Slice, dice, cook, and eat healthy
Wellspring’s fitness and weight loss program includes culinary classes so campers learn to cook the same meals we eat at camp. This culinary instruction is rewarding for both children and families, as the 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 Wellspring New York and Wellspring California, we take advantage of the state-of-the-art demonstration kitchens and learn from professional chefs. At Wellspring Adventure Camp and Wellspring Hawaii, we cook in the field, preparing simpler items that will become meal and snack staples once campers return home. At Wellspring Texas, Wellspring Wisconsin and Wellspring UK, we do a little bit of both. While at Wellspring Family Camp at Pinehurst Resort, we prepare a family meal together.
Whichever program you choose, be assured that the objective for Wellspring Campers is to return home and take some responsibility for the shopping and cooking to help the entire family make a change for better health.
Eating to lose and maintain weight loss
Most Wellspring campers have sat through nutrition classes, met with dietitians and are sick and tired of reviewing the food pyramid and discussing vitamins, minerals and the importance of moderation in their diet. At this point, Wellspring campers have learned that without an integrated approach, nutrition education alone does not result in weight loss.
Instead, Wellspring’s unique nutrition education program focuses on what’s crucial for weight loss and weight control. Wellspring’s nutrition curriculum was developed by staff and top students at Wellspring Academies, formerly Academy of the Sierras, our boarding schools for overweight adolescents.
Topics covered in Wellspring’s nutrition education program include:
- Understanding when a diet does and does not have a scientific basis
- Understanding scientific credentials – when to trust someone, and when someone is taking undue advantage of their doctor’s coat
- Science of weight gain – why it’s so easy to gain, and so hard to lose
- What scientific research shows about weight loss
- What scientific research shows about 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
