Venue booked, hair and make-up organised, dress purchased, flowers arranged… But in all that organising and wedding preparation have you forgotten to make time for yourself and you’re now feeling a little frazzled and dull?
Weddings are an exciting time, where you have found the love of your life and you are bringing together family and friends to share and celebrate that love and commitment. Obviously, brides (and grooms) want to feel their absolute best on the day, but your own health can often get forgotten about. Enter the quick fix juice cleanses, diets and other fads that offer amazing results but often lead to more stress due to the deprivation a person feels when on them. Rather than punishing your body, show some love to your body from the inside out through the below tips to help getting you glowing on your big day.
DRINK YOUR WATER
Cliché maybe? But the truth is every day I see patients that are dehydrated. Coffee, black tea, sugary and high salt foods, exercise and stress all dehydrate the body leading to further need to hydrate. Aim to drink two glasses of water within the first half hour of waking and then one every hour after that, which should take you tup to around 2 litres day, you may need more if you drink more than 2 coffee / teas per day and sweat in exercise or work. Being hydrated helps us have heathy clear skin, aid concentration, improved energy and aid detox pathways in the body.
PLATE UP WITH COLOUR
The standard Australia diet is what I call ‘The Beige diet’, where all foods are some colour between white and brown, with a little sprig of green every now and then. Vegetables contain essential nutrients and vitamins that help us have energy, healthy skin and hair, and brain function as well as providing fibre to keep us regular at the toilet. Aim for half of your plate to be non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, leafy greens, cabbage and cucumber. And a quarter of healthy protein source such as chicken, fish, red meat, eggs or legumes and the other quarter a starchy carbohydrate such as brown rice, sweet potato or pumpkin.
TAKE TIME TO BREATHE AND REST
Brides to be often feel stressed either with the organisation process and/ or dealing the family dynamics for the day. In the lead up to the big day and particularly the morning of, take some time to be by yourself and engage in some mindfulness practices. This may be focusing on your breath coming in through your nose and out, a meditation, or writing out some things in your life and about the wedding you are grateful for to help de-stress. And as part of stress management, always aim for at least 8 hours sleep per night, so you feel energised and refreshed in the lead up to the day.
HUG YOUR PARTNER
When you’re feeling a bit stressed, go and hug your partner. Hugging for longer than 30 seconds releases oxytocin, a feel-good hormone that also aids in bonding and connection. It’s also knowns as the ‘bliss hormone’ and helps us feel happy and motivated. And when you have done the above and you still feel like you need an extra boost, then the following nutrients can help. Magnesium helps calm the nervous system and aid sleep if you are feeling stressed. I also recommend zinc and vitamin C for those that really want their skin glowing on the big day. A B vitamin complex is also helpful in stress management and increasing energy.
Tess Doig
Naturopath BHsc (Naturopathy)
G.Dip (Psych.)
JUNO WELLNESS
MARGARET RIVER
junowellness.com.au
