Good Nutrition for Teenagers

This article is about a good nutritional diet for growing teenagers. It is very important for teens to eat a certain amount of a certain type of food each day.

When girls are almost done fully growing, they start to add some fat padding. But for boys, they begin to gain muscle and increasing the volume of blood. These changes often encourage girls to diet so that they will stay slim. Boys end up overeating to satisfy their appetites. Both of these could end up leading to health problems in the future.

Healthy eating does not mean that you can not have your favorite foods. The Dietary Guidelines advise teens to be selective and limit the total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium intake. Animal products and hydrogenated vegetable oils are out main source of saturated fat. Only animal fat provides cholesterol. And sodium mostly comes from salt added to foods during processing, home preparation, or at the table.

Fats are our most concentrated source of energy. Scientist know that eating too much fat, especially saturated fat and cholesterol, increases blood cholesterol levels, which then increases your risk of heart disease. Too much fat also may lead to overweight and an increase for your risk of some cancers.

Most people like the taste of table sugar. There are sweeteners that are hidden in foods like honey, dried foods, concentrated fruit juices, and ingredients such as corn syrup that are added to cookies, soft drinks and lots of other processed foods. Very active teens with high-energy needs can use sweets as an additional source of calories. But these foods contain a limited amount of nutrients and both sugars and starches can contribute to tooth decay.

When teens exercise heavily and sweat a lot, they can deplete their sodium reserve, unbalance their body chemistry, and possible become dehydrated. In extreme cases of a lot of sweating a dilute glucose-electolyte drink may become necessary, but always with plenty of water to make up for sweat losses.

The need for iron for both girls and boys increases between the ages of 11 and 18. The National Academy of Sciences recommend that teenage boys get 12 milligrams of iron a day. For girls, the recommended daily requirement is 15 milligrams to offset menstrual losses that begin during this time. Teens also need extra calcium to store up an optimal amount of bone. The richest sources of calcium are milk and other dairy products.

Some teenagers have a hard time projecting a healthy weight for themselves. Girls especially may think that they need to be thinner than they are, or should be. Extraordinary concern or obsession for thinness leads to the eating disorders of anorexia, nervosa, or bulimia.

In conclusion nutrition is a very important part of a teenagers life. This is when they learn to eat right. Some teens feel that they are too fat because of what their diet is. And these people sometimes even develop eating disorders from this. So eat right and exercise daily.