This month’s issue of the Hackettstown newspaper featured one of Camp Shane’s alumni, Michael. He attended Camp Shane weight loss camp in New York for nine weeks and lost an impressive 48 pounds during the summer. He is just one of Camp Shane’s amazing weight loss success stories. Check out the full article below, as written by Cheryl Conway in the March 2010 issue:

Michael of Flanders will no longer be one of the three chil­dren in America who is obese thanks to his encouraging family and a camp who has taught him how to live a healthier life.

The 13-year old attended Camp Shane in Ferndale, NY, for nine weeks last sum­mer and feels much healthier and confident than ever before. In existence for 42 years, Camp Shane is the longest running co-ed weight loss camp in the world for overweight children and teens.

According to recent sta­tistics, the number of chil­dren who are obese or overweight in the United States has tripled in the last 30 years. Childhood obesity impacts nearly 1/3 of chil­dren – such a concerning percentage that First Lady Michelle Obama has iden­tified this as one of her causes to help obesity in the nation. Many of these children also have high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.

“Seventeen percent are obese,” says Ziporah Janowski co-owner of Camp Shane. “That is a very, very frightening statistic.

“If parents don’t help get their kids get control of their weight when they’re young, it gets worse and it affects their health,” she says. “Their lives are in danger. Kids are living a shorter life and it’s all because of obesity. And as children become adults, their health problems are overwhelming this coun­try’s health care system and driving up medical and insurance costs that are already unaffordable.

“This is a tough topic for parents,” continues Janowski, and “often something the whole family needs to address. When their kids are unhealthy or in pain, they are too. We need to get the whole fam­ily on track.”

Parents can help their children by sending them to Camp Shane in New York. The camp fights child­hood obesity by offering children ages 7-17 and young women from 18-25 – a fun camp experience that involves nutrition education, weight loss tips, dieting information, fitness programs, exercise, weight loss, self-esteem building, optional cogni­tive behavioral therapy, exciting activities and last­ing friendships. The program is simple and easy for children to follow.

The experience for Michael has been life-chang­ing.

The eighth grader of Mount Olive Middle School lost 48 pounds during the nine weeks he attended Camp Shane, from the end of June until the middle of August. He dropped from a size 40 and 262 pounds to a size 34 and 214 pounds.

Seven months later, Michael has maintained the weight he lost from camp by eating healthier foods, smaller proportions and exercise.

The camp “taught me how to eat good and how to lose weight,” describes Michael, who attended the camp with several hundred other children facing similar challenges.

“It is a good experience if you are overweight,” he says. “You can lose weight and get healthier from it.” I thought it was good doing all of the sports and also being around other kids that were overweight.”

Michael described a typical day at Camp Shane. Kids awoke at 7:45 a.m., ate breakfast, had three morning activities, ate lunch, had three afternoon activities, showered, ate dinner, evening activity, free time, and then to bed.

Activities include sports such as soccer, softball, tennis, hockey, volleyball, paintball, swimming and basketball; as well as nutrition and cooking classes; exercise classes such as aerobics and kickboxing and guidance counseling sessions.

Campers are given three portion controlled meals a day with snacks after lunch and dinner. A typical breakfast includes fruit, yogurt and a small milk; a pizza bagel for lunch; and chicken parmesan with a small salad for dinner. Snacks include fruit and 100- calorie packs.

“I was hungry the first week, but after a while you get used to it,” he says.

Michael used to come home from school and eat anything he wanted but after attending Camp Shane he wants to eat healthier food and smaller portions.

“I used to eat a lot of junk food when I got home from school like candy but now I don’t,” says Michael. “I eat 100-calorie packs, yogurt and fruit.

“It taught me how to eat better and eat healthier than I have before,” he continues. “I eat differently; I don’t eat the same things and I eat less. I try to keep calories under a certain amount.”

Michael has also learned the importance of exer­cise.

“I’ll go on the treadmill downstairs,” he says. “I try to exercise everyday” whether it’s for 30 minutes or for 10 minutes.

Michael realized he was overweight and had tried other methods like Weight Watchers, but he says “it didn’t work cause I’d just go off of it.”

Besides all of the knowledge he gained about nutrition, Michael gained a lot more friends as far as Connecticut and Florida and has kept in touch with them. He hopes to return to Camp Shane this sum­mer to see his friends and continue to reach his weight-loss goals.

