How to Deal With a Teen's Crazy Eating Habits
Teens may eat too much, too little or not enough of the right foods. Trying to help your teen get the right nutrients can be difficult given his increasing independence and changing taste buds. He is on the go all the time, and he deals with media and societal messages about how he should look. Trying to balance these pressures with his hunger pains can be difficult. Modeling how and what to eat and communicating with your teen can help your teen eat well.
Instructions
Keep healthy snacks such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains in the house. Encourage a meal time with sensible proportions and a variety of foods. Setting an example can be more helpful than mandating how much and when your teen should eat. Time.com reported the findings of two studies the journal ̶0;Pediatrics,̶1; in an April 2013 article that stated that parents shouldn̵7;t overly control their kids̵7; eating habits. The analysis found in part that if you force a teen to finish the food on her plate when she isn̵7;t hungry, she might learn not to listen to her body̵7;s cues that say she isn̵7;t hungry. (See Reference 1.) Talk to your teenager about body image and eating habits to help prevent her from developing an eating disorder. Talk about how eating too much or too little can negatively affect health. Encourage your teen to talk to a friend, a counselor or someone else she trusts if she is facing problems instead of finding comfort in food. Build your teen̵7;s self-esteem by listening to her when she talks and respecting her goals and accomplishments. Use food to help her body grow and develop instead of as a reward or taking it away for punishment. Encourage your teen to think carefully about the choices of food he makes when he is away from home. The adolescent years are second only to infancy in the need for proper nutrition, according to the Ask Dr. Sears website. Teens start to eat away from the dinner table, and they often purchase unhealthy fast food. Their tastes change from when they were younger, and they often gravitate toward fat. Boys lean toward food high in protein, and girls typically want sweets, perhaps because their estrogen levels are rising. More food does not necessarily equate with more muscle, and eating less does not always mean being slim. Help him connect the dots between eating well and being physically able to do the activities he enjoys. Prepare meals that are relevant to a teen̵7;s growth. Girls need more iron when they start menstruating, and boys need more protein than adolescent girls. Zinc is important for the diets of both genders, as is calcium. Their bodies demand nearly all vitamins. While it̵7;s best to get vitamins and minerals from food, a multi-vitamin can help fill in gaps if your teen has unhealthy or random eating habits. Additionally, while some teens overindulge in or completely cut out fat from their diets, smart fats such as the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish assist in their proper growth and development.