You Can’t Out Run Your Fork!

Annah Stretton, one of New Zealand’s best-known fashion designers, retailers and social entrepreneurs, is on a mission to redefine the road to better health and wellbeing for everyday New Zealanders.

New Zealand as a country is deeply unwell. Our long history of poor nutrition, excessive alcohol use, sedentary lifestyles and mental health issues have all contributed to our position as one of the western world’s most overweight countries.

“We have over 1 million New Zealanders who are obese, another third overweight and 300,000 with type 2 diabetes according to a Ministry of Health 2016/17 health survey. Traditional health messages are simply not reaching or gaining traction with those who need to prioritise their health the most so something has to change,” says Annah.

Enter Kia Puāwai, a charitable trust that Annah founded in 2016 to deliver a series of wellness messages that would break through the apathy many New Zealanders have towards their own health and move people away from all the boom to bust dieting and exercise fads that never bring about lasting change.

As an active campaigner for breaking the chain on intergenerational disadvantage through her work with female recidivist offenders, and a woman who has had the usual lifelong tussle with managing her weight, Annah believes that she has cracked the code on how to restore New Zealand’s health status.

“The answer lies in simple but achievable lifestyles changes rather than a fixation on ‘taking off kilos’ with the latest diet craze or exercise routine. We have a whole industry making a lot of money from people that just need some simple guidance in a format that they can engage with,” says Annah.

The Kia Puāwai approach is based around three core principles - Nutrition, Movement and Mind Management - and it assists people with taking small steps, rather than giant leaps to bring about incremental and lasting improvements in their wellness.

“Our motto is ‘gain health, not weight’ through slow and steady ‘edits’ to an individual’s existing lifestyle. The other key factor that we push is for an 80:20 approach. In other words, we ask participants to do well by their body 80% of the time accepting that having that piece of cake is ok too as long as we keep it down at the 20% level,” says Annah.

The other key elements of the programme include:

• No diets or exercise plans
• Using only fresh fruit and vegetables and home brand foods
• No supplements or protein powders
• No counting kilograms, stop fixating on weight
• Measure wellness
• Gain health not weight
• Look for the movement opportunity in your day
• Find the JOY in life

So, how’s it working?

Kia Puāwai has successfully piloted its wellness programme with Waikato Women’s Refuge with some great results.

"The programme’s focus on challenging their thinking around daily habits and using the 80/20 rule is enabling the Refuge women to break their self-set barriers, become energised and motivated, and prioritise the time they focus on their own well-being," says Annah.

“Kia Puāwai’s programme really works for the Refuge team because it is not a diet or exercise programme. We’ve had the diet and exercise messages before and they don't work. The culture shift in the team has been remarkable so I’d give Kia Puāwai’s programme 5 out of 5,” says Renee from Waikato Women’s Refuge

Dr Hayley Scott, a GP from Health Te Aroha, says of the programme: “While the group of patients participating in the first pilot is small I am very impressed with the outcomes Kia Puāwai have achieved and am excited about getting this programme out to help other people.”

The outcomes achieved by people participating in the pilot are still being collated, however, in general:

• All participants have had improvements in lab results include LFTs, cholesterol and /or HBA1c.
• 60% of the participants have lost significant amounts of weight, between 10 and 25% of their initial body weight.
• One patient who already had diabetes and was on insulin has been able to reduce the amount of short acting insulin required.
• They have also noticed an improvement in mobility and musculoskeletal symptoms.
• They have developed skills in preparation of food that they have taken back to their family members who have similar issues.”

Kia Puāwai has a full suite of programmes designed to meet the needs of both individuals and teams who are looking for a way to get their health back on track.

Following the successful first pilot, Kia Puāwai is now enrolling people for programmes that begin in May and June. All programme meetings take place at Te Atawhai Wellness Retreat in Te Aroha. Find out more and enrol at http://kiapuawai.org.nz/ .

-ENDS-

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