I did some looking around on the Wellsprings Camp website were they potray themselves as a summer camp. It was really some good spin, they even said how they don't take children against their will, sorta of..
Wellspring Camp faq[/url]"]Are there any campers who are there against their will?
No. Wellspring will not accept campers who are opposed to attending, and will not keep campers who do not want to remain.
If you are concerned your child falls into one of these categories, you may want to consider a longer program at Academy of the Sierras California or Academy of the Sierras North Carolina.
This looks like the usual inter-program shuffle a la wwasps-style. Academy of The Sierras is the Aspen program that some have criticized for achieving weight loss in an unhealthy and dangerous manner. Wellspring Camp(an Aspen school) is the location for the Teen fit camp(formally teen fat camp) reality show in the land of Aussie. Brat Camp, another reality show in Europe, has taken place in many different Aspen programs. Is the problem being exported?
But anyway, Lets give the latest PROgram redeux some press...
[quote=""
Jimmy Moore's Blog"]
The Academy of the Sierras youth diet plan is lacking adequate fat
I was alerted to something quite disturbing today to say the least by my calorie-restriction friend April who told me about a California-based youth "fat farm" called Academy of the Sierras where overweight and obese children are being subject to an extreme low-fat diet consisting of nearly single-digit fat intake daily! April blogged about this here initially, then here, and finally here.
What is most incredible is the diet they have these kids eating is robbing them of some of the essential nutrients their bodies need for them to continue to grow into the healthy adults they are becoming. While they are getting 70g protein and 20g fiber, they are ONLY being fed a measly 10g fat. JUST TEN GRAMS! That's all they get daily. Yikes! They get to eat all the soups, salads, fat-free (and HIGH sugar, by the way) yogurt, fruits and vegetables as part of this wonder diet plan. The leaders of this program claim the kids won't get hungry eating this way.
Well, I guess they don't get as hungry with all of that protein they are eating. But what about the healthy fats these kids NEED for a healthy body and improved overall health? Even the American Heart Association FINALLY admitted this year that proper fat intake is important. Studies have shown eating fat improves mental health. Are these people at the Academy of the Sierras even concerned about the damage they are causing to the developing brains of these children they have been given control over? Helllllloooo?
You would think with the results of a landmark 8-year study on low-fat diets earlier this year showing them to be the big fat lie that people who are livin' la vida low-carb knew them to be would end this madness about being afraid of eating fat as part of a healthy weight loss program. This all-too-obvious fact has apparently left the good folks at the Academy of the Sierras as they continue to live in the past with their dietary recommendations centered around the archaic teachings of Dr. Dean Ornish!
But isn't it borderline child abuse what the leaders of this program are doing to these poor kids? With new research PROVING the theories they are using to induce weight loss in these children -- namely an extreme low-fat diet -- is false, then why would they still insist on using these tactics when there are much better ways to bring about the same results in a healthier manner? They wouldn't need to change their program radically to make it just as effective for weight loss AND be more nutrient-dense.
They could still have the kids eat 70g protein and 20g fiber, but have them instead begin to limit the carbohydrates to 20g daily while allowing 30-40g fat MINIMUM daily and having them avoid sugar, white flour, starchy veggies and processed foods. Why wouldn't this work better for the kids and give them a more palatable menu to eat from?
Wanna see just a sampling of what these kids have to eat now:
low-fat pizza
very lean ground turkey tacos (EWWWW!)
fat free bean burritos
veggie egg white omelettes (where are the yolks?!)
oil-free Asian stir fries
innovative pastas (what the heck is that?!)
spice apple raisin pancakes
bagels with fat-free cream cheese
Berries (the best item on this menu!)
melon wedges
fat-free yogurt
Boca burgers (mmm, mmm Boca--NOT!)
sandwich bar with very lean ham and turkey
Mexican pizza
fat-free soups
fruit salad (can you say sugar?!)
honey chicken
veggie stir-fry
“spinach baked” potatoes (say who what is THAT?!)
frozen yogurt
salad bar with fat-free dressings
carrot sticks
fat-free potato chips with salsa (yucky poo!)
oatmeal raisin bars
Can you tell me what most of those foods contains gobs and gobs of? That's right, CARBOHYDRATES!!! Jeepers creepers people, let's just send the blood sugar of these kids into overdrive now with what we're feeding them. Sheeeeez! I remember eating an obsessively low-fat diet before and it's not fun at all. If my experience is any indication of what is going to happen to these kids when they get back home, then it would not surprise me to hear that most if not all of them rebel at their new way of eating and gain back every single pound they worked so hard to lose. I don't wish that on them, but it is almost inevitable with a low-fat diet as extreme as this one is.
You can express your concerns about this dangerous and abusive weight loss program for these adolescents by e-mailing them directly. You can address your e-mail to Phil Obbard who is the Executive Director for the Academy of the Sierras. Ask him to specifically answer your concerns about the lack of good fats in the diets these kids are being put on and let me know if you hear back from him or another representative. This blatant abuse by the Academy of the Sierra MUST be stopped immediately![/quote]
Here's the links to April's blog mentioned above
A few Academy of The Sierras former-students and a parent posted these comments:[quote=""Sarah""]Hi,
I think you are totally off. I attended AOS and I absolutely loved it. I lost 55 lbs very quickly and I never felt starved. I was never hungry, dizzy or malnourished. It was excellent. True growing bodies typically need around 50 grams fo fat per day, but that is typically and when ONE meal contains 100 grams at mcdonalds our youth is in what we could consider an epidemic. Please do not insult it. the food was not bad and we were not abused.[/quote]
My daughter attended this school. I think your dietary concerns are valid. The students are expected to stricty adhear to the 12grams of fat/day plan, and are considered to be failing if they only lose 1-2 lbs/week. They are often then encouraged to reduce their total caloric intake to as little as 700/day. Also, students are discouraged from eating fattier fish such as salmon, as well as nuts. This school is a business concerned about the bottom line only, not the well being of its students.
I went to AOS and everything you say is true. I was yelled at if I lost only around a pound or two a week. And going home it was immpossible to eat under 10 grams of fat a day, which was the goal we were told to aim for. I gained back all my weight and ten pounds since I got home. So did all my freinds I keep in contact with. I agree with the above comments that the school focused highley on how their statistics would look not on the individual student. And I'm not even getting in to the brainwashing that went on between the "therapist" and the parents. I think that unfortunatly AOS is not the program that if thinks it is, and it's results are not going to last. You can't force weight loss and a child and expect them to keep it off.
Here's a
to a Dateline story(print and video) -
Last resort school for overweight teens Note to Psy:From the scant detail given in this piece it appears as though this program is definitely a cedu-redeuxBut anyway, no real revelations here just curiosity
