The Teenage Diet Dilemma
Motivating your teenager to eat well can feel like an endless battle as teenagers assert independence from your parental control.
Nutrition is not usually a priority in a teenager’s life, but ironically this is a time that high quality nutrition is essential.
Teenage culture is often driven by extremes. Consumed with raging hormones they go over-board with extreme diets and frequently eliminate entire food groups. Influenced by supermodels, magazines and sporting stars, teenagers often resort to secretly starving, taking fad diets to the extreme or using slimming pills and party pills as unhealthy measures to lose weight. Poor dietary habits can lead to serious deficiencies which are not life threatening but can make your teenager harder to live with and possibly affect future health.
As a parent understand that nutrition is not a priority in the mind of a teenager. Nagging them about their future health will do little to motivate them. The key is to focus on their body image concerns; most teenagers worry about their figure or acne, girls want to look slim and toned and boys want to look athletic and muscular.
Teenagers need extra nutrients to support growth which begins in girls at 10 years and in boys at 12 years. Approximately half of adult bone structure is deposited during adolescence. Both boys and girls need minerals such as calcium, iron and zinc to support increasing bone mass, muscle mass and a larger blood supply during the teen years. What ever you do don’t bore your child with these facts, they won’t care, your best bet is to leave this article open on the coffee table, or next to your bed. Teenagers are nosey mammals and the following information just may help them combat acne, fatigue and at the same time improve their body image.
Combating Acne
Due to normal fluctuations of testosterone in both boys and girls during puberty, proteins such as keratin and sebum in the skin are over stimulated and can block pores. The severity of acne can be caused by a combination of hormonal factors, sebum production and poor nutrition. Vitamins and minerals such as Zinc, Vitamin A, Chromium and Vitamin B6 play an important role in healthy skin. A study by the USDA in America reported that over 62% of American children didn’t get enough zinc in their daily diet. Teenagers who don’t get enough zinc get sick more often and recover from illnesses very slowly. Increasing fruit and vegetables in the diet does little to improve zinc levels. Zinc is found in protein foods like red meat, oysters, shellfish and lesser quantities in nuts and legumes.
Being Slim
Despite the increase in childhood obesity there is still a growing number of teenage girls going to desperate measures to lose weight. A study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health surveyed over 2500 teenagers over a 2 year period at an American high school. They found that 92% of the girls had engaged in some kind of unhealthy weight control behaviour. Interestingly, they also found that the girls who weighed themselves frequently gained significantly more weight than the girls who didn’t.
Extreme or fad dieting during adolescence puts your teenager at a real risk of nutritional deficiencies. Without adequate nutrients a teenagers body will function poorly, they may lose weight but at the expense of muscle and lean tissue. A body starved of nutrients will perceive a famine and want to re-gain fat quickly in an effort to survive. If your teenager needs or wants to lose weight, ensure they understand the importance of a healthy balanced diet. Include a daily comprehensive multi vitamin and mineral formula to fill missing gaps in the diet. A body that gets its full range of nutrients will burn fat, an under nourished body will slow down metabolic functions or cannabolise itself in an effort to survive. Exercise helps improve blood flow which in turn helps deliver nutrients to more cells in the body.
Lean, Toned and Athletic
Teen age boys grow dramatically between the age of 12 and 19 years, so boys need increased amounts of nutrients like amino acids, calcium, zinc and iron. Vitamin C is also necessary to aid the absorption of iron.
An active teenage boy may need to consume over 3000 calories a day to maintain his weight. Consuming adequate energy, vitamins and minerals is important to support muscle growth and prevent muscle loss during teenage years. Eating breakfast is one of the easiest ways to help fuel muscle and get those extra muscle building nutrients into the diet. Teenagers who eat breakfast consume less fat and get higher amounts of carbohydrates and protein over the day. In contrast teenagers who skip breakfast tend to make poor food choices and have a higher BMI.
Nagging your son or daughter about healthy eating can fall on deaf ears, but during the next acne break-out you may like to point out a few nutritional truths. Disguise a bottle of multi vitamins as a new wonder acne cure or slimming pill. Motivating change in your teenager may mean focusing on their obsessions.
Nutrition Coaches here at Real Nutrition, are professional and experienced. Your teenager will learn how small nutritional changes can help them either maintain a healthy weight, or just keep up with school and study, with out getting sick or running on empty.
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