HAWC promotes better lifestyle choices: Better Body Better Life Published Sept. 10, 2012 By Senior Airman Jack Sanders 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- The Health and Wellness Center here is promoting healthier lifestyles choices for Airmen and their families by offering classes and services to Airmen and their families. The HAWC is an on-base organization that works to improve health and fitness goals for Airmen and their families. To promote healthier lifestyle choices, the HAWC team offers classes and demonstrations like the Better Body Better Life class. The Better Body Better Life class is a course that works to adjust food and behavioral management for weight management. The class was originally designed by the Air Force to help active duty members looking to improve their abdominal circumference. "Whether you're trying to lose weight, maintain your weight or just have a healthier lifestyle, that's really what it's for," said Lacy Puttuck, HAWC nutrition program manager. Puttuck said the class teaches people to manage their diets by making small adjustments to their daily habits rather than large wholesale changes. Ultimately, the goal of those changes is to make healthy choices. "I think a class like this would be great not just for people who are out of shape, but everyone in general," said Master Sgt. Antonio Shaheed, 823d Rescue Squadron specialist section chief. "I decided to come to this class because nutrition is a big part of fitness, and most people focus on the actual physical activities when nutrition, I think, is the main part of living a healthy lifestyle." Better Body Better Life is offered every Tuesday at 11 a.m. and Friday at 8 a.m. The series is five weeks long, but participants can attend either day during the week. "The class itself is five weeks, so usually that's enough time for people to see some positive results and go from there." Puttuck said. At the start of the class participants are offered the chance to sign up for an online food log. The log allows the nutritionist a chance to view the participants' daily food choices and offer suggestions for alternatives or other ways to improve their choices. "The food log allows me to give individualized attention," Puttuck said. "I can send [participants] encouraging messages throughout the week. At the same time, we still have the group setting, where they can learn from each other. " Better Body Better Life is only one of many courses offered at the HAWC. Other alternative courses for Department of Defense ID card holders range from, but aren't limited to, fitness conditioning to nutrition 101. For more information on HAWC classes call 653-3375.
