Luxury Vegan Boot Camp in France

Who goes to France, known for its decadent fromage, boeuf bourguignon, wine and champagne, to work out? Most of us head to the City of Light to experience its French cuisine and relax with a glass of wine, not to sweat. Oddly enough, Camp Biche was created to merge the French lifestyle with the American pursuit of luxury and comfort, so say the owners of the vegan luxury boot camp. That’s right, it’s also vegan.

Craig Resnick and Lizbeth (who goes by Libby) Pratt were market makers on the PSE (now NYSE) options floor before moving to France. “I had been trading futures and options for 22 years, when a close colleague of mine dropped dead in mid-sentence,” says Resnick. “He was four years younger than me and in much better physical condition. At that point I thought  ‘you can either make money to count or make money to live’. I chose the latter.”

Pratt, his wife, had decided that she did not enjoy trading five years earlier and had started a video production company which is what prompted their move to France: they were looking to set up a European office. A vegan luxury fitness boot camp wasn’t part of the plan.

It all started with a small farm and a trying to organize a walk along an historic route. Pratt’s girlfriends, many from the Silicon Valley venture capital and high tech communities, had begun visiting Resnick and Pratt after they purchased a small farm in the Lot in 2001.

“They were amazed that they always seemed to lose weight in spite of eating all of the local specialties – foie gras, duck, lamb and cheese – and chasing it down with fine Cahors wines,” says Resnick.

One of them opined that she lost more weight at Chez Libby and Craig than she lost at the best boot camps, while enduring none of the pain and deprivation. Although she understood the reasons for the weight loss, primarily lots of exercise and no snacking, Pratt did not think about creating a business until she started to plan a walk along the Chemin de St. Jacques to Compostello, Spain. The route is one of the oldest pilgrimage routes in Europe and a UNESCO world heritage site.

Pratt emailed to her friends and invited them to join her for part or the entire walk.

Several of them wrote back, telling Libby which segments they would join and for how many days but one asked if there was a service that would take their bags.

“After trying to explain, in vane, that one needed to feel the weight of one's possessions, Libby found a service to carry her friends bags,” Resnick adds.

The friend then told Libby that she was not really interested in makeshift accommodations along the way but instead wanted to find a luxury accommodation where she could base herself. She planned to join Libby each morning and then head back to Eugénie les Bains(a five-star resort with a three-star restaurant) for the night.

“The pilgrims have different motives [for the walk],” notes Resnick. “Some do it as a reflective spiritual journey, some do it for religious reasons, some do it as inexpensive hiking expedition. The juxtaposition of the pilgrimage with luxury resort seemed unlikely at best.”

That exchange with the friend helped Pratt and Resnick understand that they was a need for a luxury fitness boot camp that rewards a client’s fitness efforts with gourmet food and daily massages or facials.

Originally, Camp Biche served classic French cuisine, accompanied by wine and dessert, prepared by an in-house chef. “After he died of cancer, my wife's father was diagnosed with colorectal cancer,” says Resnick.

Pratt’s physician told her to stop eating meat so they adopted a vegan lifestyle.

“When Libby and I saw the changes a vegan regime was making in us, we started serving vegan food to clients, including wine and dessert,” explains Resnick. “So now, we are ‘the original vegan luxury fitness boot camp’.”

Interest in Vegan Lifestyle Rising

Although you don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian to participate in Camp Biche, those interested in adopting a more vegan lifestyle is rising . Fine dining restaurants are beginning to offer vegan dishes on their menus. Meatless Mondays are becoming popular on social media sites as well as more people promote non-meat dishes.

Camp Biche in France isn’t any old luxury fitness boot camp and it’s not just about eating vegan.

Yes, you sweat, but Resnick says they like to think of themselves as a kinder and gentler boot camp. It’s also very exclusive, allowing a max of seven individuals to participate per week. The facility only has five client rooms, two of which are couples rooms.

“Because of our size, we are able to tailor the program to ensure that each client maximizes his or her results and gets through the week,” notes Resnick.

They don’t concentrate as much on weight as they do on improving fitness and losing inches. “Most men lose a couple inches around the waist and woman lose two to three inches around the waist and similar amount around the hips,” he says.

The idea behind Camp Biche isn’t to feel deprived. On the contrary. It’s a chance to unplug and focus on jump-starting a fitness while enjoying delicious vegan meals at the end of the day.

Meals are prepared using organic and locally-sourced ingredients as much as possible.

“Many of the vegetables and spices we use are grown on our walnut farm which is 28 km from Camp Biche,” says Resnick. “The department where Camp Biche is located is world famous for its agricultural production, which includes Chasselas grapes, pruneau d'agen, as well as sensational organic fruits, vegetable, grains and flour.”

And he reminds guests that it’s not all work and no play. Because of the small sizes of the groups, Resnick and Pratt are able to customize itineraries and often offer custom weeks for groups of four or more, which can include wine tasting.

Almost half of their clients are returning clients or those who learned about them through direct referrals. The rest find out about them by reading about them or word of mouth.

To learn more about Camp Biche or what a vegan luxury boot camp includes, visit Camp Biche.