4 Sources Of Nutrition You Should Include In Your Adolescent’s Diet
sakshi john 
Does your teen say no to veggies during dinner? If yes, then welcome to all-mommies-world who are facing similar problems with their teenagers too!
It has become a fashion in teens to avoid good food and gorge on the junk foods. Apart from the advertisements, lifestyle is to be blamed as well for inculcating such wrong habits in children. Today’s teens are refusing to understand that nutrition plays an important role during you’re their adolescence.
Why Nutrition Is Required In Adolescence?
During adolescence, the nutrition needs of your child are higher, as it is needed for his or her physical and mental growth. At this age, your adolescent’s appetite will also increase, hence the food choices should be made carefully.
As a parent, you need to remember that nutritional needs for both boys and girls are almost similar until puberty. So, you should be well aware and prepared beforehand on what food is best for your child. Consuming inadequate amount of minerals and nutrients can affect the development of children drastically.
[ Read: Diet Chart For Teenagers Boys ]
Some Points To Consider For Nutritional Requirements During Adolescence:
- The need of energy depends on the activity level, rate of metabolism and pubertal development and growth.
- Adolescent males have a high calorie requirement than females.
- Those who participate in a lot of active sports require additional energy and adolescents who have mobility issues or are not able to be physically active, need to consume less energy.
What Are The Deficiencies In Nutrition?
A poor diet may have a bad impact on your adolescent’s health, causing deficiency diseases and other chronic diseases such as:
- Scurvy
- Kwashiorkor
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Osteoporosis and many others
Apart from these, a poor diet can also cause health issues like weight gain, high blood pressure, concentration issues, mood swings, sleep disturbances, etc.
[ Read: Diet Chart For Teenage Girl ]
Sources Of Nutrition In Adolescence:
While your adolescent will be getting the required nutrition from various healthy food sources, here are the main nutrients that should be a part of his or her diet:
1. Protein:
Protein needs should be adequate as it can cause reductions in linear growth, delay in sexual maturation, etc. At least 31 percent of calories should come from proteins.
2. Carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates offer dietary energy.
- Fruits, legumes, vegetables and whole grains offer dietary fiber.
- 50 percent calories must come from healthy carbohydrates.
[ Read: Exercises For Teenagers ]
3. Fat:
Essential fatty acids and dietary fats are required by the adolescent body for growth and development. This should not be more than 30 percent, where only 10 percent calories should come from saturated fats.
4. Minerals:
Calcium is necessary for skeletal growth and 45 percent of bone mass is accumulated during adolescence.
- Milk, orange juice and cereals must be included in the diet for better bone mass.
- Iron, zinc, Folate, Vitamin A and E are equally important to meet the needs of adolescents.
Which Food Serves The Nutritional Needs Of Adolescence?
During adolescence, your child may get into the temptation of eating non healthy food like junk food, oily snacks, cold drinks, sweets, etc. These foods have high content of salt, sugar and fats. Choosing a nutritious diet is vital for your child as it will help live a healthy and active life.
You can also take safe dietary advice from a nutritionist. Some dietary guidelines for your adolescent are:
- Fruits and vegetables.
- Grain, cereal foods which are high in fiber and whole grains.
- Milk and yogurt with reduced fat content.
- Lean meats like fish, chicken breasts, etc.
- Ensure your child drinks plenty of water and reduces the intake of saturated fats, salt and sugar.
[ Read: Eating Disorders In Teenagers ]
Planning The Meals:
Planning a meal is critically important as well.
- Eating a large healthy breakfast promotes weight loss and lowers the risk of developing heart diseases, high cholesterol and diabetes.
- Make a point that your adolescent doesn’t skip lunch or dinner, has meals on time and cuts on sugary drinks, etc.
- Plan meals and snacks. Add dried fruit, fruit juice, veggies like carrots, potato, egg, curd or pudding, salad etc. to your adolescent’s regular meals.
A healthy meal plan for your adolescent will provide enough calories and nutrients for his or her growth and good health.
Experimenting with different types of healthy recipes will result in a healthy, satisfying and tasty treat for your adolescents, which they can enjoy and benefit from.
We hope our article has helped you know what are the nutritional needs of adolescence. Do share your views with us.
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