Press Releases

Education and whole food nutrition the answer - 12 March 2008

Education not Prohibition - 14 June 2007

The Latest Tool in the Fight Against Childhood Obesity - 8 May 2007

Education and whole food nutrition the answer

12 March 2008

The answer to the diabetes and obesity epidemics lies in eating more natural whole foods and rejecting processed food jam-packed with sugars and additives. Education is the key and despite an announcement that experts were surprised by a strong link between processed foods and so-called killer health conditions, the link between diet and health is not rocket science, but plain common sense.  

The report on soaring diabetes rates in this morning's New Zealand Herald is typical of the impotent hand-wringing that has characterised discussion on diabetes and obesity. Yet, the report on the link between diet and numerous health conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer only eight pages later, sets out very clearly the solution to the problem.  

One of the most important solutions to the problem is education. Get New Zealanders young enough with both the education and the good nutrition and much of the problem will disappear.  

Feed Me Right, written by Dee and Tamarin Pigneguy, and published by boutique publishers, Papawai Press, makes avoiding childhood obesity simple. It provides all the nutritional know-how and body science needed to help families avoid the obesity epidemic.  

Although it was written with teenagers in mind it is a book for the whole family. Accurate and fully researched nutritional and body science is presented in an easy-to-read format, supported by brilliant, colourful and quirky illustrations. Feed Me Right is not preachy or prescriptive but empowers parents and their children to make better food choices which will lead them down a path of lifelong wellness.

Managing Director of Devonport-based Papawai Press, Sue Claridge, said that over 3000 copies of Feed Me Right have been sold since it became available in April 2007. There has been strong interest from schools from around the country, particularly since the Teacher Resource that enables teachers to get the most from Feed Me Right in the classroom, was launched in November.

"Many schools have commented on how timely the release of Feed Me Right is and what a fantastic resource it is for the health and food technology parts of the curriculum," Ms Claridge said.

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Education not Prohibition!

School Tuck Shops and Healthy Food

14 June 2007  

History has shown us that prohibition doesn't work. While the latest moves to improve nutrition among our young people and tackle burgeoning obesity are laudable, they are destined to fail because they do nothing to change attitudes among young people and their families. What is needed is education.

Health practitioner, Tamarin Pigneguy, believes that grass roots nutrition is as important to learn as the other basic skills - writing, reading and mathematics - that are taught at school.

"With rates of childhood obesity and diabetes rising sharply and reported to be the next epidemics in this country, learning about how to care for our bodies has never been more relevant than now," she says.

"Imagine," she says, "knowing how your body works and what to eat to keep yourself healthy. What difference would this kind of knowledge make in your life?"

Iimagine children having access to this essential information and applying it daily. Tamarin asks what difference would this knowledge make to the future health of New Zealand's children? Access to such knowledge could easily make drastic measures - such as the Government plan to force schools to ban unhealthy foods from tuckshops - unnecessary. Healthy food does not have to be more expensive than junk food.

After all, if our young people were empowered to make better choices for themselves, market forces would win out and there would be a quite natural evolution from the current stocks of pies, cream doughnuts and potato chips to healthier items like salad sandwiches and fruit.

And just how do our school students get this information? From a recently released book, Feed Me Right, written by Tamarin and her mother Dee Pigneguy, an ex-teacher and long-time proponent of natural and organic food.

Feed Me Right provides parents, teachers and our young people with a practical, simple and safe way of attaining and maintaining a healthy and happy body. It explains the nutritional requirements of the human body, investigates the digestive tract and all its inner workings, and examines the impact of various food groups on the health and growth of the body, and covers issues like insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity.

"In short," says publisher Sue Claridge of Papawai Press, "it provides our children with information about food and how it impacts their bodies and their health - presented in an easy-to-read format, and supported by brilliant, colourful and quirky illustrations. Feed Me Right enables parents and children to make better food choices."

Damian Kristoff, naturopath and presenter of TV's Down Size Me, agrees saying in his foreword to the book:

"Feed Me Right presents the nuts and bolts of nutrition, leading the reader through a journey of discovery and an exploration of our body's relationship with food. In fact, I believe this book is the most comprehensive guide to health and wellness that has been developed for adolescents and their parents. Certainly, Feed Me Right deserves to be taught in schools throughout New Zealand ..."

 

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The Latest Tool in the Fight Against Childhood Obesity

8 May 2007

Feed Me Right, written by Dee and Tamarin Pigneguy, and published by boutique publishers, Papawai Press, makes avoiding childhood obesity simple. The book was introduced to Wellingtonians last night (7 May) by Green MP, Sue Kedgley, at a book launch held at Dymocks bookshop, and provides all the nutritional know-how and body science needed to help children avoid the obesity epidemic.

Although it was written with teenagers in mind it is a book for the whole family. Accurate and fully researched nutritional and body science is presented in an easy-to-read format, supported by brilliant, colourful and quirky illustrations. Feed Me Right is not preachy or prescriptive but empowers children (and their parents) to make better food choices which will lead them down a path of lifelong wellness.

Ms Kedgley declared her whole-hearted support for the book, advocating that "every school and every family should have a copy."

"I believe this is the most comprehensive book on health and wellness for adolescents that we have seen," Ms Kedgley said.

Two weeks ago at a gala launch event in Auckland, 102 year old Zella Roberts, told 120 guests that she "got to 102 by eating real food." Looking not a day over 75, and in a strong voice that didn't require a microphone, the very sprightly centenarian described how a return to good, wholesome fresh foods cured her arthritis several decades earlier.

Managing Director of Devonport-based Papawai Press, Sue Claridge, said that over 400 copies of Feed Me Right have been sold in the first four weeks since it became available. Prior to its official launches in Auckland and Wellington, there had been strong interest from schools from around the country.

"Many schools have commented on how timely the release of Feed Me Right is and what a fantastic resource it is for the health and food technology parts of the curriculum," she said.

With increasing concern over burgeoning rates of diabetes, the announcement that food advertising during children's television programmes will be controlled, and almost daily media reports on the obesity problem among New Zealand youth, the publication of this book could not have been more appropriate or more timely. Feed me Right provides parents, teachers and our young people with a practical, simple and safe way of attaining and maintaining a healthy and happy body.

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