Eat Healthy and Be Active

The pilot healthy lifestyles class finished with many successes. The manuals are now being translated into Tongan and will be ready to use the first of the year. For now South Stake is starting 2 classes using the revised English manual. They do not want to wait for the Tongan version!

Ana Va'ahale stated, "I am ready. I want to make lifestyle changes now. Many of us ladies who are starting tomorrow are obese. We do not want to always be this way. We are going to work together."

We are excited for them. People who have taken this program serious and implemented changes in their lifestyle have seen great changes. They testify of feeling better and having more energy. Many have lost much weight. They continue food changes and exercise and are losing more weight.



WHY CHANGE?
Pacific area leads the world in diabetes.       
At least one amputation every day in Tonga.
Tonga has highest male obesity rate in the world.
Childhood obesity is on the rise.
Increasing rates of premature adult mortality.      

Healthy Eating

Participants learn the four food groups and the importance of each. They set goals for healthy eating. They learn the importance of eating breakfast and drinking water not soda. Portion size matters! Many people think it does not matter what they eat as long as they feel full. This is not true. Each kind of food has its own value. Vegetables are not that common in the Tongan traditional food diet. So eating vegetables daily is stressed.

In the Pacific only 1 out of 10 people are getting enough fruits and vegetables to keep them healthy and protect them from developing diabetes and heart problems.          World Health Organization                         
Exercise

'Ainise and Reynold 'Ofanoa 

We love this photo from the Beat Diabetes Run. We call the 'Ofanoas the Happy Runners. Exercise is vital to improving health.

In class, participants learn to be active every day. They can do whatever activity they enjoy, just as long as they do it.

It is said 30 minutes of exercise per day can reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 40% - UK Chief Medical Offers' guidelines

Diabetes type 2 can be delayed or prevented in people who are overweight and have higher than normal blood glucose levels. Diet and physical activity intervention are more effective than medication.    World Health Organization




Each lesson in the 12-week class is followed by 30 minutes of activity. The week we visited the group was led by Bishop Uiesele 'Epinesa in zumba. We had fun exercising with them. Groups have also danced and gone for walks. These activities help the group to be close and able to help each other stick to the program.

Tonga Family

Talasiu

Gardens 
Participants learn the  benefits of growing a garden. Having a home garden filled with fruits and vegetables puts healthy food at their fingertips. These foods are often expensive to buy, but so easy to grow. When it is time to prepare dinner, the children can go out to the garden and pick vegetables for the meal.  

We encourage you to grow all the food you feasibly can on your own property … plant… if your climate is right. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Make your gardens neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in the home, involve them in the process with  responsibilities.
                  President Spencer W. Kimball

Testimonials

Fane Fituafe before and after

FANE FITUAFE
"Eat Healthy and Be Active" has been a blessing to me and my family. It has been the best experience of my life, I have learned a lot about Nutrition, establishing good eating habits and setting fitness goals and above all intertwining healthy living with gospel principles has deepened my understanding and testimony of what Heavenly Father expects of me to remind me that my body is a temple of God. The class discussions & textbook have been a constant motivation to make better choices and "stick with it for results." I feel 100% better day to day, and have way more energy to perform my role as Vice Principal at school, and most importantly more energetic at home to perform my responsibility as a wife and mother to the best I can be.

 I started at 143.9kg and today I have lost 20.3kg. I want to drop my weight to 105kg, as it is my ideal weight compared to my height. 
Thank you very much for providing us with the program that taught us the value of healthy living; it has helped me personally to grow physically but most importantly spiritually. This has changed my life, I feel better, look better, and I eat  better and can control what I eat. I am grateful to my Father in Heaven for blessing our Ha'akame Stake with such a program and pray it will continue to roll out to the rest of Tonga to bless the lives of many more in the future.

Ilaipe Vea

ILAIPE VEA
I share with you what I have learned the last 12 weeks. We did a lot of sacrifice especially changing our diet. We had enough food. Also no more drinking soda or juice but I focus on water only, and I finish my dinner at 6 – no more eating at night time.The first time I weighed 150 kg, now it is 138, so I lost 12 kg. It is a big improvement. My blood pressure and my blood glucose are better. I am planning to continue on, keep working, and lose another 20 kg. Most of my clothes are getting loose so I need a belt to tie on.  

Sepesi Fakatou

                       

                                         

Ha'akame

SEPESI FAKATOU           The first time my sugar was 19.9, second time 16, and today my sugar is only 11. So to me, I know it is not too late for me to change in       my style of eating.           

HA'AKAME

I want to share with you the last time I went to hospital the doctor said “you don’t have to take the tablet anymore.” And he asked me how I made that change. I told him about this program and how now I eat lots of vegetables and I don’t eat after 7. I don’t starve, I eat lots of vegetable and I am not hungry.                       Man who did the cooking at Ha’akame