Why nutrition is important for teenagers

It is recommended that children consume five or more servings per day. The more variety of colors and nutrients you add to your meals, the better. As a parent, I know that mealtimes can sometimes seem daunting because of busy schedules and having the necessary resources. Creating and maintaining a stable routine in your diet will help you, and it will help your child look forward to mealtime.

Here are ways to help create healthy mealtimes. Chart Source: www. Related Links. Body and Mind Resources for Teachers. Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website. Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.

You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link. CDC is not responsible for Section compliance accessibility on other federal or private website. But these benefits must be considered next to its many adverse effects on health.

A teenager who indulges in a fat-heavy diet is going to put on weight, even if he's active. It would take a workout befitting an Olympic athlete to burn off excess fat calories day after day. Fatty foods contain cholesterol , a waxy substance that can clog an artery and eventually cause it to harden.

The danger of atherosclerosis is that the blockage will affect one of the blood vessels leading to the heart or the brain, setting off a heart attack or a stroke. Although these life-threatening events usually don't strike until later in adult life, the time to start practicing prevention is now, by reducing the amount of fat in your family's diet. If your family eats a lot of packaged and processed foods: Make a habit of reading the food labels. You may be surprised to see how much fat, sugar, and salt sodium , is in the foods you eat every day.

And almost all packaged goods that contain fat are likely to have partially hydrogenated fat, because it has a longer shelf life. A well-rounded diet based on the USDA guidelines should deliver sufficient amounts of all the essential vitamins and minerals.

Adolescents tend to most often fall short of their daily quotas of calcium , iron , zinc , and vitamin D. Unless blood tests and a pediatrician's evaluation reveal a specific deficiency, it's preferable to obtain nutrients from food instead of from dietary supplements. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server.

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