“I would like to lose another 35 pounds,” admits Michael who is five-feet, 10.5 inches tall, so he could weigh between 180-190 pounds.

Although he says he is still overweight, Michael feels great about his accomplishment.

“I feel good,” he says. “I feel better about my appearance; I don’t feel like people look at me the same way.”

Michael’s mother, Mary, is so pleased how the camp has helped her son.

“I would highly recommend it to anyone,” says Mary. “It’s so important for these kids to lose weight especially as a child before health issues set in.”

“Camp Shane saved my son’s life,” attests Mary. “Michael was extremely obese and on the verge of becoming diabetic and with high blood pressure (even though his blood pressure is still high) last summer when he decided it was time to do some­thing. Camp Shane saved his life by showing him the health benefits of losing weight and keeping it off by changing his mind and body.”

She says “the decision to send him was the best thing we ever did. We knew we had to do something. Our entire family benefited from his experience at camp.”

Mary and her family got to spend a “parents weekend” with Michael at Camp Shane in which they attended a seminar to speak with nutritionists and fitness instructors and experience a portion-con­trolled meal.“We were full,” she says surprisingly. “It shows to prove that we do overeat.”

Also provided is a Camp Shane Cookbook “which we have used over the past few months. Our family now makes a conscious decision about our food choices” such as whole wheat breads and pas­tas, turkey breast and chicken.

“We’ve switched from white bread and grains to whole wheat, low fat yogurts and fruits for snacks instead of empty calorie ones, no soda, and encourage exercise for the entire family,” she continues.

As the homemaker, Mary says “I learned that I need to set an example for my son by making the right food choices. There are so many foods that you may think are healthy which are not. I read all labels now and try to plan meals in advance.”

Besides his eating habits, Mary sees a significant change in Michael’s demeanor. “He’s got a lot more confidence,” she says. “He has a lot more friends. He has changed as a whole person.” As far as exercise, “He used to do nothing. He can finally wear his skinny jeans. It’s a matter of motiva­tion.”

Camp Shane in NY is one of three programs in the nation run by Janowski and her husband David Ettenberg. They opened Camp Shane Arizona for children in 2009; and Shane Diet & Lifestyle Resorts for young adult and adults at Honor’s Haven Resort and Spa also in the Catskills, NY, in 2008.

David Ettenberg and his family established the 100-acre Camp Shane in 1968 as the first co-ed weight loss camp for children in the U.S. When Ettenberg’s grandmother visited the former bungalow colony for the first time her reaction was “this is a shayna place,” which in Yiddish translates to mean “beautiful,” and thus the name Camp Shane was established.

About 500 campers can attend at one time and can enroll for three, six or nine week sessions. Boys and girls are sep­arate except during meals and some activities. Janowski says an average camper can lose three to five pounds per week.

The purpose of Camp Shane is “to help kids learn to live a healthy lifestyle and to really have a solid self-esteem,” says Janowski. “Self-esteem is everything. You have to feel good about yourself and everything will follow from there. And of course, from the kids’ point of view, its fun and a place where strong friendships are made.”

Parent education is also crucial when it comes to chil­dren’s weight loss.

“Education has to be for the whole family,” stresses Janowski. She can help a child lose weight and get fit at her camp, but if that family does not make some changes at home, that child may not succeed. A child and parent “have to be on the same page so when the child goes home he or she can be successful and continue to remain successful.”

While other weight loss camps for children do exist, Janowski says “We are the best” because “We’ve been doing it the longest and that experience means we’ve learned the formula for successful weight loss and how to run a camp kids love.” Camp Shane is family-owned, whereas other camps are very corporate minded and less personal, she adds.

Early enrollment offers are available; post camp support is provided through communication with counselors and a free-month on-line consultation program with Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, a pediatrician specializing in child obesity; newsletters, tips and recipes on Twitter and Facebook are also available.

Kids from Camp Shane recently completed a cooking video with six cooking lessons with Registered Dietician/celebrity chef Diane Hendriks, also known as “The Dietician in the Kitchen.”

The lessons – filmed On Feb. 18 at Chef Central in Paramus – are to teach kids how to cook healthy and tasty meals at home and will soon be posted on the camp’s web-site and U-tube.

For more information, visit www.campshane.com.

Tags: Childhood Obesity, nutrition, weight loss, weight loss camp

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 1:58 pm by Lyndsey Lovinger and is filed under Childhood Obesity, Healthy Lifestyles, Weight Loss Camps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.