Visit Aviano HAWC for a healthier life

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Evelyn Chavez
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AB, Italy --  Healthy living is necessary for all military readiness and day-to-day effectiveness, and the Aviano Health and Wellness Center works to provide educational tools for enhancing healthy behavior.

Dedicated to improving diets, strength, cardio and overall physical health, the Aviano HAWC offers a variety of programs for Airmen and their families.

"The HAWC promotes healthy lifestyles" said Maj. Tanya Manning , HAWC health promotion element chief. "There are three major components in which we focus; tobacco cessation, nutrition and fitness."

Within the nutrition component, there is a diet therapist dedicated to educating individuals who need guidance or detailed information on the subject. The therapist available provides consults by either individual or group appointments in which dietary recommendations are given to specific needs, such as diabetes high cholesterol or blood pressure. In addition to recommending nutritional plans there are also consults available for weight loss.

According to Manning, nutrition and fitness go hand-in-hand, and the HAWC is able to educate customers by providing fitness recommendations through the classes offered. Weight management and waist management are an integral part of the physical fitness assessment.

"The classes the HAWC offers benefit individuals because it shows them ways to improve skills required for their physical fitness assessment," said Master Sgt. Kim Warfield, fitness center manager. "A broad range of classes can help improve their run times, pushups and crunches."

The Balanced Eating, Workout Effectively and Live Long class is available to assist members in making healthier life choices. This course is mandated for Airmen who have failed their fitness assessment, but is available to all base members. The three-hour BE WELL course includes coaching on fitness, nutrition and behavioral education. There are follow-up classes available for each of these components.

Healthy Weight
The class offers help determining individual calorie needs for a healthy weight loss. Attendees will learn what to eat, how to maintain and lose weight.

Tobacco Cessation
The program is geared to help individuals increase their motivation and learn approaches to quit. Classes are offered both online and through group sessions. The two part class first concentrates on preparing participants to quit. While the second focuses on behavioral modifications. Pharmaceutical prescription aids are also available in addition to the program.

Healthy Heart Class
This program explains how to modify lifestyle behaviors to make healthy choices and reduce the risk of heart disease. The two-part class discusses high cholesterol in depth and provides heart healthy information on nutrition and fitness.

DASH for Hypertension
In this class, participants are provided with solutions to reduce the risk of hypertension through nutrition, exercise and other lifestyle changes. Tips on how to read food labels and stocking up kitchens with the proper foods are also discussed.

Strength and Core Class
The class offers lower, core and upper body strengthening techniques to enhance total fitness.

Running Clinic/Cardio Enhancement
The program is designed to assist the member with starting a cardio program or improving their current fitness plan.

"We encourage people to break down which component they need improvement and sign up for these classes, especially for those who need assistance," said Manning. "We offer them once a month for all active duty, dependants and all beneficiaries."

Also available at the HAWC are massage chairs, an aqua massage table, metabolic testing, a resource library with fitness videos, jogging strollers and heart rate monitors for check out.

"Every single person can benefit from these classes it is a good way to learn how to live healthy and lead by example," said Manning. "Whether you are in shape or not, sometimes we all need to be reminded how important fitness is."

The HAWC is located in building 1446, next to the Italian Mensa, and is open between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To sign up for any of the classes, e-mail 31MDG.HAWC@aviano.af.mil.