Nutrition, Health, and all that Fun Stuff

While nutrition and diet aren't directly related to the wedding, the topics seem to appear in every issue of every bridal magazine I've received in the last 18+ months. And who doesn't want to look as fit, toned, and healthy as possible on their wedding day? Still, the little articles on "health" seem mediocre at best (titles such as "Get Slim and Sexy! The Two-Week Countdown" aren't exactly promising), and I always love to find genuinely educational articles about nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and exercise.

Today, I want to share an amazing blog that I recently discovered through one of my many food magazines. This family challenged themselves (successfully!) to 100 days of "real food" - meaning absolutely no processed food. The website includes how they did it, recipes with real food, and even how to buy real food on a budget. So if you have a minute to explore the idea behind real food, enjoy! http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

If you click on the "10 Day Challenge" tab, you can read about the challenge that Terry and I are going to attempt. It is what it sounds like: We challenge ourselves to 10 days of real food, nothing processed. Essentially, we can eat vegetables, fruits, meat, pasta, dairy products, even sweets, but none of it can be processed food. You can check out the rules here. Wish us luck!

Speaking of health and nutrition, a lot of people have asked me if Terry and I are changing our diets or exercise routines for the wedding. While we've always aimed to be healthy, we are definitely more conscious of our health as we approach the wedding. We look at it as establishing routines for the rest of our lives, so we have focused on a big push to get and stay healthy. Here are some of the ways we stay healthy:

• exercise between four and six days per week (running, yoga, strength training, hiking, Pilates, or other cardio videos on OnDemand)
• eat small meals throughout the day (I do this more than Terry; I eat 50-300 calories about six times per day) and try to write down what I eat
  
• try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, yogurt, milk, lean meats, and whole grains
• make food from scratch as much as possible (avoid frozen dinners, fast food, etc.)
• eat out only once per week
  
• eat dessert only once per week (this one's tough, and we cheat all the time)

Of course, we can only do our best. When things get busy, we eat out or skip a workout, but we really love the way we feel when we're exercising and eating healthy food. Terry is training for a 200-mile, 12-person relay race (www.ragnarrelay.com), so he runs 4-6 miles every few days, but we'll need a new motivational tool after he's done, and your ideas are welcome! We hope that by mixing up our workouts and continuing to try new recipes, we can stay motivated throughout our married life together. And here's hoping we'll feel healthy and confident on the big day!