Mark Sainsbury on Men’s Health Week and his restorative change of pace

After a health scare, Mark Sainsbury stepped up to the plate and lost 15kg Photo / Hagen Hopkins.

For many years, broadcaster Mark Sainsbury’s winning personality and flamboyant moustache saw him working at some of the top jobs across radio and television as a journalist of some stature.

Now aged 66, he still has the facial hair and the charisma, but his stature has disappeared thanks to a recent 15-kilogram weight loss.

He’s very much an example of the message Men’s Health Week hopes to get across to Kiwi males this year.

“Our whole thing is about stuff that men needlessly die from,” explains Sainsbury. “Diabetes, suicide and heart disease are the top three. Yes, we’re all going to die, but we’re all about stopping preventable deaths.”

Sainsbury has managed to reduce his blood pressure so now he no longer takes medication and while he has type 2 diabetes, his blood sugar levels are more normal these days.

In 2017, he told his listeners on his morning RadioLIVE show that he needed to change, saying, “I had the hard word from my doctor the other week – I need to lose five or six kilos. Why? Apart from the obvious – I’m too porky – my blood sugar and blood pressure are creeping up.

Mark Sainsbury’s winning personality and flamboyant moustache saw him working at some of the top jobs across radio and television. Photo / Hagen Hopkins.

But now starts the dilemma. My friends and colleagues have no end of suggestions and options. So, what’s the right answer? Cut the bread? Cut all carbs? Don’t eat carbs after midday? Cut the alcohol?”

Sainsbury started going to the gym to improve his health but then he would just eat more afterwards to compensate for the exercise.

“I stopped going to the gym and I lost 15kg,” he laughs. “But that’s not something I really want to promote because for many people, the gym is the right thing to do.

“I love food, that is my thing. So, I cut back on that and wouldn’t eat until midday, plus I cut out the alcohol five nights a week.”

Sainsbury’s wife Ramona, who is a lawyer, likes to have a glass of wine when she gets home from work to relax.

“I’ll have dinner ready and join her, but then I realised I really didn’t need that wine every night,” he shares. “I’m not a wowser, I’ll still go out to a mate’s birthday party and have some fun, but I realised I didn’t need to go down that hole of drinking every day.”

Now aged 66, he still has the facial hair and the charisma, but his stature has disappeared thanks to a recent 15-kilogram weight loss. Photo / Woman's Weekly

Once Sainsbury started losing weight, things were a lot easier.

“When you start seeing the weight go, it’s really encouraging and so you keep going. You just feel so much better.”

Sainsbury thinks men in New Zealand can tend to get caught up in the “she’ll be right” attitude of being tough and not causing a fuss.

“We just don’t go to the doctor’s much,” says Sainsbury. “It’s like the dentist syndrome. I’m in the generation that grew up with the ‘murder house’ and so we hate going to the dentist, but no good will come from that.

“When they’re younger, men can get away with being a bit bulletproof, but as you age, it’s good to have a regular check-up because you can look back at things like your blood pressure or your blood sugars and compare them. That’s useful information to have.”

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For most of his life, Sainsbury has enjoyed good health and spent a night in hospital for the first time last year. He had a hip replacement and shared a picture of himself in his surgery gown on social media. Sainsbury believes as men get older, they become more aware of their mortality.

“I used to love birthday parties, but once I got to 60, I was ‘Nah, no parties for me.’ Because you’re on the rollercoaster, and you’ve got to the top and you know it’s all downhill from there.

“The difference between men and women and their health is that women are always getting prodded and poked, and going to the doctor because they have to look after their health – they have other people to consider; their family depends on them. But men haven’t had to do that. Unless they’ve got a low sperm count or something, they don’t go to the doctor.

“They refuse a prostate exam and say, ‘You want to stick your finger where?’ Yet prostate cancer is one of the ones that if you get it early, you have a good chance of recovery.”

Mark had a hip replacement and shared a picture of himself in his surgery gown on social media. Photo / Woman's Weekly

When Sainsbury and TVNZ host Jeremy Wells had their prostate health checked live by a doctor on Seven Sharp, the response was huge.

