Why Are Teenagers Always Hungry?

As children become teenagers, you budget more for groceries. Yet your purchases don't stretch as far because your teenagers devour everything you buy. Food disappears as though by magic. There are reasons why teens always seem to be hungry.

Growth

• The teen years are years of growth. Everything is changing for them. Teens grow taller. Boy's shoulders broaden, muscles strengthen. Girls develop figures. Growth happens physically, mentally and emotionally and all growth takes an enormous amount of energy. Teen bodies require food for growth.

Emotional Outlet

• Teen years are stressful. Everything changes and teenagers often find outside forces as stressful as inner changes. Changes in the family situation, changes in schools and friendships along with natural changes of the body may lead a teenager to seek comfort in food. Emotional stress leads to hunger, causing a teenager to overeat. Hunger and food becomes a habitual outlet for emotional stress and/or pain.

Availability

• Americans live in a culture where not only is food available on practically every corner, but ads are blared every few minutes on television and in magazines and newspapers. Website ads also elicit a response of hunger. Teenagers surf the web and watch TV. This exposure to constant food ads and the very availability of food encourages hunger in a growing, changing body already craving sustenance.