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"You are what you eat." Youngsters have
to start early, preferably in their teens (maybe even earlier than
that!) for healthy eating habits to take shape and last throughout
their adult lives. Bad eating habits also last way past the teen years
and we all know how extremely hard it is to break a bad habit.
For modern-day parents teaching and role-modeling
healthy eating habits to their teens, is becoming increasingly
difficult, a precarious balance-act, always on the look-out for the
quick-and –best way, more information/hints to help ensure teens
get a nutritious meal amidst and despite busy lives, packed calendar
and fast-paced schedules – eat well, enough, not too much of the right
and healthy foods. Recent research shows that nourishing food not only
makes a child healthier, it makes him emotionally more stable, and it
improves school performance. It is worth the extra effort to spend some
time discussing nutrition, meal and food choices, snacking
habits, healthy eating and an active lifestyle with your teens.
Thankfully, good solid advice for teens on healthy
eating is not hard to come by – here are some valuable morsels of
wisdom:
- variety of foods, getting in as many
nutrients as possible from a variety of food-groups: vegetables,
fruits; breads, cereals, rice, and pasta, dairy like milk, yogurt
and cheese and protein form meat, poultry, fish, dried beans and peas,
eggs, and nuts.
- limit and / or cut down on junk food
with the increasingly fast-paced lives of teens and the added pressures
from school to prepare for college or a job, many teens take part in
sports and work part-time. This often means eating on the run. Stack
that on top of the snack foods when dating or socializing, nutrition
goes right out the window as many snacks, such as potato chips,
fast-food cheeseburgers, and fries, have high levels of fat, sugar or
salt--ingredients that are usually best limited to a small portion of
your diet.
- Limit salt and sugar intake
- Increase dietary fiber as it is
essential for proper bowel function. Eating plenty of these fiber-rich
foods may reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease.
- Cut down on alcohol-intake. Alcoholic beverages contain calories but few if any nutrients.
- Endure sufficient intake of Iron and Calcium
- Maintain a healthy body weight and exercise regularly
- Read the nutrition label on food products, ingredients and food portion size recommendations
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Resources For Parenting Troubled Teens
Resource Catalog
- Resource Catalog with Information on Schools and Programs for Troubled Teens.
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