( L - R ) Simpson and Gardner

It was March 2005. Your Health put out a public challenge - "let us help you do battle with your bulges". The response was overwhelming.

We spoke to as many applicants as was humanly possible, then narrowed down the list of applicants to three willing and motivated female readers. One reader dropped out early in the game. Donnette Thomas and Sandra Smith, a university student and a teacher, respectively, took on the challenge and stayed the course.

Over the four-month period (April to July 2005), they endured the public spotlight and periodically published their diaries and photographs. The outcome was positive - the ladies lost weight, came within healthy body mass indices, learnt how to cut calories and changed their attitude toward food and exercise.

Popular series

The popular series was conceived and developed by Eulalee Thompson and Wendel Abel and implemented in conjunction with Trudy Simpson, Rosalee Brown, Kenneth Gardner.

Your Health also did something different in this project, partnering with the obesity experts at the University of the West Indies' Tropical Metabolism Research Institute - Dr. Suzanne Soares-Wynter, Chanell Joseph and Joanne Smith - who monitored the ladies' body measurements.

Some of our readers followed the expert advice given to Donnette and Sandra and reported that they also lost weight during the period.

Indeed, we felt that this was a novel way to inform our readers about obesity and challenge them to make lifestyle changes. We enjoyed the process and felt good when Donnette and Sandra met their targets.

This was health journalism in action.

Please send your feedback to eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.