras.

I also cook once a week, imagining myself as a chef, usually it’s either pasta, or varieties of meat cooked on a fire or baked in the oven. I often combine this ritual with music and communication with friends, it turns out to be sheer pleasure.

This is enough for me to feel serenity and harmony in this aspect.

I read the book "The Body from God" 10 years ago, that hit the target of my consciousness. The author’s idea is very simple: our body assimilates products created by nature well, and products created by people – hardly indeed.

Human-made foods in most cases are good for business and bad for the stomach.

For example:
✅ Better meat - ❌ than sausage;
✅ Better fried / grilled / boiled fish - ❌ than canned fish;
✅ Better fresh vegetables - ❌ than pickled ones;
✅ Better fruit - ❌ than sweets;
✅ Better nuts - ❌ than chips;
✅ Better porridge - ❌ than bread;
Etc.

You will say: “Oleksiy, meat is full of antibiotics, fruits are grown sprayed, vegetables are taken from a greenhouse”. Here I stick to the following rule.
With regard to the personal development, I do not try to do it quickly, for a single time or ideally. I pick out a direction and begin to lead an endless process of improvement.

• If you have bought fruit instead of sweets, it’s good; ⏩ When there is an opportunity to bring them from the village, it’s excellent.
• If you have steamed oatmeal instead of cereal, it’s good; ⏩ When you cook a full-fledged porridge, it’s excellent.
• The hand reached for chocolate, it happens; ⏩ When black chocolate is chosen, it’s good.

I label products in my head with colors:

Green ✅ Useful. The body will be fine.
For example: Vegetables, Fruit, Greens, Porridges, Fish, Meat, Eggs, Nuts, Natural Oils, Water, etc.


Yellow ⚠️ Empty. Neutral.
For example: Sports nutrition, Bread, Pickles, Milk, Black Chocolate, Sausage, Juice, Expresso, etc.

Red ❌ Harmful. The body will feel unwell.
For example: Shawarma, Big Mac, Alcohol, Candies, Cakes, Chips, Cola, etc.

The body constantly maintains the normal pH of the blood. If we represent this balance as a scale, on the one hand, there will be an alkaline environment, on the other – acidic. For the body to feel good, the slider should lean towards alkaline. Acidification of the body worsens our health.

To avoid this, you need to help and provide the body with a sufficient amount of products that leach. Most of these products on my system have green markers. These products are well absorbed, give energy, and do not steal it.

I regard sports nutrition as a neutral product. I don’t take it in regularly. I can use a sports bar on the road or a cocktail if the plan is to have a snack, and time is running out.

This principle has become a criterion for choosing products and the basis of an endless process of improving my eating habits.

If you want to get to your destination, fill up your tank.

My friend, who has been living in Germany for a long time, says that a driver, who stopped on the autobahn while running out of gas, is severely fined. They consider such a case as an act of negligence, which can lead to disaster.

I remember this story when there is a risk of skipping a meal.

Therefore, I eat 5 times a day.
3 main meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner + intermediate, second breakfast and afternoon tea.

This diet is perfect for me, since it makes it easier to avoid energy pits during the day (extreme drops in blood sugar) and overeating after.

I eat more when training and performing, and less on the weekends.

I fill up a plate, based on the time of day.
Therefore, in the morning I eat more products containing carbohydrates. To energize and spend the day as active as possible. I’m bound to eat carbohydrates after training as well. It is crucial for me to restore energy for the active continuation of the day.

My plate will be balanced at lunch. Carbohydrates ⚖ Proteins.

Closer to the evening, the priority of protein products increases ⬆️ I am preparing the building material for the recovery process during sleep. I add salads to protein foods for better digestion. I reduce carbohydrates ⬇️

There showed up a thought not to eat meat after watching the movie “The Game Changers”. However, I haven’t found the answer where to get essential amino acids, that’s why I’m eating meat till now. Besides, I keep the quantity of meat under control.

You won’t get much protein in one meal (+ - 30 grams). It is not stored (it’s not deposited) for future in the organs, it only overloads the body and the toilet bowl.

When I arrived in Montreal in 2009, I was gobsmacked by the fact that a bottle of water was a must (like a smartphone) for everyone at the Cirque du Soleil studio. Even despite keeping a cooler literally in every corner of the training center. Then I learned that you can never have too much water.

60% of any human body consists of water:

• Muscles – by 70 – 80%;
• Brain – 90%;
• Eyes – 99%.

“Do you know how dried apricots differ from fresh apricots?” – the coach asked me. Dried apricots are apricots without water.

Since then I have got a burning desire to be like Apricot as long as possible :)

I have been drinking a lot of water since 2009.
After waking up I pour and drink up 2 glasses, and then a glass for every hour.

When traveling, I use a charcoal filter (e.g. Barrier). It’s getting obsolete, I know. Although I see here an area for growth.

Summarizing my anti-diet, I will say: I eat regularly products created by nature, relying on personal activity and time of a day; I drink a lot of water.

Try these simple principles in your system of nutrition, and you will feel: you can do much more.