I’m excited to announce my partnership with Sparkman Nutrition. I will be facilitating six-week sessions on Overcoming Mind Hunger beginning on October 2, 2023. There will be two classes offered. The first is on Monday nights from 6-7pm and the second on Wednesdays from 12-1pm. I am looking forward to helping individuals understand how food affects mood.
It has been invaluable information in my health and wellness journey. In 2013, I came to Alexa Sparkman’s Mind Hunger sessions for the first time. I was not in the best head space at the time. I had recently had a lap band and I was only able to eat soft foods. I was very sick at times and I really hated food and what it had done to my body.
I desperately needed to change my relationship with food. The Overcoming Mind Hunger classes, which I wasn’t sure I’d continue to go to, were instrumental in getting me to see food in a different way. As a youngster, I took ballet and grew up in a family where appearance was everything. The fact that I was fat did not sit well with my ballet instructors, peers, or family members. I felt attacked from every angle.
I used food for comfort but hated that the price of that comfort was weight gain. I found that sugar and carbohydrates soothed me for a bit. After a while, I’d need more to comfort me, and I just couldn’t regulate my emotions. I didn’t know how. As an adult, I allowed this pattern to get me up to 444 lbs. I was devastated.
All of the anger and frustration I felt were brought to the Overcoming Mind Hunger sessions. Over the course of the program, I began to learn about concepts such as the food-mood connection and intuitive eating. I learned that I was not a slave to my cravings and that I could do something about them.
It was revolutionary material – at least to me. I feel that this information should be shared with everyone who has a dysfunctional relationship with food. For example, did you know that there are no good or bad foods? No, when we ascribe value to foods (or devalue some), we create a system where cravings run rampant, and we want the foods that are least beneficial for our health. The deprivation cycle leads to binge eating and is counterintuitive to weight management.
It’s also counterintuitive to the way our bodies work. As Alexa Sparkman of Sparkman Nutrition often says, “Your body knows how to do this.” This being – regulate your weight and get you to your natural set point. If you eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full, you will get to a balanced weight and relationship with food.
Does it happen overnight? No. Overcoming Mind Hunger is not a quick-fix solution. For those who are looking for fad diets, this is not the program for you. If you want a magic bullet, there is none. Weight management doesn’t have to be a negative experience, but it is a process, an ongoing process that lasts for a lifetime.
Habit change and behavior modification take time. However, research shows that this approach is more effective over time. By changing habits and working on correcting or changing behaviors, we can overcome mind hunger and get back in balance. Join me – won’t you? I invite you to sign up for the Overcoming Mind Hunger series beginning in October. If you can’t make this session, we will be offering more in 2024. For more information, please visit https://sparkmannutrition.com/overcoming-mind-hunger/
Deanna Goodson 