How to Teach Teenagers to Eat Healthy

Eating healthy is an important lifestyle decision. For many teenagers this decision is left up to their caretaker. Teaching teenagers to eat healthy requires discussion, decisions and action.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Pen
• Your Pantry
• Meal Planner
• Recipe Book or Internet Site

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Instructions

• 1

  Educating your teenager about food and its nutritional makeup is the first step in teaching him to eat healthy. Take out labels from the main food groups in your home and discuss them. Possible foods teenagers like that you can discuss:
  Bread
  Milk
  Yogurt
  Fruit
  Cereal
  Snacks (pretzels, chips and cakes)

  After reviewing the nutrition of foods in your home, engage your teenager in meal planning and recipe searches that are low-fat and healthy.

• 2

  After discussing the foods you keep in your home it's important to describe to your teenager why whole grains are more important than complex carbohydrates. Show your teenager the difference in fats, sugars and carbohydrates in his favorite foods and a possible healthier alternative. For example: If he enjoys potato chips, show him the fat and trans fat in them, then offer a 100-calorie pack snack, a piece of fruit or pretzels with lower fat content.

• 3

  Discussing food isn't the only step to teaching your teenager to eat healthy. Awareness is a big part of his education. Teens often eat with their friends in fast food joints, diners and sub shops. Remind your teen to read the nutrition information at those places to make better choices about what he puts in his body.

• 4

  Educate your teenager on long-term health effects of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and other diseases that poor diet can contribute to over the course of his life. Emphasize diseases that may run in your family so he can see that he may be more prone to those and his diet could make it worse.

• 5

  Check your local library or wellness center and see if it provides free seminars on nutrition. If those are not available, check your insurance carrier for nutritionists and dietitians. Many insurance carriers provide wellness programs and preventive care services for diet and nutrition to help cut long-term health costs. Use these to your benefit.

• 6

  Educating your teenager isn't just about making him take action. It is about you being a role model. If you tell him to eat healthy and then he sees you eating greasy cheeseburgers, cookies, chips and cakes, you can't expect him to change his eating habits.