Cleansing for the Big Day

Looking at your best on your wedding day is a common goal for most brides to be, and new ways of achieving that are constantly being promised by various diets and fitness programmes. It goes without saying that everyone is different and therefore so are the means by which everyone looks and feels their best. One increasingly popular approach, endorsed by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Sophie Dahl and supermodels like Lara Stone, is to take a detoxifying cleanse. When people think of cleanses, they often think of forcing down green juice and eating nothing but measly salads. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s perfectly possible – healthier, in fact – to eat satisfying meals which are nutritious, enjoyable and filling while being free of dairy, wheat and refined sugar, the absence of all of which increases your energy levels in the long run. How does roasted salmon will grilled vegetable salad and salsa verde, quinoa and roasted artichoke with basil pesto, spicy Mexican bean salad, or turkey meatballs with butternut squash sound? All these are not only healthy and detoxifying, but they contain enough goodies and nutrients to make sure you’re feeling at your best, and your skin, hair and nails are looking at their healthy best, on your big day. So many people are so fixated on weight loss that they approach eating as a necessary evil, forgetting the crucial fact that we need to eat nutrients in the right amounts to be at our best – not too much, but not too little either. Our wedding menus at Grand Ballroom at the Montcalm London strive for the perfect balance between delicious indulgence and health, but in the meantime, follow these tips for a healthy pre-wedding cleanse.

Cleanses which centre on short- and long-term abstinence from eating are not only unhealthy, they’re actually counterproductive in the long run. That’s because starving yourself, no matter how good your willpower, will lead you to overcompensate with the unhealthy foods you’ve forced yourself to crave at some point. However, eating good food in the right amounts and at the right times will keep you full and happy and those cravings will disappear because your body is nutritionally satisfied. Skipping breakfast is a common mistake which many people make whether they’re trying to lose weight or not. The old adage is true, though, that it’s the most important meal of the day, and a good breakfast which is hearty in the right ways is the perfect way to set up your body and mind for the day. Try a smoothie of banana, low fat milk and ice, which clocks in at about 300 calories. Lunch is a delicate balancing act between eating enough to keep your energy levels up throughout the afternoon, and not eating so much that you hit the post-lunch wall, which we all know only too well and which normally comes about as a result of eating too much carbohydrate. Try a salad of pecan-crusted goat’s cheese with pomegranate vinaigrette for something healthy and nutritious which will keep you going all afternoon. For dinner, we recommend a black bean, avocado, brown rice and chicken wrap; a tasty meal which proves that burritos don’t have to be unhealthy!