Teens, now is your time to make your health a priority! The diet and lifestyle choices you make now can have a significant impact on your future health. That is because habits formed early in life may stick with you throughout adulthood and are often predictors of your health status later in life. With that being said, click on the link below and learn how to take charge of your health!

http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/PDFs/teenblackwhite3.pdf

 

Healthy Eating Plan

With your hectic school and after-school activities, you may not always find yourself eating healthfully. Eating healthfully means getting the right balance of nutrients your body needs to perform every day. All teens may not have the same healthy eating plan. That is because all teens require different calorie needs based on their gender, body size, growth rate, and activity level.

• Teenage boys on average need 1,800 to 2,600 calories a day if they're 11 to 13 years, and 2,200 to 3,200 calories a day if they're 14 to 18 years of age.
• Teenage girls on average need 1,800 to 2,200 calories a day if they're ages 11 to 13, and 1,800 to 2,400 calories a day if they're age 14 to 18.
• Those involved in strenuous physical activity such as soccer, basketball, football or other sports may need 3,500 calories (more or less) daily. Click on the link below for some nutrition tips for teen athletes!

                Sports Nutrition for the Teenage Athlete

• Click on the interactive tool links below to get a personalized healthy eating plan, or to plan and assess your food and physical activity choices based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans:
  • Daily Food Plan http://www.choosemyplate.gov
  • Food Planner http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/planner/launchPage.aspx
  • Food Tracker http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/
  • MyFoodapedia http://www.myfoodapedia.gov/

Healthy Eating

Start Your Day off with Breakfast

Did you know that eating breakfast can help you do better in school? By eating breakfast you can increase your attention span and memory, have more energy, and feel less irritable and restless. Breakfast foods can sometimes seem bland and boring, but it doesn’t have to be just milk and cereal! Click on the link below for some easy, yet nutritious breakfast ideas!

Make Breakfast Fun! 

Healthy Snacking

Healthy snacking can serve as a way to supplement your meals with nutrients that you may have missed. Healthy snacking can help you achieve the diet components of a healthy eating plan and give you the energy boost you need to get through your day. Click on the links below for snack tips!

Healthy Snacking

Smart Snacking for Adults and Teens  

Granola bars are often times the snack of choice for teens because they are convenient, satisfying, and delicious! A granola bar with all of those good qualities can also be healthy. For a nutrient comparison among different granola bars, click on the link below!

Granola Bars 101

 

Drink Wisely

Pop and other high-sugar beverages have become the beverages of choice for teens and adults alike. Yet these beverages are actually more like desserts because they are high in added sugar and calories. In fact, soda and sugar-filled drinks may cause weight gain in kids and teens. To avoid the weight gain, choose water, 100% fruit juice, low-fat milk, or fat-free milk. These smart beverage options have no-added sugar, fewer calories, and are packed with vital nutrients. For more information on choosing beverages wisely, click on the link below!

Sweetened Drinks

 

Fast food and Health

You may find that your busy schedule (filled with sports, homework, and social events) may lead you to consume fast foods often. Sometimes the “American Teen Lifestyle” doesn’t allow for anything except a meal-on-the-go! However, you should know that many fast food options contain unhealthy ingredients such as high fat meat, refined grains, and added sugar and fats, instead of nutritious foods such as lean meats, fresh fruits, and vegetables. For this reason, you need to know how to be a smart fast food consumer because there are healthy fast food options almost everywhere! All you have to do is learn how to spot them! Click on the link below for more information on this topic!

Healthy Eating on the Run: A Month of Tips  

Healthy Vegetarians

Vegetarian diets are becoming more and more common. If you are or are thinking about becoming a vegetarian, there are many things you should know in order to maintain a healthy and balanced diet.

There are typically 4 different kinds of vegetarians:

• Strict Vegetarian or Vegan: A vegetarian diet that excludes all animal products such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, cheese and other dairy products.
• Lactovegetarian: A vegetarian diet that excludes meat, poultry, fish and eggs but includes dairy products
• Lacto-ovovegetarian: A vegetarian diet that excludes meat, poultry and fish but includes eggs and dairy products. Most vegetarians in the United States fall into this category.
• Flexitarian: A semi-vegetarian diet with a focal point on vegetarian food with occasional meat consumption.

Clink here for 10 Tips for Following a Vegetarian Diet!  

Vegetarian Athletes

If you are an athlete and a vegetarian then most likely you have extra dietary needs in order to fuel your performance.

Click here for tips on Vegetarian Eating for Athletes!