Healthy-living class completes successful first run

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Frank Casciotta
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Twelve Team Vance members attended the Health and Wellness Center's newest class on living a more health conscious lifestyle throughout February.

"Planning, Shopping and Cooking for Health" is a three-part class taught by Joel Urdang, the health promotion program coordinator for the HAWC. Each part of the class focuses on a different aspect of healthy-eating habits.

During the planning class students learn to set and identify personal goals.

For Jennifer Todd this class will augment her on-going goal of losing 120 pounds.

Todd, a PAE material specialist, has lost nearly 10 pounds this month thanks to the information the class offers.

"I've learned a lot about the variety of foods I can eat to help me lose the weight," said Todd. "Prior to the class I was limiting myself a lot on what foods I would eat because I was unsure of what exactly I should and should not be eating."

The planning process teaches attendees how to create a healthy shopping list, understand weight and weight management, and nutrition related disease prevention, said Urdang.

For the shopping portion, Urdang invites attendees to take a trip to the Vance Commissary where they learn how to examine nutrition labels.

"This provides a close-up look at the variety of options available to improve healthy choices by locating products, comparing labels and balancing food choices," said Urdang. "The desired effect is to increase the amount of healthy foods that land in shopping carts - and hopefully reduce the risk of unhealthy foods making it home."

The cooking portion of the class is a discussion designed to explore and identify healthy meal preparation.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how to prepare different foods, like how to grill something instead of frying it and the different types of spices to use," said Todd.

Beyond cooking, the class will discuss portion control, low-fat choices, carbohydrate, protein and fat balance and energy-dense snacks, said Urdang.

The next three-part class is slated for some time in April. For more information contact the HAWC, 213-7968.