Camp Walden is a “Non-Dieting” Camp

We do aim to offer a model for a healthy, balanced lifestyle with alternatives and choices available. We have often been complimented on the quality and variety of food choices we have to offer at camp. Bonnie and her crew in the kitchen work hard to ensure that our meals and snacks are nutritionally balanced, and extremely tasty and satisfying. We know that kids and staff can feel pressure through the media, their peers and other environmental influences to manage their food intake through a number of different types of diets. Our concern is that dieting, in some cases, can have a negative influence on a camper’s life, and in some instances result in an eating disorder when they are not professionally monitored.

We want to ensure that our campers, staff and families recognize that our camp is a “non-dieting camp” – where we all are committed to eating well.

If you know that your camper has had some issues around eating we encourage you to share the information with us. We do not want to label that individual but rather help to ensure that camp will be a safe and successful experience for everyone involved. The literature has shown that once someone begins to experience issues related to an eating disorder medical intervention is often required. Although we do have a very dedicated health staff at camp the type of intervention required is often beyond their scope. Our other concern is that we want to encourage overall healthy living and do not want to expose campers to negative eating habits.

We do understand that some people have medical reasons as to why they need to monitor and adapt their diet (such as lactose intolerance, obesity, celiac disease) and with those circumstances we welcome you to touch base with us at the Walden office so that we can work together as a team towards a realistic solution to meet that camper’s needs.

We hope that you discuss the importance of healthy eating habits openly with your campers as we will be addressing it firmly with our staff – so that we all can live together in a healthy camp community.