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Make the decision to save yourself before your have no choice in the matter, that’s the message from Te Awhina chair Rima Piggott.
“You hear about Maori dying young all the time,” she said.
“You look at the heart disease and the diabetes – I’ve got family out there suffering from making bad choices when they were younger through smoking, drinking and food.
“For them It’s too late, they have no choice, they’re on dialysis.”
In an effort to help bring about a cultural shift towards healthier lifestyles, Rima has joined the Maori Community Leaders programme.
“I’m not trying to tell people I’m perfect,” she said.
“They can see that from my shape.
“I’m a big girl – but I’m motivated.
“So I’ve started exercising more and watching my diet in an effort to show young Maori, and encourage family and the community to make positive changes.
“I can’t blame anyone for things I haven’t achieved, at the end of the day it’s me, I make that step.”
But while Rima is trying to set a good example, she believes change can only occur when people take responsibility for themselves.
“Anybody can do it. You can do anything, it’s just up to you,” she said.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t come from other people. It comes from yourself. “You can say give it a go, but ultimately it comes back to the individual.
“Go hard or go home.”
It’s cliché but it’s true – it all begins with a single step.
“Just take a step in that direction,” she said.
“The first step is always the hardest – then take little steps and change one little thing at a time.
“It might be that I’m going to watch this programme, then I’m going for a walk.
“You see and you hear about some our people that will sit there and watch TV all day because there’s nothing else they want to do.
“Well switch off the TV and walk to the letterbox – there’s the first small step.
“The second step is walk two lampposts. That’s what I’m talking about. Could be today I’m gong to drink two litres of water.”
The MCL is revolutionary programmed designed to reverse the grizzly health statistics confronting Maori, but creating shift in the way people approach food and exercise.
“Our young people are dying young,” she said.
“That’s why I got into it. I’ve got grandchildren.
“I certainly don’t want to die of diabetes.
“We all go off the band wagon, I still love lollies every now and then and ice cream but I’m limiting that.
“I want to be around in 20 years, and I want to be around in 30 years.
But if I don’t make the change, I’ll end up like everyone else – and that ain’t me, that ain’t where I want to be.”
“I was told the other day that my grandmother died in her 40’s of heart diseases.
“That blew me away. We never knew her; she was well gone before I was born.
“I want my grandchildren to know me and spend that quality time with me.