Tamati's story

The Dr gave me a Green Prescription so I went to the Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga gym. I sat in my car in the car park for 2 hours till I got up the guts to go in. I just said to myself 'man, just get up and do it'.

Support from his whanau helped Tamati take early steps to get more active, with the help of exercise and nutrition advice at the Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga health centre in Hastings. But just getting up the nerve to go was a real hurdle.

Changing his diet was another important step too.

'I had a lot of help and support from Heather at the gym. She was great. She asked things like what I had for breakfast. Instead of saying it was all wrong, she just said cut it in half, that sort of thing, use green-top milk. The changes weren't so much about what I eat, but how much.'