Wellspring, Academy of the Sierras, Aspen

[Anonymous]

Anyone have a different experience than this?

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2006/7/emw417730.htm

New Studies Reveal Weight Loss Academies for Kids are Achieving Unprecedented Results in Fighting Childhood Obesity
 
Aspen Education Group?s overweight students and campers lose weight -- and keep it off -- even after returning home.

Cerritos, CA (PRWEB) July 31, 2006 -- Some students lost almost half their body weight during a six-month stint at Aspen Education Group?s Healthy Living Academies? weight loss programs. But could they keep it off after leaving the structured and rigorously health-focused academies? According to results of follow-up studies with students who completed the Healthy Living Academies weight loss programs in 2005, the answer is a resounding ?yes!?

The studies followed the weight loss results of students attending the Academy of the Sierras weight loss boarding school and Wellspring Camps. The first class of students who attended Academy of the Sierras in Reedley, CA for at least six months lost an average of 81 lbs. during the program, and had successfully maintained their entire weight loss at the 10-month follow-up interval. In a separate study, 212 campers who attended Wellspring Camps for at least four weeks not only maintained their average weight loss of 21 lbs. for six to nine months after returning home from camp, but had lost an additional five lbs. at the six- to nine-month follow-up interval.

?These results are unprecedented in the history of weight loss research,? says Dr. Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, a professor at Northwestern University Medical School and Clinical Director of Healthy Living Academies programs. ?The scientific community has never seen weight loss programs consistently produce such rapid and sizeable weight losses that were so well tolerated and maintained over time. The 80-pound average weight loss at the Academy of the Sierras is unparalleled, with the possible exception of far more risky bariatric surgeries.?

Dr. Kirschenbaum added that these results were consistent with 2004 findings from Wellspring Camps. ?In 2004, we studied 79 campers who lost an average of 17 lbs. and found that six to nine months later, they had lost an additional 7.4 lbs.?

The results at Academy of the Sierras (AOS) can be attributed to a strong program based in the science of weight loss and cognitive-behavioral therapy, according to AOS Executive Director Phil Obbard. ?Students who remain for an extended period of time in a structured, healthy environment that supports good nutrition and daily activity routinely show dramatic improvements in self-esteem, mood and outlook. The fact that students maintained weight losses is a testament to their growth and overall emotional well-being.?

?These weight loss results demonstrate that there is hope for many of today?s overweight and obese children,? said Elliot Sainer, CEO of Aspen Education Group. ?With nearly one-third of American children overweight or obese, parents must give their kids the opportunity to learn new skills and behaviors that will lead to long and healthy lives.?

Unlike existing ?diet camps,? Healthy Living Academies? programs were designed by leading researchers using current scientific understanding of the most effective approaches to safe weight loss and permanent behavioral and lifestyle changes. Academy of the Sierras and Wellspring Camps provide behavioral training, such as self- monitoring and goal-setting, for successful long-term weight control, and employ master?s- and doctoral-level therapists to provide cognitive-behavioral therapy that helps campers stay committed to permanent lifestyle change. They also focus on family involvement and have a unique Internet-based ?after-care? program.

Healthy Living Academies operates residential schools and summer programs addressing America?s crisis of pediatric and adolescent obesity. Healthy Living Academies programs include Academy of the Sierras in California, a new campus opening in North Carolina in 2006, Wellspring New York, Wellspring Adventure Camp, Wellspring Adventure Camp California, Wellspring Family Camp, and Wellspring United Kingdom. To learn more about Academy of the Sierras, Wellspring Camps or Healthy Living Academies, visit www.healthylivingacademies.com or call 866-364-0808.

Healthy Living Academies is a division of Aspen Education Group, the nation?s leading provider of education programs for struggling or underachieving young people. With over 30 programs in 12 states and the United Kingdom, Aspen provides to students and families a comprehensive range of therapeutic interventions, including boarding schools, residential treatment and wilderness therapy. For more information, visit www.aspeneducation.com or call 888-972-7736.

