Want to Eat Healthier? Start Here.

Ever wanted to do a body cleanse but not sure where to start? Well, you’re in the right place. Four years ago I became health food conscious. By that I mean aware of what processed foods, gluten, dairy, and preservatives are and how they affect the body. It wasn’t until 2 years ago that I have altered my diet to be completely free of gluten, dairy, and harmful preservatives. After only three months I felt a huge change in my body between mental clarity, no stomach pains, and less body aches. Let’s talk specifically about those first three months.

Where to start? I started with simple, whole foods. Anything that was not processed and still in its natural form. This means meat, veggies, fruits, eggs, nuts, and seeds.   Along with this I still choose to eat rice, corn products (some people have a corn intolerance), quinoa, and gluten-free oats. These staple foods helped me to begin to heal my gut from all the chemically processed foods I had consumed years prior.

What did I avoid? Everything else. Yes I mean it, in order to truly cleanse my body I cut out grains, dairy, peanut butter and processed foods. I now replace sugar with coconut sugar, flour with almond and coconut flour, peanut butter with almond and sun butter and dairy with almond and flax milk. There are so many positive, healthy alternatives! These are just the ones I personally use, there is a large variety of choices at any health food store.

 

Not that bad, right? The second part of this lifestyle choice is food prep. I personally feel that cooking and baking are therapeutic and I enjoy it! Worried about time constraints? There is an easy solution. Before shopping, preplan your meals so it is clear what your weekly food menu will be. Then choose a free day when you have a 2-3 hour time block to prep your food. This will allow you to have maximum time efficiency because you are well organized. It’s up to you how much food you choose to prep, I did three to four days out (I now cook daily or every other day).

 

The beauty of all your effort and preparation is once you experience how great your body can feel, you’ll wonder how you ever did it differently before. Our bodies are not meant to break down the preservatives, chemicals, sugars, and additives they place into most processed foods. When you eliminate these substances from entering your body, pay close attention to what your body is telling you. Did that pain in your stomach go away? Did your headaches decrease? Has that dull achy feeling in your body ceased? You’ll be amazed at how treating your body right allows it to function the way it was designed to, and how liberating it can be!

What Does Empower, Balance, Refine mean?

Hello my name is Samantha Weinand and I am passionate about empowering others on their life journey. Empower, Balance, Refine really holds a lot of value within the name for how I wish to impact people.

Empower: It is so important in life to feel empowered and confident. I believe that the first place this starts is within yourself! Individually we have to be ready to take the first initial step. I remember five years ago where I started out within my own health journey, and how many people have positively influenced me along the way. Without these key people I cannot say I would have been quite as motivated or held accountable to learn as much as I have. I feel the most in-tune with my body that I ever have in my lifetime. Feeling empowered to take control of your health, eating habits, exercise, sleep, etc. is essential to empowering yourself to gain the knowledge, tools, and consistency to make important healthy lifestyle choices.



Balance: Once we individually find the right tools, foods, and overall health regimen for ourselves it is important to have an action plan to stay focused. Keep in mind what may work for me might be slightly different than what works for you. For example I have found that I have a gluten and diary intolerance. Talk about a difficult fact to accept, but as I eliminated these foods from my diet I felt the best I have ever felt and I haven’t turned back since. Although it can be easy in life to get off track with a healthy lifestyle due to the pressure of a fast paced society and instant gratification, there are tools that can help. Great things often do take time. In order not to get discouraged, I keep a planner for my week to week activities and daily or weekly goals. This helps to keep myself accountable with maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle.


Refine: This is just as important as the first two steps. In life we are constantly growing, learning, and changing. As this happens it is important that we take what we have already learned and implemented in the past and tweak it with the new information going into the future. Refining certain food intake, types of exercise, adding in other holistic tools like essential oils and such are helpful as one dives deeper into their health journey. Don’t forget it is always important to assess how far you have come and to plan for where you would like to be in the future!

This three step continuous life journey has held tremendous value in my life as I continue to work on my personal health goals and I hope you find value in it too.