Are you engaged? Planning a wedding? About to be married? These are all beautiful and exciting life changes - unfortunately, they can also be incredibly stressful. The last thing you want to do is feel unhealthy and drab on your wedding day. LifeScape's nutritionist, Bonnie Roill, has some great wedding tips for achieving that healthy bridal glow on your big day. So ditch the crash diets and say goodbye to the fads. Here's how you actually do it.

Health Wedding Tips for Looking Your Best on the Big Day

6 months out

At 6 months out, there is still time to change your diet in order to feel and see changes in body, skin, hair, nails and GI health. Be honest with your eating. Too much dining out? Too many foods out of boxes, bags, and cans? Less than 5 servings of vegetables per day? Less than 2 servings of healthy fatty fish (Friday fish fry doesn’t count!). Skip the weekly happy hour, and eating after 7 pm. It's time to stop skipping breakfast and eating too large of portions for your body size and activity level. Even healthy food can become troublesome when you eat too much of it.

Whatever meal plan you choose to follow make it easy to transition to. You have enough on your plate (pun intended) with the wedding 6 months away. Start with the plate method. Take your plate and cut it in half, fill that with vegetables, especially green vegetables like greens for salads, or cooked broccoli mixed with a root vegetable like carrots. Take the other half of the plate and cut that into two; on one side add your lean protein like organic chicken, farm-raised beefs, plant proteins like lentils or beans. On the other side save that for the slower absorbed vegetable carbs like beets, sweet potatoes, parsnips, or even a grain like quinoa.

3 months out

Focus on the “good for you” things you have already been doing that give the results you’re looking for. After you select one or two, amp them up one level. For example, if you eat salads 2 times per week, increase to 3 times per week. If you're eating fish once a week, increase to twice a week.

Or if there is something you’re still not hitting your target on, like creating a window of non-eating time from 7 pm to 7 am, create a plan to make it happen. Ask for support or an accountability partner; try to hit this target a certain number of days per week – you don't need to hit this goal every day to reap the benefits of this type of intermittent fasting.

1 month out

Now is NOT the time to make drastic changes in eating habits or fitness routines. Your body is already under enough stress. Now is not the time to drastically cut back on food to lose weight. Give crash diets a hard pass and focus on these healthy wedding tips. Work with your body, not against it. Keep to a regular meal schedule to maintain consistent energy. Watch your caffeine intake. It’s tempting to increase caffeine intake to ramp up your energy but you’re also increasing the hormone cortisol. When you increase cortisol, you could put on a couple of pounds on your midriff.

Always remember that sleep trumps exercise and daily healthier food choices trumps super early/ or late exercise workouts. The goal is no extremes. Look at what keeps your body feeling good and you feeling calm.

Be consistent with supplements. If all you can squeeze in daily is a medical grade multi-vitamin, make this the goal. The additional stress of the wedding is chewing up your B-vitamins and Vitamin C.

Be careful with the Bachelorette party, wedding shower party, party for the sake of partying… if alcohol is included in your diet, that means your skin will show the signs of dehydration and your body will show abdominal bloat, along with a slower metabolism to burn fat tissue. Plan accordingly. Keep the alcohol to the day of the party - other normal days keep them free of any type of alcohol. You do want glowing skin and a flat tummy, don’t you?

The big day has arrived!

Our last batch of wedding tips is pretty simple. Start the day off with something easy to digest, like a nutrient packed smoothie. Remember to drink water infused with lemons - this will help to off-set the tendency to experience bloat and give your body a nice boost of Vitamin C. Depriving yourself of food all day can lead to feeling light-headed or over-indulging after the ceremony. Keep things light today but remember to eat - you’re going to need energy to get you through this glorious day.

Looking to achieve that bridal glow? Do want to finally have a healthier lifestyle? Book a Consultation with Lifescape Premier today!