On the Teen Scene: Good News About Good Nutrition - Teenagers & Nutrition Articles & Reports

On the Teen Scene: Good News About Good Nutrition
by Judith E. Foulke
FDA's Public Affairs Staff
FDA/Office of Public Affairs

This article is part of a series with important health information for teenagers.

You've heard it all before. For as long as you can remember, your parents, your teachers, perhaps even your doctor, have been telling you to eat your vegetables, limit sweets, drink your milk.

Now, in your teen years, this advice takes on new meaning for a lot of very different reasons: How can you gain weight to put on muscle instead of fat? What's a healthy weight for you? How can you squeeze in a good, quick meal after school and before you have to be at your part-time job? All good questions, and because of the enormous changes that are going on in your body, the way you decide to deal with your nutrition needs now can make a big difference not only in how you feel today, but also in your well-being in years to come.

If you are between 15 and 18, you're completing your final major growth spurt, and are in the process of putting on nature's finishing touches for adulthood. For girls, the finishing touch means adding some fat padding. For boys, it means adding muscle and increasing the volume of blood. These changes often encourage girls to diet unnecessarily to stay slim, while boys may overeat to satisfy their appetites. Both can lead to health problems down the road, and, incidentally, probably will not do the job you want right now.

So what is the right approach to healthy eating?

A good start is to eat a variety of foods, as suggested in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published by the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. Get the many nutrients your body needs by choosing a variety of foods from each of these groups:

vegetables
fruits
breads, cereals, rice, and pasta
milk, yogurt and cheese
meat, poultry, fish, dried beans and peas, eggs, and nuts.
What's So Junky About 'Junk' Food?
The pace for teens is fast and getting faster. Added to pressures from school to prepare for college or a job, many teens take part in sports and work part-time. This often means eating on the run. Stack that on top of the snack foods you eat on dates or when you get together with friends, and the balance of your nutrients can get way out of kilter.

Many snacks, such as potato chips, fast-food ....