For the last two summers, the Pritikin Family Program at the Pritikin Resort has proven hugely successful in helping families launch healthy lifestyles. A recent analysis of children ages 9 to 16 attending the two-week program found that LDL cholesterol fell on average 33% and triglycerides dropped 48%. Those children who were overweight lost 5 to 10 pounds within one to two weeks.

The “terror within”

The Pritikin Family Program was developed in response to growing concerns about the health and weight of America’s youth. Childhood obesity and its deadly consequences, including early heart disease and type 2 diabetes, have spiraled into nationwide epidemics, prompting scientists to assert that this may be the first generation in America in which parents outlive their children. It is the “terror within,” states the Surgeon General. The latest research has found that:

Kids as young as 11 are now being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The disease used to be called adult onset diabetes but was renamed in part because children are now suffering from it.

On any given day, almost one-third of U.S. kids ages 4 to 19 eat fast foods. And on any given day, children who eat fast foods take in an average 187 more calories than children who don’t. These extra calories could translate into an additional six pounds of weight gain in a year.

Obese children face risks not only to their physical health but also to their social and emotional health. Two new studies from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the University of Minnesota found that overweight children are far more likely to be teased and to have smaller social networks than their non-overweight peers.

In a survey of adolescents in 13 European countries, the United States, and Israel, the U.S. had the highest percentage of overweight teens.

Tackling the frightening epidemics of childhood obesity and childhood heart disease and diabetes requires total family involvement.

Good News For America’s Children

Total family immersion is precisely what happens in the Pritikin Family Program. “Both kids and parents learn how fun and rewarding a healthy lifestyle can be,” says Dr. Jay Kenney, Director of Nutritional Research at Pritikin.

The Pritikin Family Program Starts June 20, 2004

Yes, kids can learn to like vegetables! It happens all the time in the Pritikin Family Program. Thirty years of educating 75,000+ people worldwide have provided Pritikin psychologists and dietitians with a “living laboratory,” a unique, 30-year opportunity to fine-tune behavioral strategies and provide families with all the tools they need to succeed.

The Pritikin Family Program Includes:

• Dynamic, “hands on” cooking classes that inspire kids to make their own tasty, nutritious snacks;

• Fitness games that focus on team-building and fun, not individual prowess;

• Kid-friendly, nutrition lessons packed with real eye-openers (“That’s what happening to my arteries?!”); and

• Real-world training in healthy eating, including field trips to fast food restaurants and food courts.

Plus, everyone enjoys themselves – parents as well as kids. And everyone makes progress. “The Pritikin Family Program was definitely a 10+ experience for my 9-year-old son Fitz,” says Susan Tabas-Tepper of Villanova, Pennsylvania.

“This was a child who never touched a vegetable! At Pritikin, he learned to enjoy many fruits and vegetables. And he loves baked potatoes – he now eats one every day! The Pritikin dietitians really knew how to explain the importance of healthy living in kid terms. Fitz is no longer eating fruits and vegetables because ‘mom said so.’ He’s eating them because he wants to.”

This summer, we invite you to make a lasting, life-saving impact on the health of your children and grandchildren.