Wellness coach and Signal Mountain resident Wendy Glass is starting two new five-week sessions of the Restart program, which educates participants on how to make their bodies feel better by feeding them "real" food.
A morning class will be held Thursdays at 10 a.m. beginning Sept. 28 and an evening class will be held Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. starting Oct. 3. Both classes will be held at Bachman Community Center, where Glass has taught five sessions of the class since January.
"They'll learn more about their relationship with food," she said of participants in the five-week program, which includes a three-week detox in which people eliminate from their diets all processed foods and sugar, replacing them with more nutritious whole foods. "It will help them to learn more about their bodies, and may help them to feel better than they've felt in a long time."
Preparing participants for the detox is the focus of the first week, followed by a week each of learning about the digestion process, the effects of sugar on the body and the truth about fats. During the final week, students celebrate their success and learn how to continue their progress.
"It helps you learn the science behind what's really going on in your body," said Glass, explaining that during class, she goes into detail about the digestive process, including how it starts in the brain, what happens to food once it's swallowed, and why rest is important for proper digestion.
Glass said she also goes over "hidden" names for sugar and other ingredients that participants may not want in their bodies.
Participants receive a composition book during the first class to use as a journal, recording what they eat, their mood and how they're sleeping. By the second week, Glass said people typically report starting to feel better and wanting to continue to see further results.
"They start to connect the dots and see how what they're eating affects their body over time," said Glass.
To teach the class, Glass completed a 10-month certification to become a nutritional therapy practitioner through the Nutritional Therapy Association.
"I wanted to teach Restart because people need this information in a supportive format," she said. "They can feel what their bodies are supposed to feel like without processed foods and they feel empowered after learning the information and seeing how much willpower they had throughout the five weeks."
At the beginning of the program, participants take a quiz to determine their toxicity levels by answering questions involving their health, including topics such as digestion, hormones and sleep. They take the quiz again at the program's conclusion, and Glass said most see their toxicity levels drop.
"I love to see peoples 'aha' moments and to see their toxicity numbers plummet by week five," she said.
Through the program, Glass said participants often experience weight loss, increased energy, more restful sleep and boosted immunity. Other changes people may see include improved mental clarity, decreased anxiety and a reduction in premenstrual syndrome and menopause symptoms, she said.
The cost of the five-week class is $199 per person, or half-price for students who have already been through the program and just can't get enough.
"All participants just want to keep going; they don't want the class to end," said Glass.
Bachman is at 2815 Anderson Pike and can be reached at 886-4842. For more information, visit Glass' website at paleostasis.com.