Healthy Lifestyle Programs For Veterans At St. Cloud V.A.

The St. Cloud V.A. has a mission to make a comprehensive lifestyle change for veterans in the St. Cloud area.  Clinical Dieticians Anne Voigt and Jenna Anderson joined me on WJON along with Public Affairs Officer, Barry Venable.  Voigt says their goal is to help veterans incorporate more physical activity in the lives with healthier food choices.

MOVE program

Voigt says the MOVE program is offering a new 30-minute, 16-session class for those with busy schedules.  She says it is offered twice a week over video.  Other offerings include face to face group classes, individual appointments, and self monitoring, which includes their MOVE coach app.

Healthy Teaching Kitchen

The Healthy Teaching Kitchen is headed up by Jenna Anderson.  She says is in place to help veterans expand nutrition options.  Anderson indicates they have basic recipes with a midwestern style and a health twist.  She says it is designed to focus of weight management, cholesterol levels and blood pressure. A class that has become popular at the V.A. is their Metabolic Syndrome class which rotates between 4 different topics.  Those topics are added sugar, sodium, dietary fat, and fiber.  Anderson says they reach veterans both in person and on video.

Summer Games

The 11th annual St. Cloud V.A.’s summer games will be happening on August 2 with the registration deadline set to happen is on July 25th.  Barry Venable says events include the 1-mile walk/run, adaptive races, power wheelchair obstacle course, horseshoes, billiards, shotput, pickleball, and rowing and skiing machine competitions.  If veterans are interested in participating call Katie Miller at 320-252-1670 extension 6180 to register.

If you’d like to listen to my conversation with Anne, Jenna and Barry, click below.

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