Great Teen Diets

During the teenage years a healthy, well-rounded diet is essential because the body is growing and changing rapidly. Several steps are required to ensure your teen's diet is healthy and varied, without becoming boring and unappetizing.

Basic Tips

• Encourage smaller, healthier snacks.

  Giving up favorite foods can simply increase cravings, so aim to reduce portion size and offer a healthy choice to accompany snacks, such as a piece of fruit with a smaller bag of chips. Ensure healthy snacks are available such as fruit, nuts and cereal bars and cut down on the amount of chocolate and chips in the house. Encourage your teen to choose a smaller size meal and milk instead of soda when out with friends. Three meals a day is also important; skipping meals can deprive the body of essential nutrients. Explain the importance of a healthy diet and discuss meals with your teen. Including her in her diet choices may help her make correct choices when unsupervised.

Meals

• A healthy breakfast helps prevent snacking.

  Eating breakfast will help prevent the urge to snack between meals. A healthy breakfast should include plenty of protein, such as a boiled egg and a piece of whole-grain toast, to give the body slow-release energy. Alternatively cereal will provide this energy and milk provides calcium. A piece of fruit at breakfast will help toward achieving your teen's recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables per day and is a source of vitamins. For a packed lunch, use whole-grain bread for sandwiches, keep sugary snacks small and add plenty of fruit. Make a healthy dinner by including lean protein such as chicken and plenty of steamed vegetables. Avoid frying food and make pudding something fruity.

Healthy Food Swaps

• Swap fatty puddings for a fruit salad.

  Swap jam on toast for a boiled egg with toast, sugary cereals for porridge and white bread for whole grain. Swap biscuits and chocolate for plain popcorn, nuts or fruit and look for chips that are baked not fried. Add green salad such as lettuce to a sandwich instead of mayo; salads are a healthy choice, but check the labels on dressings. Some dressings contain over 8 grams of sugar. Swap fries for a baked potato with cottage cheese and swap processed meat products such as chicken kievs for lean cuts of fresh meat. Sweet fruits such as figs or strawberries can satisfy a sugar craving and swap fizzy drinks for water or milk.

Vitamins and Minerals

• Milk is a great source of calcium.

  Vitamins and minerals help the body by boosting the immune system, helping the organs work efficiently and supporting growth and development. For example, calcium is found in dairy products and leafy green vegetables. According to Best Teen Diets, bones are at their strongest between the teen years and around 30 years. Teens not getting enough calcium can suffer from osteoporosis later in life. An important vitamin is Vitamin C, found in oranges, kiwi and broccoli. It helps the body absorb iron and calcium, heal wounds and many other jobs. Reading food labels and choosing fresh produce can help ensure your teen is getting the necessary vitamins and minerals.