A Purified Lifestyle by Amanda Nicole Smith

Hello Beautiful People,

I am beyond excited you are here! 🙂 My goal is to inspire anyone and everyone to live their version of a purified lifestyle.


Purified Lifestyle

Purified: adjective
-Without any extraneous matter and unnecessary elements.
Lifestyle: noun
– The habits, attitudes, tastes, etc. , that constitute the mode of living of an individual or group.

Who Am I?

I am peaceful, I am intense, I am quiet, I am loud, I am light, I am darkness, I am strong, I am flexible, I am positive, I am negative, I am nothing and yet I am everything.

I am a lover, a learner, a teacher, a sharer, and a creator.

I love spending quality time with my daughter Adrianna and husband Dominick. (My love language is quality time.) I also love acrobatic dancing, cooking, reading, astrology, stretching, organizing, planning, building websites, technology, being in nature, playing the cello, hiking, listening to soulful music, wrestling, water-skiing, snow-boarding, running fast, sewing, gardening and 1 million other things, those are the first that come to mind.

Amanda and Dominick

On the farm in Maryland


What Do I Do?

  • I create and recreate recipes that are vegan and raw vegan. I also take the photos and do all the web work.
  • I created and manage The Flexibility Challenge Community, where I share my flexible strength routines.
  • I also created and manage Purified Lifestyle, a soulful online journal, where I share the tools that helped me purify my lifestyle.

Past Work

The Flexibility Challenge | Feet To Head | Before and After


My Lifestyle

Check Out My Top 10 Immune Boosting Habits

I went from being sick to healthy by concentrating on my food and fitness routine.

I also concentrated on my thoughts and feelings, and practiced being more mindful and present in my everyday life.

It’s not about what I gave up eating, it’s about what I added to my diet to replace what no longer served me.

I eat about 80% raw, fermented, or dehydrated fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, spices and herbs.

fruits and veggies for the week

I always try to consume as many spices and herbs as possible.

I drink about 1 gallon of water per day to keep hydrated. I also like drinking herbal infusions, teas, and fermented sodas.

I am not a strict vegan, raw vegan, vegetarian, paleo dieter, or any other name you can think of. I take principles from a wide array of eating habits and created my very own unique way of eating that ebbs and flows through time. I believe everyone needs their own unique diet.

I will eat meat that was raised by a caring, respectful family and I will pay them more because to me meat is for special occasions only, but that’s just me.

I don’t eat cheese or any other dairy because I don’t need it, I can live without. I prefer cooking with coconut milk, it just tastes better to me.

I don’t like butter, never have, coconut oil is my cooking oil of choice.

I will not eat processed foods like white bread, table salt, refined sugar or any other food that has been chemically or genetically altered.

I don’t eat out at restaurants very often, unless it is known for “pure” food, Thankfully more and more restaurants are popping up all over.

I focus on adding a variety of high quality foods to my routine like spirulina, hemp seed,  blue-green algae, many different spices, herbs, barks, berries, roots, grasses, you name it I probably use it.

I don’t count calories, check my weight, count points, or anything that doesn’t flow with the natural rhythm of life.

If I start to get a stuffy nose, I know I ate too much sugar or bread and need to eat more alkalizing foods like citrus fruits, dark leafy greens, algae, seaweed, etc.

I do not use beauty products that have chemicals.

I learned my balance by stripping away everything and slowly adding in treats like real baked cookies, occasional meat and eggs, or other cooked grains. I can feel how slow these foods are to digest in my systems and the last thing I need to do is slow down.

I use essential oils and healthy moisturizers like pure shea butter, coconut oil, and olive oil on a daily basis for hair conditioner, face wash, body wash, suntan lotion and so on.

I am always going for walks and hikes and getting a workout using nature; trees, vines, rocks, or anything else that looks fun. This way working out stays fun and exciting.

amanda nicole smith tree pole


A Brief History

I was sick all the time from stomach, sinus, and respiratory problems, I had every symptom, but no doctor to put a name to them. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I wanted to find my ideal lifestyle where I could eliminate the suffering multiple times a year. Enough was enough!

At the time I was also beginning a serious love for pole dancing and performing. However I knew my athleticism was decreasing from an unbalanced food and fitness routine. My body wasn’t repairing properly and I started to have aches and pains that would not go away on top of all my other problems.

My main goal was to be healthy and balanced for the first time in my life, for the rest of my life.

I tried being vegetarian, I tried being vegan but I still had problems. I really thought I was eating healthy, I was buying fruits, vegetables, fake “chicken” nuggets, fake cream “cheese”, and organic snacks. I thought to myself, what gives? Turns out that stuff isn’t so healthy after all.

AND THEN…..March 31st 2011, I watched Food Matters and I instantly changed my lifestyle without a second thought. I’ll admit I was a bit rash in my immediate response but my emotions were at an all time high and I was left with hundreds of questions. Later on I had to figure out my stance, my truth to the matter. 

Raw vegan food to the rescue!

After watching that movie, along with several other resources, I decided to try a strict organic raw vegan diet with my then boyfriend Dominick. We would not eat anything that was cooked above 115 degrees. This limited us to only eating fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, etc. That meant no more fake chicken nuggets, and no more fake cheese.

Coming from junk food and classic american meals, there was no way we could live with just eating plain fruits and vegetables; so I started to look up recipes that somewhat replicated our favorite meals.

I invested in a blender, dehydrator, and food processor; all of which were $40 or less each. I found a few good raw vegan websites with some pretty good recipes, and I also found a lot of inspiring people to keep me motivated.

The way in which raw foods were prepared intrigued and baffled me at the same time. It was a challenge to understand what every ingredient meant to the recipe. I quickly fell in love with experimenting in the kitchen, but it got pretty expensive buying all my produce from whole foods. That is when I discovered the farmers market, where I could get my favorite produce, spices, and herbs in bulk for way cheaper.

I started making more and more recipes, tweaking them here and there with many failures and successes.

After about 3 weeks of this new lifestyle, I felt better than I ever had before; despite the major detox I was going through. I knew I needed to share my experiences, to inspire anyone willing to be inspired to eat a few raw vegan meals a week.

Finally I found the my path and it feels good!

Much Love,

Amanda xoxo

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    Comments 1

    1. Love your journey and recipes…heading on a similar journey, at 64!! Had done this when I was 41…never felt better…going here again for good!

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