Overweight Teens - Wellspring Florida Summer Program

Over the past 20 years, clinical obesity among children and adolescents (defined as 95+ percentile body mass index on a growth chart) has skyrocketed from 6% to 15%. This makes overweight teens and teen obesity the most common chronic illness in pediatrics. To provide a sense of the magnitude of the opportunity, the prevalence of eating disorders is only 0.3%.

Although pediatric and adolescent obesity is most common in lower socio-economic groups, it is prevalent at all income levels, including in upper-income families. In 1995, 2.9% of households in the top 5% of income had obese children or adolescents. The number has certainly risen over the past 8 years.

The cause of this epidemic is entirely behavioral: high-calorie diets and insufficient exercise.

The direct effects of pediatric and adolescent obesity are clear and well established:

• Type 2 diabetes mellitus (formerly adult onset diabetes)
• Hypertension and predisposition for cardiac disease
• Sleep apnea
• Asthma
• Gallbladder disease
• Kidney disease
• Pancreatitis
• Eye diseases
• Nerve damage
• Various gastrointestinal disorders
• Various skeletal and orthopedic problems
• 80% increase in incidence of obesity in adulthood
• Obesity in adulthood likely to be more severe with earlier onset of co-morbidities

Source:  Overweight Teen

Wellspring Florida is the first and only scientifically-based summer fitness and weight loss camp in St. Petersburg Florida, and one of the most effective weight loss programs in the world.

MTV's latest reality show

MTV just launched their new show, "I Used to Be Fat". The show will follow teens during the summer after high school as they work to lose weight and transform themselves before entering college.  As with many of today's reality shows, this is a topic that can be sensitive, difficult, however extremely necessary to talk about and address.

Be an educated parent, you will have healthier teens.


Watch the video to learn more about Wellspring summer for your overweight teens.

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