Campers Learn to Cook for Lifelong Weight Control

Slice, dice, cook, and eat healthy
Wellspring’s goal is to send your child home with all the skills necessary to maintain or continue weight loss at home.  Our Culinary and Nutrition Programs were designed with exactly this goal in mind. 

During their time at Wellspring, campers learn to eat and enjoy a variety of healthy, low-fat foods as part of the Wellspring Plan.   And through Wellspring’s Nutrition and Culinary training program, campers learn how to choose, purchase, order, and cook food that will keep them “on plan” and on their way to a lifetime of healthy living.  This instruction is rewarding for both children and families, as campers return home prepared to take a more active role in the kitchen.

Culinary education takes different forms depending on the camp setting.  For instance, at campus-based programs like Wellspring New York, Wellspring Camp La Jolla, Wellspring Wisconsin, Wellspring Pennsylvania, Wellspring Texas, Wellspring Vancouver, and Wellspring UK, we take advantage of demonstration kitchens and learn from trained chefs.

At Wellspring Adventure Camp and Wellspring Hawaii we cook in the field, preparing simpler items that become meal and snack staples once campers return home. And at Wellspring Family Camp, we work with the 4-star Pinehurst Resort chefs to transform family favorites into healthier meals.

Whichever program you choose, be assured that we expect all Wellspring Campers to return home ready to take on some responsibility for shopping and cooking in order to promote better health for your entire family.

Integrated Nutrition Education

Most campers arrive at Wellspring having already sat through nutrition classes, met with dietitians, and followed various fad diets—and yet still unclear as to what constitutes a healthy diet that promotes sustainable weight loss.

And as many campers have discovered first-hand before Wellspring, nutrition education that is not part of an integrated weight loss program does not result in sustained weight loss.

Wellspring’s unique nutrition education classes focus on what’s crucial for weight loss and weight control. Wellspring’s nutrition curriculum was developed by staff and top students at Wellspring Academies, our boarding schools for overweight adolescents

Topics covered in Wellspring’s nutrition education program include:

• Understanding the difference between fad diets and. scientifically-based weight loss plans
• Identifying weight loss gimmicks and the individuals who take undue advantage of medical credentials to sell them
• Science of weight gain – why it’s so easy to gain, and so hard to lose
• Biological factors related to weight gain and weight loss
• Scientific research regarding successful long-term weight control
• Dissecting fad diets – finding some kernels of science, but mostly empty promises
• Restaurant training – training on ordering in restaurants followed by a trip to a restaurant
• Grocery store training – activities and exercises in grocery stores