With the holidays right around the corner, it’s easy to give in to all the festive food and drinks. In this exclusive guest post Kayley George, a Registered Dietitian, shares her 6 tips on how to stay healthy during the holidays.
It’s that time of year again! The best season of the year is almost here and it’s time to celebrate. Holidays may look a little different this year, so take advantage of this time to embrace some new, healthier holiday traditions. Below you will find everything you need to know for your holiday season to keep you on the right path.
My name is Tara and I am the Production Manager here at Weddings in Houston. In October 2019, I got engaged to my best friend after over four years together. I was ecstatic, finally all of my “wedding industry knowledge” could be put to use in planning my own wedding! I quickly found out that being on the bride’s side of things is entirely different from the wedding media and marketing side.
Engaged couples have their own set of challenges—challenges that I, myself, have now been experiencing throughout my own wedding planning journey. In addition, with everything going on in the world, we engaged couples are having to navigate wedding planning in an unprecedented way. We are having to utilize virtual venue tours, video calls with potential vendors, and more to plan our upcoming weddings during a pandemic. – All while trying to remain hopeful that everything will be able to go as “planned”. I found that getting started was the hardest part of my own wedding planning process.
With the current crisis, it’s a priority now than ever to take care of ourselves, mentally and physically. Read on for a guest post with Kayley George, a Registered Dietitian, on tips for healthy eating at home.
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented stress for brides, but don’t let this uncertain situation compromise your health as well. Take advantage of this extra time at home to focus not only on your physical health, but your mental health as well. It’s not only important to stay healthy for yourself, but also to care for the people around you.
Healthy eating at home during quarantine can be a struggle. As a Registered Dietitian working with brides, this topic has come up in many conversations over the past few weeks.
Here are 6 helpful tips on how to avoid mindless eating while you are at home:
We’re so excited to welcome this “wedding week-of diet” guest post from Kayley George, RD, Lead Dietitian at Bells & Barbells. Kayley’s signature program, “Lose the Weight By the Date” has been supporting brides as they reset their eating habits since 2018. In this must-read post, Kayley lasers in on the biggest diet mistakes a pre-wedding bride can make, and how to skirt them successfully. Read on…and don’t forget to share with moms, bridesmaids and anyone who wants to look and feel their best on your big day (the guys, too!).
Let’s set the stage: It’s the week before you tie the knot. Excitement is in the air, nerves are jittery, and sleep is, well…nonexistent. With the buzz of people coming into town, last-minute appointments, and all of the other activities leading up to your wedding, it’s easy to turn to last-ditch diets to ensure that you fit seamlessly into your white dress. To avoid making the same mistakes of past brides, let’s clearly lay out the 7 wedding week-of diet mishaps to dodge:
1. Salty + Greasy Foods
Salty foods can be addictive and oh-so delicious, but you’ll want to cut back on salty snacks this week. Sodium, the main element in salt, causes your body to cling onto water and bloat. Greasy foods tend to have the same effect. The extra fat in greasy dishes swells up your stomach and takes longer to empty out. Instead of being uncomfortably stuffed, eat lighter foods until you are about 70% full.
2. New Foods You Have Never Tried Before
Being adventurous is fun, but hold off until the honeymoon to try new or exotic foods. Especially if you have a sensitive stomach, keep new dishes out of your wedding week-of diet since you don’t know how your body will respond. It’s best to not gamble with your stomach this week, and instead stick with the food you know your body thrives on!
3. High Carb Meals
With so much to do this week, it’s critical to have all the energy you can get. While carbohydrates provide your body with fuel, excessive amounts translate into blood sugar imbalances. Let’s be honest, we’ve all been on that blood sugar roller coaster. Soon after your blood sugar spikes, you are going to crash and be left with fatigue, headaches, weight shifts and moodiness: the opposite of what you need before you say, “I do”.
4. Added Sugars or Dairy
No bride wants to panic over pimples and breakouts leading up to the most photographed day of her life. Cutting back on added sugar and dairy products can keep the red spots at bay. The oxidative properties of sugar can trigger breakouts, while the hormone in dairy, IGF-1, is also a known culprit in acne. Eliminating your intake of these triggers will give you that coveted bridal glow!
