Added: 09/25/2006 |
Healthy Diets for TeenagersOne of the most difficult part about being a parent of teenagers is trying to get them to eat healthy foods. Every parent tries to develop healthy diets for teenagers in the home, but as soon as they are out of sight, it goes right out the window and in comes the McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, and all the other junk food that you are trying to teach them to avoid.
Can you force your teen to eat healthy when they go out with friends? No, of course not, but if you encourage healthy eating at home, you will stand a better chance that your teen will make the right choices when he or she is with friends. As your child becomes a teenager, especially a girl, he or she will begin to care more about appearance, and if a junk food diet puts on the pounds, your teen will look to you for information on diets for teenagers that will help with the problem. Keep in mind that being harsh on your teenager about his eating habits will only make him want to do it more. Explain to him the benefits of healthy eating, and how it will set a precedent for the rest of his life, and though he will not believe that when you say it, as he becomes older, he will remember what you said and begin to adjust his eating program accordingly.
Because teenagers are growing in many different ways, diets for teenagers should include a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and dairy products. When you prepare meals at home, you are in control of what your teenager eats, and though you may not be in control when he goes out with friends, you do if he eats out with the family. Don’t force him to eat what he doesn’t want, however, give him choices off the menu from which he can choose. If you have provided encouragement at home, he may choose a healthy menu item instead of that high calorie burger.
One of the worst things for teenagers is soda, so diets for teenagers should include drinks such as fruit juices, milk, and plenty of water to keep the body flushed and give the skin a healthy glow. If you make it a habit to have a salad at most every meal, your teenager will be less adverse to vegetables. Even teens who profess not to like vegetables will eat a salad, and as long as you have the salad fixings that are good for him, he still gets the right amount of vegetables. Although experts claim food is not a factor in acne, those who have gone through puberty know that certain foods caused more acne than others did because they created the excess oil that causes pimples. Eliminating foods that are likely to make teenage acne worse is also something that needs to have priority in diets for teenagers.
Although you will not be with your teenager all the time to see what he eats, if you encourage healthy eating at home, and prepare healthy meals, your teen will be more likely to follow the pattern when he is out with friends. Encouraging healthy eating instead of complaining about bad eating habits is more effective when dealing with teenagers.
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