Elizabeth Finch
Arkansas is home. You meet people, and immediately, you feel “at home” when you around them.
Elizabeth Finch is one of those people. In the world of social media, you can talk to people daily, without actually speaking. From messaging, texting, commenting, and emailing each other back and forth, Elizabeth and I have communicated in some fashion almost daily for a couple of years.
We finally got the chance to meet in person and sat down together for a long conversation. My goodness, she is as beautiful inside as she is radiant outside.
Finch is a certified health coach at Elizabeth Finch Wellness. I don’t know of a more perfect person for this role. Her ingredients consist of beauty, warmth, encouragement, and a deep caring for those around her.
“I believe that living a life of wellness should make you feel good in your body, in your mind, and your soul,” says Elizabeth.
Elizabeth raised near Benton and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a marketing major. She planned to have a career in pharmaceutical sales.
As the story goes, this beautiful lady met a very handsome Brandon Finch during their college years at Fayetteville. Brandon spent his childhood on a family farm near Jonesboro, and he pursued a major in agriculture finance and management.
The couple married in 2003 and lived in Jonesboro for ten years. Brandon put his education and skills to work on the family farm, while Elizabeth worked as a marketing manager for a local radio station.
After their two daughters were born, Elizabeth would go exercise while Brandon would watch their two little girls. “I would stay later than I anticipated,” she says.
Elizabeth would stay after the classes to talk to the other women and share tips that she found helped her. Elizabeth would come home and tell Brandon about her conversations and why it was away longer that she planned.
It was Brandon who encouraged Elizabeth that she could turn the tips into a possible career.
Elizabeth enrolled in a health coach training program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in 2011. After finishing the training in 2012, she knew it was time for her to simplify and focus on nourishing her complete self.
A health coach is a supportive mentor who helps clients feel their best through food and lifestyle changes and personalized one-on-one encouragement.
While nutritionists provide advice on matters relating to food and its impacts on health, a health coach takes a more holistic approach. They focus on exercise, nutrition and spirituality.
The couple moved to Little Rock in 2013 when Brandon left the farm to pursue consulting and other areas of the agriculture industry. Elizabeth focused on raising the girls and doing some health consulting.
In 2018, Elizabeth became a certified yoga instructor. Yoga has become extremely popular as a way of promoting physical and mental well-being. Studies have suggested possible benefits of yoga for several aspects of wellness, including stress management, emotional health, promoting healthy eating, sleep, and balance.
Elizabeth has a passion for helping inspire women to live a life with more balance, mindfulness, and be more conscious about nourishing their bodies by using yoga techniques and encouraging lifestyle changes with nutrition.
She launched ElizabethFinchWellness.com,where she shares simple, healthy recipes and for the whole family to enjoy. Elizabeth also shares a variety of holistic wellness tips for women, including tips on relieving stress. “I follow a plant style diet.” Says she says..
Although she will have a nice steak with friends on occasion, Elizabeth focuses on a “Mediterranean” style diet as part of her daily lifestyle.
The Mediterranean diet’s foundation is vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, beans and whole grains. Moderate amounts of dairy, poultry, and eggs are also central to the Mediterranean diet, as is seafood. In contrast, some choose to eat red meat occasionally.
After meeting this beautiful lady in person, I am ready to jump on the bandwagon. Elizabeth has a calming personality. Not only is she gorgeous, but she also takes the time to listen and get to you know on a personal level.
We laughed as she said that her husband Brandon was more of an extravert like me. She said he could walk into a room and have a conversation with the entire room and come out knowing about their whole life.
Elizabeth’s advice is to focus on eating lots of vegetables. Vegetables include in any all vegetables, and none are left out on the Mediterranean diet, making veggies the focus on lunch and dinner. “You can hide a lot of vegetables in the soup.” she says.
Elizabeth is a big fan of incorporating soups into your weekly menu. Soups are quick and easy to make ahead. They are also an excellent way to load up a variety of veggies.
“I like weeknight meals that are no more than 6-8 ingredients and take me less than 25 minutes to throw together. Bonus points if some of the ingredients are pre-prepped for me,” she says.
Elizabeth is a firm believer in meal prepping. By prepping meals ahead of time, you can help reduce the stress of daily meal planning.
A vegetarian diet doesn’t mean vegan. Elizabeth often adds eggs to her veggies, along with high-quality cheese and fruits. Elizabeth makes fresh fruits in her daily dessert. She also loves high quality 70 percent dark chocolate, or a homemade, naturally sweetened treat.
When she isn’t coaching, Elizabeth enjoys spending time with Brandon and their two beautiful daughters, ages 13 and 11. The family enjoys lake life and their pup, Scout.
You can contact Elizabeth via her website ElizabethFinchWellness.com. She can meet virtually via Zoom for consultations. Be sure and check out her beautiful Instagram Feed: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethfinchwellness/
For our Sunday Supper Sit Down meal, Elizabeth is sharing with us a delicious skillet meal.
Chicken Sausage and Veggie Skillet
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 large red bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 12 oz package chicken sausage, chopped into bite-sized chunks (I used Whole Foods Market organic spicy Italian chicken sausage)
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Ground pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup green onions, ends removed and sliced
- Goat cheese, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Prep the sweet potatoes first: preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the sweet potato cubes on a large baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Roast the sweet potatoes for about 35 minutes, or until fork tender. Remove from the oven. (This step can be done a day or two ahead of time. Store roasted sweet potatoes in a container with lid in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use them.)
- Add the olive oil to a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the red pepper and the sausage and sauté́ for about 10 minutes or until the sausage is heated through.
- Add the roasted sweet potato cubes to the skillet, along with the spinach, sea salt and black pepper to taste. Stir everything well and allow the spinach to begin to wilt, which should only take about 3 or 4 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat. Sprinkle the onions around the top of the dish. Adjust sea salt and pepper if needed.
- Top with goat cheese before serving, if desired.
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