Secrets of the Notorious "Camp Shame," a Hotbed of Disordered Eating and Deception
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS
4.7 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2025
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Filmmaker and podcaster Kelsey Snelling joins us to discuss her new podcast, Camp Shame, which exposes the troubling history of a notorious weight-loss camp. We get into the effects of deprivation and starvation, the cult-like nature of the camp, how it weathered its many scandals, whether it’s possible to run a camp for larger-bodied kids that’s weight-inclusive or ethical, how she made the podcast, and more.
Kelsey Snelling is a Philadelphia filmmaker whose work centers social and environmental justice. Her dream is to direct music videos for Billie Eilish, hike the Appalachian Trail, and return to her previous residence of Alaska to live on a farm overrun with cats. “Camp Shame” is her first audio project.
Check out Christy’s three books, Anti-Diet, The Wellness Trap, and The Emotional Eating, Chronic Dieting, Binge Eating & Body Image Workbook for a deeper dive into the topics covered on the pod.
If you’re ready to break free from diet culture and make peace with food, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.
For more critical thinking and compassionate skepticism about wellness and diet culture, check out Christy’s Rethinking Wellness podcast! You can also sign up to get it in your inbox every week at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.
Ask a question about diet and wellness culture, disordered-eating recovery, and the anti-diet approach for a chance to have it answered on Rethinking Wellness. You can also subscribe to the Food Psych Weekly newsletter to check out previous answers!
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Food Psych, a podcast dedicated to critiquing diet and wellness culture and answering your |
| 0:05.0 | questions about intuitive eating and the anti-diet approach. I'm your host Christy Harrison, |
| 0:09.4 | and I'm a registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor, journalist and author of the book's |
| 0:14.6 | anti-diet, the wellness trap, and the new emotional eating, chronic dieting, binge eating, and body |
| 0:20.0 | image workbook, |
| 0:25.4 | which are all available wherever you get your books or at Christy Harrison.com slash books. |
| 0:28.1 | That's Christyharrison.com slash books. |
| 0:32.8 | And by the way, on this show, we avoid diet culture details like weight and calorie numbers, but we don't censor swear words or other adult language, so listener discretion is advised. to my food site. |
| 1:00.8 | Hey there, welcome back to Food Psych. |
| 1:05.8 | Today I'm talking with filmmaker and podcaster Kelsey Snelling about her new podcast, Camp Shame, which exposes the troubling |
| 1:12.5 | history of a notorious weight loss camp. We get into the effects of deprivation and starvation, |
| 1:18.2 | the cult-like nature of the camp, how it weathered its many scandals, whether it's really |
| 1:23.2 | possible to run a camp for larger-bodied kids that can be weight-inclusive or ethical, |
| 1:28.2 | how she made the podcast, and lots more. |
| 1:31.2 | And just a heads up that we go into a little bit of detail about the disordered eating and |
| 1:34.7 | dieting behaviors that went on at the camp. |
| 1:36.8 | We also touch on the self-harm and sexual abuse that happened there. |
| 1:40.3 | Kelsey did a really great job of investigating all the sordid stories and including many different people's perspectives on the camp, from former campers to counselors and staff to lifers who'd done it all. |
| 1:51.1 | And I think this conversation has a lot of relevance for anyone who's done any kind of group diet program or even maybe just dieted in general. |
| 1:58.0 | I can't wait to share the interview with you in just a moment. |
| 2:01.3 | Now, without any further ado, here's my conversation with Kelsey Snelling. I would love to |
| 2:06.4 | hear about your personal history with diet and wellness culture. Sure. I think I come from actually |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.