Viewers who only know Michelle Stafford from her roles as Phyllis or Nina on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS or GENERAL HOSPITAL would be surprised to learn that the beautiful actress has battled her weight in the past. She admitted to Soaps In Depth, “I’ve been as much as 190 pounds and as low as 100 pounds.” Those are her extreme weights. “In the past, I was addicted to sugar. After eating nothing but cookies and coffee all day, I would go for a run of two miles and then refrain from eating anything else for the rest of the day. I’d go to brunches and stuff my handbag with sweets before leaving the restaurant.
In addition to this, she was no stranger to fad diets, trying out a variety of different kinds of fast fixes during the course of her life. “I tried everything from the ice cream diet to the starch-blocker diet and Dexatrim,” acknowledged Stafford. Oh, honey, you don’t want to know what it is that I’ve been up to, do you?
When Stafford’s sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in Stage 3 in 2013, her life underwent a complete transformation. “She’s absolutely cancer-free now,” the actress reports, “but when I found out, I investigated it and learned that sugar and all these other horrible things is simply murdering your body.” It has nothing to do with the number of calories. How many people have tried going on diets but have not been able to lose even a single friggin pound? And you’re going to die of starvation? It’s all about making different choices with the food.”
Not only has Stafford adopted more nutritious eating practices, but she has also applied this philosophy to other facets of her life, going so far as to establish a beauty firm called Skin Nation, through which she sells natural and unprocessed cosmetics and personal care items. “And forget about being tiny,” she says again. “Just forget about it.” “It’s all about getting in shape and staying healthy!”