Healthy diet for teenager. Help your teenager form a healthier relationship with food.
With the teen, ages come to a massive amount of changes. Your teen will develop emotionally, functionally, and intellectually, developing a sense of freedom, identity, and self-esteem.
Your teen will also develop physically, increasing their need for calories and nutrients. Encouraging your teen to develop a positive relationship with food will go a great way in guiding him to enhance the healthy, self-reliant adult you want him to be.
The teen years are a time of fast growth. They need more nutrients to support bone growth, hormonal changes, and organ and tissue development, including the brain. The two prime nutrients of interest for teenagers are calcium and iron.
Eating Healthy
The best way to keep a healthy weight is to have a diet rich in fruits, whole grains, vegetables, no-fat or low-fat milk products, beans, eggs, fish, nuts, and lean meats.
Eating healthy means taking the right balance of nutrients.
As your teen develops, he or she will need more calories and an improvement in critical nutrients, protein, calcium, and iron.
How much your teen should eat depends on their personal needs.
Here is a Healthy Diet for Teenager
Fruits and vegetables every day:
One thousand three hundred milligrams (mg) of calcium daily:
Protein to build muscles:
Your teen should have 5½ ounces of protein-rich foods each day. Good sources involve a lean meat, poultry, or fish. Also add ½ cup of tofu or beans, egg or one tablespoon of peanut butter, and ½ ounce of seeds or nuts. also you can go for high protein plant based foods.
Whole grains for energy:
Iron-rich foods:
Have Limited fat:
There are four significant food habits of concern.
Skipping breakfast
Increased eating outside the home
Increased consumption of soft drinks
Increased consumption of highly processed foods
This covers foods such as soft drinks, snack foods, convenience foods, and desserts. Everyone should limit their consumption of these foods. But, for some teens, up to one half of their energy consumption is from these other foods.
This is of concern as extremely processed foods are usually high in fat, calories and sugar but are low in vitamins and minerals. Read our latest blog on Health Risks of Being Overweight.
