Teaching healthy eating habits to teens

Daily nutritional requirements

The eating habits of teenagers are often rather strange, and teens take nutritional risks. They may miss family meals and fill up on fast food; they may skip breakfast and experiment with supplements. Some girls cut calories to lose weight; some boys pack in calories to gain weight: In brief, they've turned a corner and realized that they can do whatever they want with their bodies. But don't point out to your son that he's living on grease. A parent's direct criticism of what a teen eats is not usually effective. Your job is to provide a variety of nutritious foods and then back off. Teens should be allowed to decide what and how much to eat.

Lay out wholesome breakfast foods, provide nutritious snacks that they can tuck into a backpack, and set regular dinner times. Teens may act savvy, but they still rely on their parents for meeting their nutritional needs. They also look to parents for nutritional guidance. Look for the "teachable moment." When you're both sitting at the breakfast table gazing at the cereal boxes, point out the nutrition information. Compare and see which cereal scores highest in iron, fibre, and the B vitamins. If, after a night of bingeing on snack foods, she feels nauseous, help her make the connection between the food she eats and her physical and mental well-being.

Teens need to aim for the maximum number of servings suggested in Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating to get the basic nutrients they need. However, the diets of many Canadian teens are low in both calcium and iron. Growing teenagers, male and female, need the maximum number of servings of milk products for calcium and the maximum of meat products for iron.

The importance of calcium

During adolescence, kids grow faster than at any time except infancy; in fact, half of their growth occurs in this period. They need calcium-rich foods, such as dairy products, to help build strong, healthy bones. A calcium deficit during childhood and adolescence might never be fully overcome in later years. Reducing or eliminating milk products during this all-important growth spurt could mean that your child will fail to reach her growth potential and may contribute to her developing osteoporosis in later life.

Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating recommends that youths aged ten through sixteen have 3 to 4 servings of milk products a day. After age sixteen, it's 2 to 4 servings. Examples of one serving are: 250 mL (one cup) of milk, 50 g (2 slices) of processed cheese, 50 g (1 in. x 1 in. x 3 in.) cube of cheese, or 175 mL (3/4 cup) of yogurt or ice cream. A single serving of milk packs a big nutritional punch: as much protein as a large Grade A egg, almost as much potassium as a banana, 45 percent of the daily requirement for vitamin D -- a total of 25 nutrients in all. Vitamin D is essential to the proper absorption and utilization of calcium, which is why milk is fortified with vitamin D.

But in spite of this, many teens start to snub milk and substitute cola for the milk they used to drink. Some teens drink 2 L a day, as if addicted to cola. Caffeine -- whether it's in cola, coffee, or tea -- may increase one's excretion of calcium. If your teen drinks cola instead of milk, his store of calcium is reduced both by not consuming milk products and possibly by leaching the calcium out of his body. Don't challenge the cola-crazy teen, but don't put cola on your shopping list either. Pour a glass of milk for him at dinner. If he doesn't drink it, try chocolate milk the next day; the nutrients from milk are still there.