Superfood Hot Chocolate and My Pre-Wedding Self-Care Routine

March 18, 2018

My Superfood Hot Chocolate is creamy, decadent, and filling, with some health-promoting supplements so you can feel your best. My pre-wedding self-care routine wouldn’t be complete without it!

As a newlywed, I’m excited to share some special moments from our engagement, wedding, and honeymoon over the next few weeks! Today I’m sharing how I stayed sane before our wedding. Keep reading to learn more about my pre-wedding self-care routine (that’s continuing post-wedding!), and grab the recipe for my Superfood Hot Chocolate.

This post is sponsored by Vital Proteins. Thank you for supporting the brands that make the Chelsey Amer Nutrition blog possible!

I don’t know if there’s a more blissful, yet equally stressful, time in your life as the few weeks leading up to getting married. Throw entrepreneurship on top of that, with your first live TV segment, and let me tell you, thank goodness for some tried and true self-care tactics I’ve learned over the years.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am by NO means the queen of zen.

I like to think I thrive on being busy — running from seeing clients to work-work to dress fittings while staying active on social media — but honeymooning in Hawaii and tuning everything except my new hubby out definitely proved me wrong.

Our health isn’t just about healthy eating and exercise. It’s about finding that sweet spot where you can live your life and feel great too. We (try) to balance work and life, and the same should go for YOU and everything (and everyone) else in life.

It’s not selfish to partake in self-care practices, it’s essential for our health!

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In fact, studies show that excess stress can increase your risk of chronic diseases. If you’re a bride, or have been a bride before, you know planning a wedding is uber stressful! So there’s no better time to make sure you take care of yourself (because no one wants to be a sick bride!), than in the weeks and months leading up to your big day!

Luckily, I had a few self-care tricks up my sleeve to make sure I stayed sane the weeks leading up to our wedding, and I hope they help you too, whether you have a wedding coming up soon or not!

Here are my go-to self-care tricks:

1. Take Time For You

Whether it was sipping my superfood hot chocolate (recipe below) or lounging and watching trashy TV (The Bachelor, anyone?), plan the time to do something that completely removes you from the craziness of wedding planning. Trust me, it helps you keep a realistic perspective (you’re marrying your person and your wedding is just 1 day!) and helps you stay sane.

Then, the week of our wedding, I kicked my self-indulgence up a notch and scheduled a massage I received as a gift, read a trashy novel while I got my bridal mani/pedi, and hit the snooze button a few more times.

Please do not skimp on sleep! It may seem like you have a million and one things to do (and you probably do), but sleep is so important to make sure you can fully be present for every detail leading up to your big day.

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**2. Recognize When You Need to Slow Down (Physically and Mentally)**

As much as I love my dance cardio classes, intense cardio can actually cause MORE stress for your body. About a month before our wedding, I felt so overwhelmed. I tried my best to keep it together, but work was busy, a quote of mine went viral in the media (pizza for breakfast, anyone?), and my mom (our wedding planner) got the flu.

I was about to lose it and realized that I needed slooowwww down. So I swapped out some of my cardio classes for yoga to change things up and it felt so good! I took mostly flexibility classes, so it was nice to do some active stretching and still feel super zen… even if it only lasted for the hour of class!

When I caught my mind racing with my mile-long to-do list, I took a deep breath and tried to focus on the present. It wasn’t always easy, and sometimes felt like a waste of time (especially in child’s pose), but I felt better when I took the classes than when I didn’t.

I also made lists on lists on lists to slow down mentally. Getting things out on paper makes the gazillion things you have to do a lot more manageable. Plus, I don’t know about other brides out there, but before our wedding I was so emotional! Jotting down a few notes about how I was feeling or just sitting on our couch in complete silence for 2 minutes, was essential “me” time that was SO important before we became a “we.”

3. Enjoy Your Favorite Foods

Chocolate is one of my all-time favorite foods… so why would I give it up right before the big day? As you probably know, I did NOT go on a wedding diet (ohhh no no no!), but I did focus on eating nourishing foods so I felt my best and had sufficient energy to get through long days.

One of my favorite after-lunch or dinner treats was my superfood hot chocolate. It is SO easy to make and always made me feel my best!

Here are some superstar ingredients I used in this Superfood Hot Chocolate:

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Obviously, this girl (moi!) needed her chocolate fix! And what better way to get it than with cocoa powder that is full of antioxidants! Antioxidants actually help fight free radicals and inflammation in your body, which is awesome for your pre-wedding glow!

Ashwagandha

Adaptogens are definitely having a moment in the health and wellness space, so I did some of my own digging to see which would best combat stress. Meet ashwagandha!

Ashwagandha is an herb used in Ayurvedic Medicine that has clinically been proved to reduce your physiological stress response (we’re talking about lowering cortisol – your stress hormone). Although most of the studies were done with small sample sizes, I felt there were enough smaller studies to prove that it was worth a shot.

Vital Proteins Marine Collagen

As a lifelong nail biter, I committed to having great nails as a bride-to-be! Although I don’t believe in wedding diets, I felt strongly about finding a beauty regimen that worked for me… and that started from the inside out!

Whenever I consistently consume collagen, my nails are stronger and my hair grows like a weed. Collagen is a protein that supports our skin, bones, tendons, and joints. As we get older and endure stress and/or illness, collagen production slows. Hellooo wrinkles! Since this was a particularly stressful time in my life, I wanted to make sure I was consuming sufficient protein. Enter Vital Proteins Marine Collagen!

I’m not a fan of most protein powders because they taste chalky, contain additives, and other junk that upsets my stomach. I love Vital Proteins because it’s a simple form of protein in my diet that’s tasteless. The protein balances out the sugar and chocolate in my superfood hot cocoa, which means I have less of a blood sugar spike. Plus, it easily dissolves in hot liquids, so I just float along in my chocolate wonderland!

Whether it’s all of these added superstars in my hot cocoa, or just the act of slowing down and drinking a warm bevvie itself, doing something almost daily that brought me pure joy was definitely a part of my pre-wedding self-care routine!

Let’s make my Superfood Hot Chocolate…