GH Hospital Maurice Benard, Jeff Timmons Talk Life-Changing Diet
Maurice Benard is well known to daytime drama fans as he’s been acting the role of Sonny Corinthos for decades on General Hospital (GH).
This week on his State of Mindpodcast he hosted Jeff Timmons from the 98 Degrees band. They talked about how a diet was a life-changer for the musician.
Dark Times & A Diet
ABC fans know that Maurice struggles with depression, bipolar, and anxiety. He likes to host interesting co-stars or other celebrities willing to talk about their own mental health. Not everyone will do that, so the podcast is popular. Others take comfort knowing they are not alone.
Sometimes, mental health takes people so far into the darkness that they consider taking their own lives. And, that happened to Jeff Timmons. He originally studied psychology, but later he and his friends formed the band and they got a recording contract from Motown. Despite understanding some psychology, he struggled a lot. A dark time came for him, but changing his diet helped.
The Change Of Diet
During his chat with Maurice Benard on YouTube this Sunday, the band founder explained that the stress of fulfilling the demands of the music contract became deeply difficult. He added, “I just didn’t feel well, and I really got to a point where it became very scary, that I thought maybe I might take my own life.”
Ironically, they’d just made the big time, but it seemed too difficult. So, Jeff talked about how he thought of just jumping in front of “a cab.” Desperate, he phoned home and told his mom he wasn’t coping. In the meantime, a manager sent him to see a psychologist.
Asked about his diet, he told the medical professional, “Well I just drink beer all the time and I go eat spaghetti by the pound with nothing on it and I go to the corner store and I eat these pastries.”
Given the unhealthy diet, he was sent for tests, and one of them was a “glucose tolerance test,” which caused a reaction. So, he was diagnosed with “hypoglycemia.”
A Low-Carb Meal Plan
His doctor told him after medication to change to “a low-carb ketogenic type diet.” He told Maurice Benard, “It changed my whole life.” It worked well for him, so he stuck with the keto diet and also started doing a lot of exercise. “I work out all the time…for mental health, physical health, spiritual health.”
GH fans loved hearing about how a change of diet helped Jeff Timmons from 98 Degrees. One of them who could relate to that wrote, “The healthier you eat the better your body signals your brain chemistry…Keeping a balanced diet, excercise (sic), spiritual life is the best way to help chronic and mental health conditions.”
Another one commented, “This was great. And great to see Jeff. He’s a very good speaker. As a fan of the boyband era, it was nice to see him speak of his mental health and struggles. I’m glad he also found the tools to get through those difficult times.”
Have your say about depression, diet, and fitness in the comments below, and come back here often for all your General Hospital cast news and updates.
