Healthy Diet for Teenagers

If you have teenagers in your house or are a teen yourself, knowing what a healthy diet for teenagers looks like is an important piece of information. Teenagers still have a lot of growing to do, and they need a lot of nutrients to get them through all the schoolwork, dances, football games, hanging out with friends, heartbreak and everything else that is part of being a teenager.

Healthy Eating for Teens

The most important aspect of a healthy diet for teenagers is that it is, in fact, healthy. Teens need lots of calories and good nutrients, particularly calcium and iron, which are important for all the growth and development happening at this stage of life.

Calorie requirements for teens vary just like they do for adults, but on average a teenage girl needs between 1,800 and 2,100 calories a day, while boys need between 2,200 and 2,700 calories daily.

That sounds like a lot, but remember that teens are growing a lot and their bodies need a lot of fuel to support healthy growth and to get them through their crazy schedules.

While it's probably unrealistic to think that teens will choose healthy foods all the time, there are some sensible rules you can put in place to encourage healthy eating in teens.

Healthy Diet for Teenagers Guidelines

There's probably not a teen alive who always makes healthy choices. Even vegetarians sometimes eat junk food. And being a parent who is teaching a teen how to eat right is not about telling them never to eat fast food with their friends.

It is about making sure they understand the components of a healthy diet and giving them the right foundation to make healthy choices. That means you should limit or eliminate the junk food available in your house. If there's no junk available, both kids and grownups will make healthier choices.

Other key points to a healthy diet for teenagers include:

• Always eat breakfast. Make sure to include some kind of protein for continued energy. It would be even better to also include some complex carbohydrates and a piece of fruit or fruit juice.
• Encourage healthy eating at lunch by talking with your kids about the healthy choices available at school or in the fast food restaurants around school.
• If your child will brown-bag it, load them up with fruit, veggies, complex carbs and lean protein.
• Make sure there are plenty of healthy snacks in the house for the after-school munchies. If your child is home alone after school, make a list of suggested healthy snacks to hang on the fridge.
• Eat supper together as a family as often as possible. Yes, this is difficult when everyone's schedule is crazy, but research has shown that teens who eat with their families tend to have healthier diets when they're older. They also smoke and drink less than other kids, and girls who have regular family meals have less incidence of eating disorders.
• Remember to make supper healthy as well. It may be the only meal you have any control over, so make it count with good lean protein (remember the vegetable sources of protein as well), whole grains, a couple of vegetables and, if you want dessert, something fruit-based.

Losing Weight as a Teen

If your child is overweight going into the teenage years and starting to feel self-conscious about it, you can help them lose by modeling healthy behavior and making it impossible to make unhealthy choices when they are at home.

Ban non-diet soda (you might want to cut diet soda as well) and fruit juice if your teen drinks a lot of it. Institute a nightly walk as a family or some kind of physical activity that will get everyone in the house feeling better about themselves.

The key is not to nag a child or teen who needs to lose weight, because they will just end up rebelling, sneaking junk food or doing other things to sabotage their health. A supportive family environment and a house full of people who are also making healthy choices should help everyone get to their goal weight..

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