By Yvonne Wake Supernanny Expert 12/09/2007
What a tricky time it is to be a teenager! It should be such fun, and yet it’s sometimes very stressful. You have to contend with changes to your body shape and size, going through puberty and sexual maturity, changing relationships with parents and younger siblings and sometimes moving schools and losing your friends. And there’s more: the first real important exams take place and parents and family members are always asking you what you want to be in life when all you really want to do is listen to music on your iPod and speak to your friends on the phone. When it relates to a healthy diet, you wish your parents would stop trying to force ‘healthy’ food down you. Forget it, I hear you say!
But it can’t be forgotten – this is a very crucial time to start thinking independently about your diet as well as your energy levels. Your highest energy needs occur during your teenage years (between 14 – 18 years) when you are growing very fast. Your body is maturing and you are developing different food tastes which are not always the healthy kind. If you are in the upper age group you may have moved away from home and started to cook for yourself or not as the case might be!. Whatever your age, as a teenager, you don’t know everything and the learning curve can be very stressful.
These days, young people often model themselves on very thin so-called ‘celebrities’, which makes for a very pressurising time.
Trying to stay thin can take you away from eating a wholesome diet, and lead to bad skin, dull looking hair and unhealthy nails.
Trying to look cool and peer pressure play a part in bad habits like smoking and drinking alcohol, and quite often this leads to ill health and depression. It is hard for many teenagers, but if you are looking at this page it suggests that you might be interested in making positive changes to your life.
Helpful hints to keep you on the straight and narrow:
Are changes really needed?
You may be living at home and enjoying your life as a teenager with all going well. On the other hand you may wish to improve your concentration levels at school, or genuinely need to lose a few pounds, you may be hungry at school around 11am and head for the unhealthy pack of crisps and wish every day that you hadn’t, you may even want to eat a healthier diet than that of the rest of your family. You may want to become a Vegetarian. Whatever the challenges, you need to make a plan and write it down. You are a responsible teenager and this is the time when you will start to take control of certain things in your life like eating and keeping fit and healthy.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Never forget that.
Here’s why: breakfast kick starts your body after eight hours of sleep when energy was being slowly used up. This is the longest time your body will have gone without eating, so you need to fill up the supply of energy to get you through the day. About one quar...
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