“Lots of men came up to me and said they had seen it, and it inspired them to get it done,” enthuses Sainsbury. “Influencing just a few men is what we aim to do – small steps is our motto. Start with a small thing like going for a walk, and cutting back on a few things like food and alcohol.”

But Men’s Health Week is not about lecturing men.

“Saying to some guy, ‘You’re a useless fat thing’ is not going to help. That’s why we have ambassadors like Oscar Kightley, Scotty Morrison and Matt Chisholm, so they can relate to people and encourage them rather than boss them about.”

Sainsbury says a recent ambassador is broadcaster Amanda Gillies, who brings a woman’s touch to the issue.

“We know when it comes to their health, men listen to the women in their lives, like their mothers, partners or daughters, so that’s another way we can try to reach out.”

Mark says a recent ambassador is broadcaster Amanda Gillies, who brings a woman’s touch to the issue. Photo / Woman's Weekly

Some of the health figures Sainsbury has accessed are frightening to read.

“We know that last year 49 percent of the men who died were Māori men aged under 65,” says Sainsbury. “So, you extrapolate that out and it means nearly half of Māori men will never get the pension. You compare that to European men and you get 23 percent, and Pacifica men 43 percent.”

One of the most concerning of the three main causes of death for men is suicide, which Sainsbury says comes down to being under extreme stress and having no outlet.

“Matt Chisholm is doing a lot of work on this in the rural community because being a stoic Kiwi farmer can be a lonely existence,” he says. “Loneliness is a big factor for men. Just having someone to talk to and having a conversation about how you are feeling should be okay for men to do.”

Sainsbury began working for Men’s Health Week 12 years ago as an ambassador as a favour for his friend Tim Greene. Now he and Greene run the not-for profit together with much-needed sponsorship from the Master Builders Association.

Mark and and Tim run the not-for profit together with much-needed sponsorship from the Master Builders Association. Photo / Woman's Weekly

“We run it on the smell of an oily rag and you do feel as though you’re contributing even in a little way,” he enthuses. “So that itself is quite rewarding and a positive thing to do.”

When Sainsbury finished up his morning show at RadioLIVE in 2019, he gave up his apartment in Auckland and moved back to his home in Wellington to live full-time with Ramona and admits there was some adjusting to do. “It is funny, having your own company and never having to take someone else into account, and then you notice that she’s taken over the remote.”

But Sainsbury is a keen cook and says it was good to get back to having dinner with his wife again.

At the moment, their twins Arabella and Hunter, 34, are living with them.

“I like having them around, they’re good company.”

Mark is a keen cook and says it was good to get back to having dinner with his wife again. Photo / Hagen Hopkins.

Since leaving radio, Sainsbury has been busy talking to groups as an MC and doing some travelling for conferences, but he’d quite like another full-time job to keep him busy and also allow him to pay to get his house painted.

“I have lots of friends who are now retiring, but I want to do more,” he laughs. “I’ve gone the opposite way. Most of my work was events, conferences, after-dinner speaking, that sort of stuff, but Covid took all that work away. It’s slowly returning.”

Sainsbury works for many charities, including the SPCA, where he volunteers once a week.

“I am there at 8am shovelling dog poo out of the kennels and it really keeps me grounded, I can tell you,” he jokes. “But I have a couple of dogs from the SPCA as well, so that’s been nice.”

He now has Penny, a four-year-old great Dane border collie cross he adopted from the SPCA, who keeps Mark fit. Photo / Woman's Weekly

Sainsbury took Danny, a vizsla cross, home with him for respite care and never took him back.

“He loved my classic Lincoln car and loved me, but he died of an undetected heart defect and broke my heart,” says Sainsbury

He now has Penny, a four-year-old great Dane border collie cross he adopted from the SPCA, who keeps Sainsbury fit.

And while Sainsbury feels good about himself and the work he’s done, he’s not so happy about the fact his entire wardrobe is now too big for him.

“I couldn’t afford to buy a new wardrobe, so I had to have all my suits and pants taken in,” he tells. “Which is a good thing to do because when they start to get tight again, I know it’s time to take a few steps back on the healthy living path.”