The Pritikin Family Program is an immersion program where the entire family learns and enjoys making healthy lifestyle changes that last a lifetime. In the one- or two-week program, Pritikin creates a camp-like atmosphere where the kids, ages 9 and up, play lively get-movin' fitness games, don chef's hats for "hands-on" cooking classes, and attend kid-friendly workshops on nutrition. Parents and kids share many experiences together. In addition to the traditional "adult" Pritikin Program, parents also can attend workshops to learn strategies for motivating their kids to make healthy choices, such as how to plan menus with your kids, how to handle picky eaters and junk-food lovers, how to be a good role model, and how to fit fitness fun into everyday family life.

Kids enjoy healthy foods that have been creatively adapted by Pritikin dietitians and award-winning chefs to satisfy the tastes and needs of children. On field trips, the children even learn how to make good choices at fast food restaurants and food courts. In cooking classes taught by Pritikin dietitians and chefs, the kids make easy, tasty snacks, soups, sorbets, pastas, a "Three Sisters Casserole," an "Egyptian Delight," crepes, cookies, and Mexican beans and tortillas. In kid-friendly nutrition classes taught by Pritikin's dietitians, kids are exposed to some real eye-openers, like the number of teaspoons of sugar (more than 10!) in each can of Coke, and how smooth-skinned arteries can turn "gnarly with cholesterol boils" after years of eating the wrong foods.

At Pritikin, fitness also is fun. Daily, kids whoop and holler their way through tennis, "Funky Salsa Hop" dance classes, "Pump-Em-Up" strength training, "Cardiac Rap" aerobic workouts, and afternoons at the beach filled with volleyball, soccer, and sand castle building. Says Pritikin's Exercise Director Scott Danberg: "We consistently stress a group dynamic that is positive and noncompetitive. This is especially important for kids who have been turned off or intimidated by sports in the past. By the end of their Pritikin program, these kids are astonished at what they have achieved - particularly the lean muscle mass they have gained and their improvements in the President's Fitness Challenge - and how much they really enjoyed themselves." "They develop physically, emotionally, and spiritually," says lead exercise instructor Ed Pedell. "It's a beautiful thing to see. These kids leave knowing that exercise will be a part of their lives forever."