Every bride-to-be wants to look and feel her best for her walk down the aisle. To help guide you to success, Bombshell Bride checked in with Elysa Silbersmith Dinzes, Director of Nutrition for health and wellness consultancy Plus One Health Management. A recent bride herself, Dinzes emphasized making your holistic health and wellness a priority. Here is one way to do just that.

Photo: iStock; lisegagne

Make Your Meals Beautiful

Americans tend to go for big portions that are eaten quickly, much of the time while talking on a cell or driving in a car. No wonder the U.S. has the highest rates of obesity. In contrast, many cultures notable for their thinness put an emphasis on presentation and enjoyment, even if some of that food doesn’t look like “diet food,” points out Dinzes. For example, French women are notable for their thinness, despite a diet filled with cheese and baguettes. The so-called French Paradox describes this phenomenon in which that country’s residents eat three times as much fat as Americans, yet are thinner and boast a lower incidence of heart disease. One reason for this lies in the drastically different way the French approach eating and mealtimes: Portions are smaller, presented with more care, and meals are social affairs to be savored and enjoyed.

That lifestyle is important because satiety depends on more than filling your belly with food, a fact you know full well if you’ve ever stood in front of the fridge and dazedly ate, only to feel dissatisfied and hungry five minutes later. Even if you want to be thin, food is not the enemy. Approaching it like it is will only fill you with anxiety and counter the healthy attitude and thin body you’re trying to create. “Mealtimes should be relaxing,” says Dinzes. With the exception of socializing and bonding with others, “you shouldn’t do other things while you eat, you should focus on your food.” And as often as possible that food should be something that tastes good and attracts your senses, she says. And don’t think such dishes can’t be healthy. Imagine the aroma of freshly cut cantaloupe or pineapple, or a freshly simmered vegetable stew: Healthy can—and should—be beautiful and delicious.

Bon appétit.

Thursday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a recall on processed food products containing Salmonella-contaminated hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP). The only known affected HVP was manufactured at the Basics Food Flavor, Inc. plant in Las Vegas.

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HVP is a “flavor enhancing” liquid that is made by boiling soy, corn or wheat in hydrolic acid. This process breaks down the vegetables’ proteins. Used most commonly in soups, sauces, and dressings, some would be surprised to learn that HVP contains glutamic acid – more commonly known as MSG.

The recall affects all foods containing HVP from the Basics Food Flavor, Inc. since September 2009. You can view a list of affected foods at the FDA website.  The investigation into the contaminated foods is still underway, so be sure to check the FDA website often or sign up for their food recall email alerts.

To educate others on recent FDA food recalls, add this widget to your blog or website.

You might also like: 15 Wedding Diet Mistakes Brides Should Avoid

To help you tackle some of the tough situations you may face on your weight-loss journey, Bombshell Bride consulted Felicia Stoler, nutritionist and exercise physiologist and host of TLC’s Honey We’re Killing the Kids.

Wedding Weight-Loss Roadblock: Your family and fiancé are having a hard time with your new eating lifestyle.

The situation: You feel excited about your new wedding dress diet and exercise plan, and theoretically your family does too. But when you want to cut down on the number of times you eat out (something you did together three to five nights a week) so you can cook healthier, your family gets upset and you end up fighting.

Felicia’s Fix: First, let’s start with the facts which are important for your defense. People tend to consume more calories when they are not eating home-cooked meals because you’re not in control of the cooking method and ingredients. You can also save money by dining at home, and in this economy it’s hard for anyone to argue about that! Tell your family and fiancé that you want to learn how to cook (if you don’t already) because it will be good for your future family to develop these habits now. And be sure that when you do take up cooking, don’t complain about doing it or else your fiancé will drag you back out to eat. As someone once said to me, the secret to a good marriage is picking your battles: Food shouldn’t be one of them!

