Family weight loss camp targets young kids

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The nation’s first weight loss
camp for children as young as age five will open this summer.
Located on Clear Lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the
Wellspring Family Camp provides a scientifically based weight
loss and behavioral change immersion program for young
overweight and obese children and their parents.

While existing Wellspring weight loss camps operating in
New York, North Carolina, California, and the UK only accept
children older than age 10, the Wellspring Family Camp is
designed specifically for children between 5 and 13 years old.
Each child must be accompanied by one or both parents while at
the camp.

Ryan Craig, president of Wellspring Camps told Reuters
Health: “We know that the Wellspring approach works with older
teens and young adults and there is a huge need for younger
kids.”

According to Craig, “91 percent of Wellspring campers
maintain or continue the weight loss achieved at camp in the 9
months after returning home. The average Wellspring camper goes
on to lose an additional 7.4 lbs. in the 9 months after
returning home.” In addition, parents attending the camp can
expect to lose 8 to 10 pounds, if they are overweight.

With the younger kids, “the key is to have the family
involved,” Craig said.

Several factors distinguish the Wellspring approach to
weight loss from that of most weight loss camps, according to
Dr. Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, clinical director of Healthy Living
Academies, which operates the Wellspring camps.

“First of all, this is a comprehensive weight control
program where parents receive intense training on proven
techniques that promote healthy, long-term weight loss in young
children,” he said in a statement.

“Second, parents learn skills that improve their families’
eating and activity patterns, and they learn to recognize and
better manage stress that can result in emotional eating.
Finally,” Kirschenbaum said, “families develop an entirely new
skill-set for continued weight loss at home.”

Wellspring Family Camp starts June 25, 2006 with four
2-week sessions that run through August 19, 2006. More
information on the camp is available at
www.wellspringfamilycamp.com.

The Wellspring Family Camp is a program of the Aspen
Education Group, which provides a variety of education and
therapeutic programs in 12 states for struggling and
underachieving young people including boarding school and
wilderness therapy, is available at www.aspeneducation.com.

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