Yep, that's me

For anyone who has known me over the past few years, I'm not shy about the fact that I've lost quite a bit of weight.  But when I was asked to do a commercial about it - well, that brought up a whole host of different issues.
According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 3 of the WORLD'S population is overweight, 1 in 10 is obese. Food has become our drug of choice, it's the way we celebrate, the way we mourn, the way we deal with boredom, the way we tend to deal with all of life's ups and downs.  The health implications of being overweight are well documented.  Again, according to the WHO,

Being overweight or obese can have a serious impact on health. Carrying extra fat leads to serious health consequences such as cardiovascular disease (mainly heart disease and stroke), type 2 diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritis, and some cancers (endometrial, breast and colon). These conditions cause premature death and substantial disability.

I finally reached a point where I wanted to make a change - I wanted to be in control of my life. Buddhism has helped me control my mind,  my doctors helped me control my food intake. The two have gone hand in hand .
But, back to the commercial.  As a journalist, as a News Director,  going on air to endorse ANYTHING is a no-no.  On the other hand, losing weight has made such a huge difference in my life - not to mention, it has added years to my life.  I have always paid for all of my services at Alaska Premier Health. It wasn't until after I keep the weight off that I was approached about doing a commercial.  I shared some of my concerns with my health care providers and made it clear that if anything news-worthy  happened at the clinic - they would receive no special treatment from my news staff. Oh, and I wasn't going to "read" someone else's script - it needed to be my words, my voice, my experience
The commercial started airing this week and it's already made a difference.  The money the clinic wanted to pay me for my time - I donated that to a monk at Sera Je in India who needed an operation but couldn't afford it.
Will some in the journalistic community think what I did is wrong?  Probably.  But in this case, being "wrong" is OK with me.