5. Alcohol
Planning your wedding can be overwhelming, but it’s wise to turn limit your consumption of alcohol as a means of de-stressing during that final stretch. Alcohol’s wide-ranging effects can throw you off mentally, not to mention causing more bloating and breakouts. Spend time with friends and loved ones to take the edge off before you exchange your vows.
6. Last-Minute Detoxes
While it may sound trendy and tempting, don’t succumb to those last-minute detoxes. Overhauling your diet will put your body into a physiologically stressed state coined “fight or flight” mode. Even worse, many detoxes are reported to make your skin irritated, eyes bloodshot, and leave you with a lingering foul smell. For a more natural detox, focus on drinking a gallon of water per day and bumping up to 5 servings of cruciferous veggies in your diet.
7. Skipping Water
Water is your friend this week (and every week!). It’s easy to get distracted during the final days leading up to your wedding, but don’t let hydration fall onto the back burner. Water is essential to looking and feeling the absolute best you can be! Your body is composed of 60% water, which supports nearly every bodily function from metabolism to energy. Aim to drink at least half to all of your weight in ounces and you will be aisle-ready.
Find out more about Kayley George, RD, and her practical, satisfying, effective “Lose Weight By The Date” Program here. And make sure to let her know you found her at Weddings in Houston!
You’re engaged…Congratulations!! As a recent newlywed, I share in your joy of marriage and… your potential miseries surrounding planning a wedding! What’s that, you say? Planning a wedding might not be 100% fun? For those superhumans out there who relish every second of planning your wedding, I commend you (and also would like some of whatever you’re drinking). For the rest of us mere Homo sapiens, I have compiled a list of surefire ways to stay sane while planning for the biggest day of your life, based on my own–completely biased–experience: Scroll down for the scoop!
1. Hire a wedding coordinator. I know, if you’re anything like me, you’re thinking, “I love planning and am so organized! Why would I waste money on this?” My venue required that I hire a day-of coordinator, and it ended up being my saving grace. My rockstar coordinator Michelle thought of tiny details I never would have thought of, allowed my family members to enjoy the day and not have to coordinate, and ran everything so seamlessly that if anything had gone wrong, I certainly had no idea (until our sendoff when the sparklers prematurely had burned out, which we actually found hilarious/made for fun pictures of cell phones lighting our path). If I could do it all over, I would have hired a full-time coordinator!
2. A friend gave me this piece of advice, which was such a stress/money-saver: “Choose three things you care the most about to spend money on, and see where you can save on everything else.” And I believe it’s possible to do this within any budget. You love flowers? Don’t skimp on those. Dream of a fabulous dress? Dream big! For us, our priorities were venue, booze, and photographer. We worked to save on everything else (we booked our flowers through a close family friend, and I got my dress second-hand), then towards the end when we found we had some wiggle room in our budget, we were able to add some fun extra things like a reasonably priced photo booth and cigars.
3. Have a destination wedding where everything is planned out for you ahead of time and you don’t have to worry about anything. You think I’m kidding…I’m not kidding.
4. If you’re not taking suggestion #3 above, give yourself time to plan. I had a seven-month engagement, which isn’t exactly short, but when planning a Hill Country wedding for 140 guests, having a few more months to plan would’ve been nice. Because we had to bring in most of our own vendors (which we wanted, to have our own personal touch), I felt like I had to make a decision every day. By the end, I didn’t want to make another decision ever again EVER.
5. Make time for wine and a close friend at least once a monthweek day (this is a safe space, y’all).
6. Lean on your hubby/wifey-to-be for support. In the midst of wedding planning, my then-fiancé and I decided to build a house because WHY NOT?! (protip: Don’t do this.) After several (hundred) mortgage and floorplan emails had been exchanged, I–shaking, on the brink of hysteria, wine bottle clutched in hand–calmly asked my fiancé if he’d handle all house stuff until after the wedding. He gladly did so without complaint. Hey, what’s a life partner for?
7. Take a deep breath, and remember what this is all about: you and your partner making a vow to love and support each other for the rest of your lives. And that’s the easiest part about all of this.
