A variety of daily educational classes regarding ways to live a healthy lifestyle will be taught. CCF believes that with knowledge comes power and with power comes change. The long term success of lifestyle modification as taught at CCF is dependent on the knowledge acquired while at camp. For that reason, these classes are a required part of the program. They are designed to be fun, interactive and very informative.

Behavior modification classes are taught to identify negative behaviors such as compulsive eating and are necessary techniques to provide the skills necessary for the girls to turn negative behaviors into positive ones. At an early age, we learn that food is an important part of socialization. We eat to celebrate, to comfort our disappointments, to socialize with others, and we use food for emotional support. Reacting to these social cues may lead to making unhealthy food choices, eating large portions, and consuming too many calories. Often times, this common coping mechanism leads to weight gain. Modifying these behaviors involves eating when we feel physical hunger rather than external cues. Each girl will identify her personal negative eating patterns and will be instructed on how to convert these into positive behaviors. Discussions will include techniques for social eating, tips on eating out, hazards of overeating, gaining self-control over food, and emotional eating.

The nutrition courses are created and instructed by a state registered dietician. The girls learn about proper nutrition, how foods fuel your body, what healthy foods to eat and what foods to avoid. Additional emphasis is placed on portion control, nutrients, food variance, and sensible eating habits. During these classes, girls are given informative handouts about various topics of nutrition which they can bring home for later reference. They receive hands on experience designing meal plans for themselves and they learn to make proper food choices based on individual preferences.

Cooking classes accompany the nutrition courses and are a great way for the girls to learn how to make healthy meals and snacks. The campers are given recipes and food ideas to add to their nutrition journals which they take home with them. This is an interactive course that focuses on the proper way to shop for groceries in addition to learning ways to create low fat meals. There will be instructional guides for finding specific ingredients, creating grocery lists and planning tips for shopping trips when they return home. They also learn about the various food groups and how to design and plan healthy menus for their family.

Each girl will take part in an Exercise Science and Design course that teaches the importance of cardiovascular, resistance, and endurance exercise, the amount and type of exercise necessary, the major muscle groups, about vitamins and minerals, the importance of the immune system, weight control, disease prevention and how to track exercise progression. Campers will learn to create and design their own fitness programs. They will learn the amount of cardiovascular activity, resistance training and proper nutrition necessary to live a healthy lifestyle.

Throughout the week, the girls also get their turn at Arts and Crafts classes to learn new and exciting ways to be creative. Designing picture frames, jewelry making, and putting together a scrapbook of their summer memories are just a few of the fun projects they will be doing together.