[Anonymous]

Not everyone is so enamored with this program.

http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/2 ... obese.html

Extreme Low-Fat Farm Abusing Obese Kids

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!

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!"

My other Internet research also indicated that the first three items on the food list above can only be eaten by kids who have earned it (not sure how - through good behavior, high weight loss, whatever).

[Deborah]

Uh, another example of "do the means justify the end"?
People just want to see "results", doesn't matter how you get there, even if it involves abuse or neglect.
I've read research that discourages people from eating "low fat" anything. The fat in dairy products is necessary to metabolyzing it. One should just stick with whole fat products and limit their consumption.
The diet looks very high in sodium to me.

[Oz girl]

Im not infavour of sending any kid away to a fat farm, or a boarding school that deals with obesity, but 10 grams of fat per day sounds like plenty. The foods listed all by the original poster sound ok too. I would be more concerned about a family being encouraged to send the overweight kid into some isolating school. To me it sends the message that once again the kid is overweight due to their own actions only instead of treating it asa family issue.

[Deborah]

Some students may be put on Optifast, a liquid diet meal plan, or Meridia, a prescription appetite suppressant, to speed up weight loss.
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:8GZ7 ... lnk&cd=101

Novartis's Optifast program is only available at hospitals and health care clinics. Weight reduction typically averages 2-5 pounds a week. Costs $200-$300 a month.

Meridia works on brain chemicals to reduce appetite.
Side effects:
http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/meridia/effects.html
For only 15# per year?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/ ... 2256.shtml
Study funded by Abbott Labs  :roll:
http://www.mercy.net/healthinfo/archive/060719.asp

And of course, if they aren't working their program they will be sent to ASGs Lone Star Expedition.

[Anonymous]

What about the exercise component? Given that parents pay a lot of money to see results, Do they have some kind of forced exercise programme? i would be pretry concerned about that.
i also could not agree with three springs more. Given that someone else buys the food in the house what do the kids come home to?

[Oz girl]

above poster was me. forgot to log in

[Oz girl]

Optifast. Eeew. It is available over the counter here. I took that stuff for a month once to drop a dress size for a wedding i was in. I have always been on the voluptuous side! Aside from tasting revolting and giving me bad breath, i found I was nauseous and toward the end fainted twice before my boyfriend and sister bullied me into eating again. i cant believe they are feeding that shit to kids. it of course does not encourage any kind of life long change in habits either. I looked fantastic for 1 night in the dress and then put it all back on as soon as any kind of food went into my mouth. I can only imagine what would happen to a kid.

[Oz girl]

I found an old article on the effects of optifast on adults. only 30% kept the weight off. There are many unpleasant side effects
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00070.html

[Anonymous]

I hate the fat camp thing, like I hate all forced boarding schools.

While I think anorexia is a dangerous disease, the sites with the best weight loss tips if your doctor says you need to lose weight are the pro-anorexia sites.

Even though they take it dangerously far, some of these women have weight loss down to a science, and healthy methods for doing it.

Where they get unhealthy is they don't set an end goal weight, or they set it dangerously low.

The best way to avoid that is to ask your doctor, in advance, what you should weigh or how much you should lose.  Ask your doctor how much you should lose a week.  Set that as your goal, and when you get there, just maintain instead of losing.  

We all know binging and purging, and abusing laxatives and diuretics, and going ultra low carb, and dead crash dieting are bad.

Easy to say, hard to do.  But the anorexics' pro-ana websites do have a lot of tips for taking off weight that, in moderation, are healthy.

I was surprised.

I lost ten pounds, and kept it off, just doing portion control.

Julie

[Anonymous]

Wups.  Make that 14. :-)

Julie

[Oz girl]

"While I think anorexia is a dangerous disease, the sites with the best weight loss tips if your doctor says I want you to lose weight are the pro-anorexia sites."
 You can't be seroius Julie! i am sure just about every woman alive in the western world between 12 and 60 has at one stage or another struggled with body image issues and done something idiotic in a bid to look good!
To me directing people to a pro ana site is like telling someone to look at the positives of terrorism or paedophilia. "I dont agree with everything but in some aspects they kind of have a point"
Childhood obesity is fairly easily prevented in the first place without the need to count calories or consult doctors at all. Just feed kids real food and have them do active things with their time.

