South Hills Author to Hold Event at Sugar Café in Dormont

Lindsey Smith, who got her start in Peters Township as a member of the Women's Business Network, was at the airport a few years ago when she saw someone binge eating all the wrong things.

At first, she said, she was judgmental. But then she remembered that not long before, she’d been loyal to the same bad habits.

“At that moment I realized that food was much more than what we put in our bodies,” Smith said. “It’s our careers, religion, self esteem, self love. All those things feed us in different ways.”

The airport incident was one of the events that inspired the Brookline health coach to write her first book, “Junk Foods and Junk Moods: Stop Craving and Start Living.” This Thursday, Smith will hold a book release party at Sugar Café in Dormont.

Smith currently is a keynote speaker and one-on-one health coach for "The Real You," an organization she founded. Her book is an interactive guide to identifying solutions for problems areas in a less-than-healthy diet that can lead to less-than-healthy moods.

Smith said her personal struggle with food addiction began when she was a child. By age 12, her poor eating habits and severe anxiety had escalated to the point that she needed to be hospitalized.

“Looking back, everything made me anxious,” she said. “Walking into a crowded room, my body image, what I was wearing, a test, what my parents thought of me, how well or how not well I was doing at school. Everything seemed like a traumatic experience.”

Although food had been part of the problem, she said it also was the thing that helped her heal. After six months of working with a wellness coach in a mind-body-spirit health program, she felt like a totally different person. Her new diet has been a continuing part of that change, she said.

“I looked at that woman in the airport who was twice my age and thought ‘That’s what I could have been if I didn’t get this help,’” Smith said. “It’s easy to forget, 12 years later, that you dealt with it and overcame it. I became more empathetic and realized that food is much more emotional than we think it is.”

Smith said she also is co-authoring a book that will be released in April, and she has plans for a “snack time” version of “Junk Foods and Junk Moods.” She said she also wants to focus more on the relationship between anxiety and food, and helping people overcome problems with both.

And why would a nutrition specialist want to hold a health event anywhere near a bakery?

“I chose Sugar because I truly believe you can have your cake and eat it to,” Smith said. “It’s okay to have a piece of cake or a cupcake. It’s not that you should look at these things because you need a comfort. It’s about enjoying it once in awhile because you enjoy it.”

If you’re going:

• What: “Junk Foods and Junk Moods” book release and signing.
• Where: Sugar Café, Dormont.
• When: Thursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.
• Cost: $25 admission includes food, signed copy of book, lecture and Q&A session.

Books are now available for presale on Smith’s website.

This story was first posted on Dormont-Brookline Patch.