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Hands-On Nutrition & Culinary Learning

Nutrition Education

Nearly all Wellspring Wisconsin campers will have had some level of nutrition education in the past. They’ve been shown the food pyramid. They’ve met with nutritionists or dieticians. To a surprising degree, they know what food is healthful, and they know what food is unhealthful.

But has anyone ever made it clear to them: Here’s what you need to know to successfully inform your behavior and therefore control your weight over the long run?

This question is the origin of the Wellspring Wisconsin nutrition education program. Developed by nutritionists and students at Wellspring’s first boarding school, Wellspring’s nutrition program doesn’t teach campers how to follow a teen diet, but rather teaches campers what they actually need to know about weight loss and weight control. Rather than reiterating what is already known like the food pyramid or information about vitamins and minerals, Wellspring focuses on what matters most to those trying to become long-term weight controllers.

Topics covered in weekly nutrition classes are:

• Deciding when a diet does and does not have a scientific basis
• Understanding scientific credentials; when to trust someone, and when to recognize that someone is taking advantage
• Science of weight gain: why is it so easy to gain and so hard to lose?
• What science shows us about weight loss
• What science tells us about successful long-term weight control
• Fad diets, teen diets and other unscientific approaches
• Strategizing ways to stay satisfied while continuing to lose
• Restaurant training -- how do we go out to eat without regaining weight? Campers will visit local restaurants to test their new skills.
• Portion sizes
• Grocery store training: games and exercises at the market so that campers know what to look for and buy when at home

Culinary Education

One of the key factors in long-term weight loss success is the ability and motivation to prepare foods that are healthy.

The Wellspring culinary education program trains students to prepare the same types of foods at home they’re eating at Wellspring. These are delicious, easy-to-prepare comfort meals and snacks that students have loved at camp, and will continue to love at home.

Dozens of Wellspring families have contacted us to say that their child now does much or most of the cooking at home. The benefits of Wellspring’s culinary program can often extend to the entire family.

Campers start with basic culinary skills and, over 4 weeks, 6 weeks or 8 weeks, begin to prepare snacks and then meals under the supervision of Wellspring Wisconsin’s culinary instructor.

Click here to get an idea of what Wellspring Wisconsin campers will be cooking this summer and so you can get an idea of what you’ll be eating at home this fall!