Three day diet for the average teen

Day one
Breakfast: cereal or oatmeal followed by a bagel with either vitamin enriched margarine or a little butter, and milk and a banana

Lunch: Whole-wheat pasta with cheese and marinara sauce with a salad made of beet greens, watercress, and manoa lettuce. Milk and an orange

Diner: T-bone steak, cabbage, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, apple slices, per slices and milk

Day two
Breakfast: cereal or oatmeal followed by a bagel with either vitamin enriched margarine or a little butter, and milk and a banana

Lunch: sirloin steak sandwich made with whole-wheat buns, salad made of manoa lettuce and beet greens, milk with apple slices

Diner: fish fried in olive oil served with bok Choy and brown rice, milk pear or pineapple

Day three
Breakfast: cereal or oatmeal followed by a bagel with either vitamin enriched margarine or a little butter, and milk and a banana

Lunch: sirloin steak sandwich made with whole-wheat buns, salad made of manoa lettuce and beet greens, milk with apple slices

Diner: Whole-wheat pasta with cheese and marinara sauce with a salad made of beet greens, watercress, and manoa lettuce. Milk and an orange

posted by Christopher Len

Teen Nutrition

Around 30% of teens in the U.S. are overweight or obese (as of 2003 for general surgeon report). Many teens are worried about their weight and want to try to gain control over it. So the simple answer that most of us think of is, go on a diet. Some people take these definitions on diets to the extremes or just think that it is too hard. So they end up going down the path of other eating disorders or keep on that same track. Most teens know the basics on like how the food pyramid and how many servings a person should have. But most people don’t know how big one serving is. But teens have different dietary suggestions than that of the U.S. food pyramid. Some parts are smaller some parts are bigger. This dietary guide is for teens that are moderately active with at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day.

Grain Servings: a person should eat around 9-11 servings of starch a day
The best forms of starches are the grains that are in their pure form like whole grains or brown rice
One serving of starch is around:
One slice of bread
1/3 of a scoop of rice
½ bagel

Fruit & vegetable servings: 5-7 servings
Fresh fruits are the best, sundried or naturally dried fruits are ok, but you should try to stay away from sweetened fruits or fruits that are doused in sugars
One servings is about ½ a cup diced of vegetables and fruits

Proteins servings: 4-6 servings
Best sources are from nuts and fish. Beefs and others are filled with proteins but beef and pork are filled with bad cholesterol and saturated fats so try to control how much you eat.
Protein servings are around the size of a deck of cards

Dairy servings: 6-8 servings
Best comes from milk or calcium fortified OJ because vitamin C helps assimilate calcium. Yogurt is good but ice cream should be controlled.
One serving:
1 cup of milk
a cup of yogurt

Fats: 3-5 servings
There are two types of fats saturated and unsaturated fats. Saturated fats are fats that are solid at room temperature and are found mostly in fried things or chips. Unsaturated fats are the fats that are better for you and are found in natural oils like olive oil, corn oil, or sunflower oil.
One serving is around 2 tablespoons of oils

What you should eat as a teenager.

Your teenage years are when your body starts to grow and change into one of an adult. With these changes going on, your teenage years are critical. For an average teenager to stay healthy and not to stunt the growth going on in your body, you should eat lots of food with calcium, such as diary products, soya beans, tofu, and nuts which will give you healthy bones and teeth, all very important. You should also have a healthy supply of vitamin D, which keeps the calcium in your blood stream. Foods that contain good amounts of vitamin D are healthy breakfast cereals and margarine with vitamins added, as well as oily fish, fish with lots of Omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin A and D. Iron is another healthy mineral that you should have, as it is needed for you to have healthy blood. Foods rich in iron are red meat and fish, as well as liver. Vitamin C is also essential to your health, so you should eat lots of citrus fruits, such as oranges, lemons, potatoes, and tomatoes, which are all good sources of vitamin C. Vitamin C is also proven to help absorb iron, so eating an iron rich meal with vitamin C is recommended. There are two types of vitamin B, B6 and B12, which are found in similar foods, but have different purposes in your body. Both are found in meat products, while vitamin B6 is found in starch products also. Vitamin B6 helps the body store and use the energy that is found in the protein and carbohydrates that we eat. It also helps hemoglobin to form in the body which helps distribute oxygen around the body. Vitamin B12 helps keep the red blood cells and the nervous system healthy. Another important vitamin is vitamin E, which acts as an antioxidant. The best sources of this vitamin are found in plant oils, though it can also be found in small amounts within nuts and wheatgerm. Lastly, a little known vitamin called vitamin K, which is used to help the blood clot when you get injured. This vitamin is found in all green leafy vegetables and is relatively easy to get. These are the main vitamins and minerals that should be included in your body, and helps a healthy teenager develop the important systems that are being made at that age and time.

How much should you eat in a day?

There are three main factors that determine your body's energy expenditure. The BMR, or the Basal Metabolic Rate, is the body's energy expenditure while you are at rest, about 60%-70% your bodies calories burned. BMR includes activities such as, respiration, heart beat, and maintaining your body's temperature, all important things. It is the minimum amount of calories needed to sustain life. To determine your BMR, multiple your body weight by 10 and add it to twice your body weight for the average adult male. For a teenager, you should multiple your weight by a bit more, like 12. For the average adult female on the other hand, you multiple your body weight by 10 and then add the body weight to that number, same as the males. Secondly, you have to add how many calories you expend in physical activities. To do this, you simply look up all sports you are doing, and there should be calculators out there that will tell you how many calories you expend doing these sports. Then lastly, it is the thermic effect of food, which is how much energy your body uses in order to digest food. The body has to increase its output of energy in order to digest the food. To get this number, you simply find the total number of calories you have eaten in a day, and multiplying it 10%. When you add these all together, you will get the number of calories you should be getting in a day to stay healthy. Note that this is the minimal amount that you should be getting to provide your necessary energy for your BMR, physical activites, and thermic effect of the food you eat.

why the average teen should take part in a healthy diet

  A study of Canadian and American adolescents has shown that not getting enough of the essential nutrients needed in your diet puts you at risk for respiratory problems. It is suggested that the intake of antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory micronutrients are linked to people getting less respiratory infections, as well as less severe asthma symptoms. People who have low dietary intakes of fruit, vitamin-E and omega3 fatty acids at greater risk of getting asthma. Also most teens lack calcium iron and zinc in their diets, and by drinking soda you actually leach the calcium form your bones. So in other words you are losing calcium form your already weak bones. The iron is needed to support an increasing amount of blood supply. Zinc is needed during the sexual maturation an adolescent goes through during the teen years. So by eating the right foods you are giving yourself the nutrients and minerals that you need to grow and mature properly, as well as ensuring that physical problems don’t arise due to dietary habits.

posted by Christopher