"The best decision I ever made!"

Some of my goals were to reintroduce dairy and legumes into my diet and reduce my cholesterol. I’m happy to say I achieved these goals and I’m enjoying immensely such a wide variety of nutritious foods. Besides the support of your dietitian you also have access to lots of delicious recipes to guide your journey. My husband and I are eating lots more fish, tofu and meat free meals. I stopped buying store bought cakes and biscuits and now make my own healthy sweet treats with the recipes provided. Learning how to read labels was a real eye opener. Just because a packaged food is advertised as healthy it’s not always the case. I have also reduced my salt intake because of high blood pressure. I hardly use salt anymore in my cooking and I don’t even miss it. This program teaches you other ways to make your food delicious and tasty without all the salt and sugar. I learned how to calculate my protein intake for the day and also about pre and probiotics for my gut health. My dietitian has also supported me with the consistency of my exercise program.
There is so much I learned over the last six months I could go on and on. I am so glad I took this journey with my dietitian and the Miyagi group, it was so worth it for me. Thank you

"Change is a mindset - not a crash course."

My initial goals were to lose some weight, get more healthy, focus on nutrition, be more active and, most importantly, to be a better role model for my kids and a better partner for my husband.
Six months later, I am out jogging almost every afternoon, while hubby and the kids cycle next to me. My family and I are more connected than ever. I have bought aprons for my kids, who now love to help me prepare the fruit and veggies for our meals. I could not be happier.
I have not lost significant weight, but instead have found a better and more conscious way of eating, which I'm confident will support weight loss in the long run.
Where I initially thought this journey was about weight loss, I have found it instead to be about cultivating life-long healthy habits. I am so grateful to Vanessa, my dietician and coach. Her indelible positivity and absolute faith in me, even when I didn't have any in myself, has made this experience possible. If you do join this amazing program, make sure you ask for Vanessa!

"Beware"

Beware! The program is ok but hugely overpriced. It is way more cost effective to see a dietician in your local area at a time that suits you for as long and as often as you require. Here you get a 20min phone call with a dietician once a week at a time that cannot be changed to suit your circumstances, a Facebook group and some worksheets that's it. They insist on taking the full fee upfront either in one payment or in my case outsourced to a credit company and then if it's not working out for you there is no way to exit the program - they have your money and that's it. I finished up feeling I'd been duped. Big lesson learned.

"I am a 77 yo pensioner who recently had…"

I am a 77 yo pensioner who recently had a cardio gram which returned a less that 100% result so I reached out to Dr Ross Walker as I had concerns about my medications, I was contacted by Miyagi & pressured into signing up for a 26 week program. After thinking about the financial implications, within hours I contacted Miyagi to cancel my participation. They refuse to refund the deposit & not only that continued to debit my account. Their contractuals were not explained to me before them taking the deposit plus they pre-filled my signature. They may have good programs but I would NOT recommend them as my experience has been very unpleasant and uncaring for my situation. They seem to be all about the money with nil concern for a person’s situation

"BEWARE SCAM: Preying on the vulnerable for financial gain and not plan to support their clients effectively"

Unethical and Pushy Sales:
I came across this program via Facebook in July 2023 and was interested to find out more about it so answered some questions that led to a phone conversation and additional health questionnaire. The person I spoke with implied that they only invite a few people to their program so hence why they had to triage my initial interest to see if I qualified. According the Sales person I spoke to indicated I that I needed further assessment to see if I fully qualified and what options involving cost due to my financial situation. I spoke with someone who went by the name of Lauren the next day. Lauren grilled me on more information about my goals and reasons for wanting to participate in the program. She used those things to pressure me into signing on to the program. I mentioned that I really needed to lose some weight as I had suffered significant stress related to anassault, relationship breakdown, mental health issues related to my job as a social worker and increased isolation and impacts associated with the COVID19 Pandemic leading me to change jobs at the beginning of the year. I also wanted to look and feel healthy so I could pursue a new healthy relationship by feeling confident to date again.

She used tactics when I said I did not have the financial capacity to pay for the program that I could not afford to not do the program and it will only cost the price of one of two take away meals a week. When I said I wanted some time to digest and process what we discussed before I decided, she mentioned that the offer would only be available once as they have some many people on their list waiting for an invitation to the program. She also said that I they offered interest free to pay for the
program so I could participate immediately. As I was worried about my health and wanted to make a change very desperately because of the trauma I was processing and because I felt like I was being coerced by the tactics used by Lauren into feeling guilt and shame if I did not sign up, I reluctantly agreed to sign up.

