Camp Shane Review

 

 

Camp Shane is a summer camp-style weight loss retreat (some call "fat camp") in New York for children and young adults who are overweight and obese. The camp attempts to teach the basics of lifestyle change and balanced nutrition. The main focus of the camp's activities is counseling, exercise and increasing activity levels. The cost of Camp Shane is steep at more than $1000 per week.

I really have to commend the creators of Camp Shane and parent's for at least making some kind of effort to affect change in young people's lives, but the reality is that good intentions are not always rewarded in weight loss and lifestyle change. Weight loss camps have a couple of fundamental flaws:

1) They shelter the overweight person in an environment where they are forced to eat healthy and exercise. When the scourge of weight loss is sustaining it in the long-term, forcing people to do what they don't want to do rarely works. If self-control isn't fostered at an early age or without someone looking over your shoulder, long-term weight loss is almost impossible to maintain.

2) Kids live and learn by example. Most obese kids have obese parents. If a parent really wants their kids to learn healthy living, they are going to have to set the example first. If you allow your children to learn bad and unhealthy habits, then you sentence them to unhealthy lives. That is not loving your children.

So, Mom and Dad, be strong, love your kids, do what's right, live healthy.