UAE-based influencer Rania Fawaz’ wedding via @christopheviseux_weddings / Instagram
Every bride wants to look her best on her big day, and that often includes some weight loss. But with all those mood swings and time limitations, it can be easy to fall off the marriage preparation bandwagon and binge or find unhealthy, quick fixes. If your socially distanced nuptials are coming up, here are some great tips and solid advice from dietician Lama Anaeli.
Elie Saab Jr and Christina Mourad - via @neimanazzi
Some women turn to unhealthy measures to look thin for their wedding. Tell us about some of the dangers in crash dieting.
Every woman wants to feel beautiful on her wedding day, but crash diets are not the answer. The secret to feeling fresh and healthy on your big day is to feel good and confident in your skin. Losing weight quickly is not the solution; the lost weight tends to be regained quickly, which is why a healthy and balanced diet coupled with exercise would be ideal to make you feel ready to start your new life and make a difference in your everyday living.
So what is a healthy time frame for weight loss?
Ideally, the body is able to lose half to one kilogram a week maximum depending on the total amount of extra weight one has, anything more than that would be muscles and water. As a nutritionist, I would recommend a balanced and healthy diet on a daily basis. It’s not about “dieting” based on a time frame, but rather to ensure every woman aims for a healthy future for her and her family starting with her own recipes at home.
Please give our readers some general nutritional advice for starting a wedding weight loss program
As marriage is a new start of a new journey in life, it would be a great opportunity to start healthy together. While the bride can start by cutting down on the empty calories (food with high fat and calories and low in nutrients such as desserts, salty snacks, sweetened beverages and juices), it would be a great time to take some healthy cooking classes with her fiancé before the wedding and even continue after that. They can even choose a place for their honeymoon where they can discover new cuisines, spices, and ingredients that they can start using in their dishes when they are back. Of course, never forget the secret of beauty is healthy hydration and drinking lots of water to nourish the body and skin inside out.
What specific foods should be avoided just before the wedding to prevent bloating?
Drinking eight glasses of water or more per day is a very good start to prevent bloating. There are some foods that do cause bloating that may be avoided based on personal experience with eating the food, such as broccoli, cabbage, beans and pulses, and for lactose intolerant people, it could be milk as well. However, knowing these foods are very healthy and nutritious, I would not recommend stopping their consumption if you aren’t sensitive to their ingestion.
Also, moderate physical activity such as 30-45 minutes of walking, jogging, cycling, rope jumping or aerobic exercise at the gym helps to promote healthy digestion and could thus prevent bloating. But as mentioned earlier, it’s not all about preventing yourself from eating some foods; it’s about keeping in mind to take care of your body every day.
How can a bride support her body nutritionally to stay cool, calm and collected while preparing for her wedding?
With any new beautiful adventure comes a little bit of (positive) stress from the idea of change, trying new things and of course preparation. For me personally, cooking is soothing and I enjoy it a lot, so while I’m sure the bride is very busy preparing, she can do something that relaxes her for 30-45 minutes a day such as cooking, exercising and seeing close friends.
How important is it to fuel your body on the big day?
The most important tip I would give every bride is to ensure she has a healthy and nutritional breakfast and stays hydrated by drinking water throughout the day.
How can proper weight and health be maintained after the wedding?
A good and balanced diet starts with you. Cooking healthier recipes at home will help make a difference in your body and will create a sense of enjoyment for you and your husband. That’s why I encourage newlyweds to discover the world of cooking and get inspired by all the cuisines together, so they can find the best flavors and tastes to cook at home. Enrich those cooking horizons and discover healthier ways to cook without compromising on taste.