[Anonymous]

The site I found talked about portion control, talked about making sure you got the USRDA of vitamins and nutrients, talked about taking just a bite of someone else's dessert instead of ordering the whole thing, talked about which vegetables make the best munchies, talked about how to fight hunger cravings, talked about taking two swallows of water for every bite of food.  They also talk about specific exercise routines for burning calories.  They talk about eliminating junk food as needless calories empty of nutritive value.

All these are useful tips *so long as* you:

First, start with the sane part of making sure your doctor says you're healthy enough to reduce your calorie intake and undertake an exercise program.

Second, ask your doctor how much she wants you to lose and set an end goal weight where you will stop and simply maintain instead of always seeking to lose more.

Third, ask your doctor how fast it is safe and appropriate for you to lose weight.

Fourth, have what you eat be a balanced diet of nutritious foods.

The dose makes the poison.  Weight loss tips that are perfectly appropriate practiced responsibly under your doctor's care if you weigh 200 pounds at 5 foot 2 are unhealthy and dangerous if you weight 95 pounds at 5 foot 2.

They have good weight loss tips.

They also have no sense of proportion and where to stop, and they're going to extremes no competent nutritionist or physician would recommend.

Eating a chocolate bar for dessert: reasonable.

Eating two pounds of chocolate for dessert: stupid.

Losing three pounds a week, if you're overweight and your doctor approves:  reasonable.

Losing ten pounds a week without talking to your doctor first: stupid.

Walking a mile a day after talking to your doctor, who approves: reasonable.

Going from doing nothing, flat out of shape, straight to running three miles a day without talking to your doctor first: stupid.

One of the bad things Programs do is destroy people's sense of proportion.  One of the worst things about that is that it seems to be the families who already have problems with extremes who get tangled up with the Programs.

Yes, the pro-ana sites have culled through the wide variety of weight loss tips and have things that work.

No, that doesn't make doing extreme things to your body that would shock your doctor A-OK.

Murdering people and diddling children are hardly in the same class with walking a mile or replacing your super-sized cheeseburger combo with a nice ceasar salad with grilled chicken, dressing on the side, taking a daily multivitamin, and drinking your 8 glasses of water.

That whole Program mindset of extremes is what's so wacky about them.  It's also the boogie man behind "psychological addiction" and the boogie man behind obsessions like anorexia and other obsessive control behaviors.

"A" friends and "F" friends---Wild extremes instead of the simple old standby, "If Jenny jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?"

The pro-ana sites have good weight loss tips fat people can use, if said fat people are careful, sensible, and responsible.  However, just because the anorexics are jumping off a bridge doesn't mean those of us who need to lose a few pounds have to jump off the bridge, too.

I trust my average fellow human beings to just be garden variety idiots, not colossal, complete, and totally unmitigated idiots.

What part of "see your doctor" did you miss?

Julie

[Deborah]

Well, fwiw, my 2 cents.
I think most people are doomed when they decide to "diet". There's so much crap attached to the word, it should be striken from the English language.
If people just focused on "eating for health", the weight would come off as a natural result. Eat for Health, not Weight Loss.
My son was 60# over when he moved back home. 260 with a nice chubby belly (too much junk and sedentary lifestyle). He lost those 60# in 3 months without much effort at all. He works out 2- 4 times a week, runs ocassionally, but the thing that really did it was giving up junk (most, not even all) and eating my healthy cooking, which he was raised on and loves, btw.

[Oz girl]

i couldnt agree more deborah.
As to the pro ana sites. They can only do harm. i have a hunch that the vast majority of people who visit them are not your average girl looking to loose a kilo or 2! Moreover i also dont think that morbidly obese people particularly teenagers always eat because they are hungry! Just as looking a certain way is only 1 part of the issue for anorexic girls.