More Wedding Weight-Loss Roadblocks:

Losing Motivation
Emotional Eating
Your Fiancé

Felicia Stoler

Felicia Stoler is host of TLC’s show “Honey We’re Killing the Kids,” a PR Chair and Past President of the New Jersey Dietetic Association, a Vice President of the Greater NY Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine, and a nutrition coordinator for the ING NYC Marathon.

If you’re like most women, you’re thinking about losing weight for your walk down the aisle. In fact, a study published in Appetite last year found that 70 percent of brides-to-be want to lose 20 pounds or more. With a wedding as a catalyst, weight loss may be easier in some ways: Looking great in your wedding dress is a motivator about as powerful as they come. But that motivation may be challenged as you find yourself dealing with wedding planning stress and other tough situations that your changing life may produce. To help you create the best circumstances for your wedding diet, Bombshell Bride asked the advice of Elysa Silbersmith Dinzes, Director of Nutrition for health and wellness consultancy Plus One Health Management, who emphasized that you should think of yourself as a whole person and not just a number on a scale or a wedding dress size. Here are six other tips she gives to help your wedding weight loss journey be as successful and enjoyable as it can be.

Photo: iStock; iofoto

1. Assess Your Change Readiness

The stages of change model has been used to help people tackle a broad range of behaviors in their life, from quitting smoking, to acquiring healthier behaviors to weight loss. It holds that we need to take different types of actions depending on where we are in our change path.

Here are the five stages of change:

• Precontemplation: No intention to change, unaware of the problems.
• Contemplation: Aware of problem, but no commitment to action.
• Peparation: Intending to take action soon.
• Action: Actively modifying behavior and creating circumstances to make change most successful; this stage requires considerable commitment and effort.
• Maintenance: Continue with change; prevent relapse into previous lifestyle habits.

[Also read how visualization exercises can help you lose weight.]

As an example, someone who’s in denial about being overweight (precontemplation) needs to first believe that she is overweight. Someone who’s lost the 30 pounds she needed to lose has arrived at…

We all jumped for joy when underdog Ali Vincent won the season 5 Biggest Loser title.  After being voted off the tv show early in the season, Ali had to earn her way back into the finales without the personal motivation of trainers Jillian Michaels or Bob Harper.  Discipline and determination proved to be inside of Ali all along as she continued her weight loss journey at home in Arizona while other contestants had a strong support network at the Biggest Loser Ranch.  When Ali returned to the show for the final weigh-in, her 112 pound weight loss beat out those who had trainers by their side every step of the way. She Earned – with a capital E – the title of Biggest Loser.
[Read about  Ali Vincent's "aha" Moment]

Season 5 Biggest Loser Ali Vincent

Now, a year and a half later, Ali has maintained her weight loss – even while traveling for inspirational appearances across the country and a hectic book touring schedule. I asked Ali how she maintains her healthy diet and if she has any advice for Bombshell Brides who are just as busy as her. Here are Ali’s favorite ways to stick to her diet plan.

“If you can’t taste it, don’t waste it.”
Ali says that extra calories in meals aren’t worth it to her if she can’t taste the flavors. If she builds a beautiful salad full of avocados, fresh peppers and lots of colorful vegetables, she won’t throw in a handful of cheese.  The cheese is extra calories that she wouldn’t taste because of there many wonderful flavors in the salad already. “If I’m going to have cheese, I’m going to have a cheesy quesadilla” laughs Ali.

“Childproof your life.”
Temptations of calorie filled treats are everywhere you turn. If you know you can’t leave a particular restaurant without having their infamous dessert, only go there on special occasions. If you have a hard time keeping your hands off the potato chips you bought for your fiance, don’t bring them into the house. “I know there will be times when I’m tired and won’t want to eat right”, says Ali. “So I try to take away as many of the temptations from my life as I can.”

Ali also warns not to completely live void of your favorite foods. “I don’t wish a life of wanting for myself.” So what does she do? She eats her favorite not-so-healthy foods in moderation with a promise to workout just a little bit extra on those days.  Now that’s wedding diet advice we can stick to.

Photo: Designer Whey Protein