Lack of Specialised Support and Tailored guidance in alignment with my goals:

I was asked to complete some blood tests at the start of the program. These were to inform the Dietitian in how to best support me and provide me with a tailored program based on these results. At no point did my dietitian Vanessa ever refer to these test results to help suggest food and meal plan options. Vanessa, while being very pleasant and nice in her manner towards me was not very
helpful in providing me with the necessary tools and strategies for me to achieve my goals. She provided very basic well-known information and generic sheets rather than tailoring a meal plan to really help me where I most needed. I provided her with a significant information via our conversations, completing questionnaires and sending pictures of food I preferred and tried once or twice so that she could gain insight to better support me. I even expressed to her that what I really needed was a structured meal plan based on her knowledge of my preferences that would assist me to lose weight. She never provided me with the service I was requesting instead she emailed generic Myagi coach information sheets. I also expressed to her the difficulties I was having with my psychological health that was impacting on my habits and choices and that I was feeling more disempowered by the week as I was unable to lose any weight. I gained weight and my health is much worse. I also informed her that I felt that I was not able to effectively participate because of my mental health deterioration and the financial stress I was going through was causing extra pressure. Vanessa sent me information about mental health helplines which as a qualified Social Worker, already are aware of and that is not the support I needed. I already have a qualified psychologist who was treating me a year earlier that I
had to cease due to my financial situation. Vanessa agreed that she believed that participating in this program was not going to be beneficial given the state of my health and complexity of my circumstances and mentioned she had no control over how to cancel my involvement in the program or options available in terms of a refund etc. She stated she would refer me to the customer service team to discuss. She did not refer me on the call to them and then hung up. I contacted the team myself via email and explained my circumstances and they refused to offer any form of refund and attempted to coerce me into continuing to engage with the Dietitian and said she was qualified enough to support me. I called them out on this and as a result they offered to suspend my participation for a month. That was the only option. I do not wish to be harrassed to be in a program that has made my life worse. Reported to ACCC.

"My journey with the Miyagi program."

So my journey with Miyagi comes to an end. I've joined the program after my blood tests show High cholesterol and Blood pressure and prediabetic. Being a shift worker with no eating or sleeping pattern it got worse when I've torn my meniscus and had surgery in May. Lucy my Dietician gave me some guidance in my new journey to a better health...
But a massive shout out to Clare for all your amazing support and enthusiasm. Thank you so much for keeping me on track, teaching me so much and coming into my life.
My last blood tests show everything is now in normal range. My energy and fitness level have increased considerably. I can't ever express how grateful I am to Clarefor always answering my questions and firmly encouraging me to do what needed to be done towards my goal.
Thank you to Miyagi tools and all the wonderful fb people for allyour support and some very yummy recipes.
Being educated and knowing the who's and how's is exactly what the Miyagi program ... and Clare of course provided me.
If you've tried everything and nothing worked... you most probably haven't tried the Miyagi program!!

"My journey with the Heart Smart - Miyagi…"

My journey with the Heart Smart Miyagi program was life changing. I have gained a wealth of knowledge about healthy eating which i believe has been the biggest key to being motivated enough to keep sticking to my health goals. All other things I had tried in the past didn’t work. I have been able to lower my cholesterol and keep it down. I feel healthier within, no more inflammation, sore joints and bad skin and my IBS after years of pain is finally under control. I don’t feel restricted in my eating I have no cravings for bad food anymore and don’t feel guilty if I do indulge in a treat every now and then. Having your own personal dietician to help with recipes and substitute alternative foods for your old bad habits has been amazing. The check in with your own dietician is great as it also keeps you accountable. My dietician gabby was full of knowledge and very supportive through my journey. It’s been a few months since I completed my program and I am still going strong. Thank you Miyagi and Gabby for changing my life.

"Came for weight loss, got so much more"

Needing to make changes for my health I signed up for the Miyagi Heart Health Program, and it has been great for me.
My program helped me with information and recipes to start eating more whole, nutritious foods, and my dietician has been working with me weekly to change my mindset and let go of dieting forever.
So far I have lost 10kg, and it has been the easiest and healthiest weight loss of my life, with me feeling optimistic, in control, and looking forward to a life without deprivation.
I have learned so much about myself, and have learned compassion and trust in myself again, and my heart health is so much better - I am no longer stressed about an impending heart episode.
Thanks Miyagi!

"I lost 10 kilos on the HeartSmart program."

The regular tele sessions with my dietitian Munpreet were supportive and very helpful. I recommend keeping notes so you get the most out of the sessions. I didn't use many of the options available on the app- just some recipes and guidelines suggested by Munpreet. I also enjoyed the Facebook sessions by Dr Ross Walker and the dietitians. Its confusing at first- a number of different programs are linked to the Miyagi system and there are lots of different tools to try. Stick with it and find what works for you!

"My experience was amazing my dietician…"

My experience was amazing my dietician helped me understand diabetes and how to read food labels and picking food that is healthier for me would record this program to anyone needing to understand and learn