A summer camp for obese children

Waterfall in Yosemite Valley
DennisDavisPhotography.com

I was a dirt poor, obese, gay kid with few friends. The one thing I looked forward to more than anything else when I was growing up was going to Yosemite and going to Camp Wawona summer camp. Most of those camps were for one week, but that was plenty of time to change a kid’s life. We had swimming, hiking, archery, water skiing, crafts and taking care of live animals in the nature center. We were so broke the church had to pay our way sometimes, but I went every summer for ten years.

I would love to help a charity put on a summer camp for obese children. The best way to teach a child about a new diet is to put them in a controlled environment, and feed them healthy food, and help them have fun with outdoor exercise. As you know from the name of my blog, if it were my charity I would feed these kids a vegan diet with very low sugar. Hey, it’s my dream, and I can dream it any way I wish! I would teach them songs around the campfire that will instill health principles in their head forever.

Yosemite Valley
DavisPhotographic.com

So steal my idea, and start one! We could use 50 of them. As I was a poor, gay, obese kid, I think it would be cool to offer at least one or two weeks of the camp for gay obese kids. Maybe they would need to have all kinds of medical and professional people there to monitor them; I am not sure what would be required. I do know that lots of them will come hating themselves, and leave with new friends and new hope for a better life.

On a low sugar, vegan diet, an obese child might lose 10 pounds in week, or 20 or 30 in a month, when combined with climbing mountains, swimming or volleyball every day. I enjoyed feeding the animals in the nature center, and was able to take care of a Rosy Boa for a week, which is why today I am not afraid of snakes.

Church was under the trees in the “church bowl”, and night time church looking up at the stars was awesome! But the nightly campfires were my favorite. The camp would bring in missionaries, who would tell stories of Africa, China, or the Philippines, and the children were spell bound. I was so impressed with the guys playing guitar that I later took guitar lessons from one of the guitarists from the camp, and that’s why I play guitar today. Climbing a ½ mile uphill 4 times a day just to go to your cabin to get something can really work off the calories!

This is a really big idea, but it could be a great blessing to lots of overweight kids. Childhood obesity is increasing.

Facts:

•  Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years.
• The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20% in 2008. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period.
• In 2008, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.