As many of you know, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is very important to me. But that doesn’t mean it comes easy. Lately, I’ve been stressed out, busy and not paying enough attention to my health. I started to gain the weight back, and as a result, have been extremely depressed, causing me to lose motivation to work out entirely. In my last blog post, I mentioned my recent appearance on Oprah, which was a big wake up call for me. Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes while competing on The Biggest Loser a few years back has solidified the need to maintain a healthy attitude and lifestyle. That’s why I’m excited to announce that I am the national spokesperson for Health Across America: Pharmacists Partnering in Diabetes Care.

Health Across America Tour

Health Across America is a tour bus that will stop in nearly 60 communities across the U.S. raising awareness about diabetes, providing advice on staying healthy and offering free screenings, including cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose and Hemoglobin A1c tests. The campaign is supported by more than 2,000 Health Mart community pharmacies across the country, and it is co-sponsored two leading companies in diabetes care, Bayer Diabetes Care and Novo Nordisk.

Last Saturday we launched the campaign in San Diego. It was an amazing event. Lisa Gordon, protocol director of the San Diego Mayor’s office was there, along with David Sedrak, Health Mart pharmacist and Tim Canning, president of Health Mart. You can check out some of the photos from the event on the Health Across America Facebook Fan page. At the event, I spoke about the importance of working with your community pharmacists to help manage diabetes. Locally-owned community pharmacists are trusted, affordable and accessible resources and are committed to supporting their community’s health..

I’m heading to the Los Angeles area next - check out the details on tour stops and find out when the tour bus will be in your community. Come by, say hi and get tested. Take it from me, it’s better to face your health apprehensions today so you can live healthy and happy for the rest of your life.

I’ll keep you posted on this very important tour and the great things that will come from Health Across America. Be in touch soon!

Please be sure to come back and leave your thoughts and ideas in a comment.