Adolescence is a time not only of great physical development but also of tremendous emotional growth. This psychological development coupled with social practices and peer influence affects food choices, eating habits and body image.
Today’s teens have more access to foods, have their own money and also access to independent transportation. Along with this increased freedom comes greater spending power. Added to this, teenagers are faced with more food choices than even before, which becomes a paradoxical blessing because it makes decision more difficult. This paves way for adolescents to make inappropriate food choices leading to unhealthy eating habits resulting in a nutritionally inadequate diet. Let’s look at some of the adolescent specific nutritional issues, which call for specific strategies and approaches.
They are :
Skipping meals – Skipping breakfast (less frequently lunch ) hits a peak during adolescence, a time during which dietary habits that may persist for life are formed. There can be many explanations for not having breakfast : lack of time, lack of appetite, preference for sleep, spending time over personal appearance and the most popular one – that is to reduce weight. This reason is just a pre - conceived notion with no scientific evidence. Breakfast is in no way related to weight reduction. It is a well documented fact that there is no nutritional substitute for a good breakfast, be it for any age group.
Having a good breakfast has 3 major advantages :
1. Maintains blood glucose levels in a manner that helps to improve academic performance
2. important nutrients like vit C, Calcium and riboflavin that might not be provided in adequate amounts by other meals
3. prevents compensation – that is skipping breakfast would increase hunger during midmorning or lunch time that would result in consuming extra calories compensated for not having break fast.
Snacking – Snacking is a way of life for teenagers. Snacks typically provide atleast one fourth of the average teenager’s daily food intake. Snacking can be as an integral component of the total eating pattern, when based on wise food choices but must be questioned if it constitutes overeating. Overeating in a short period of time results in greater production of fat, which is hard to mobilize.
Most often, favorite snacks are high in fat and low in minerals and vitamins. Improving the quality of snacks can go a long way in meeting the increased nutritional demands without compromising on good health.
Some of the nutritional snacks that can be chosen are fresh fruits, raw vegetables – as salads or as in bhel puri, chikkies / burfi, sprouted grams sundal and dry fruits.
Beverages – Many of the food choices adolescents make reflect the opinions and action of their peers or friends. When their peers perceive milk as babyish, a teenager will choose soft drinks instead of fruit juice or milk with breakfast, lunch and snacks. The only time they have milk would be early morning or late night leading to a calcium deficit diet which is associated with reduced bone mass considered to be the key factor in the development of osteoporosis or simply adult bone loss some where later in adult years. Adolescents who drink soft drinks regularly have a higher energy intake and are likely to be over –weight.
Yet another problem presented by excessive consumption of soft drink is its caffeine content. Caffeine is a stimulant added during the manufacture of soft drinks which when taken in greater amounts increases
the respiration rate, heart rate, blood pressure and secretion of stress hormones and can cause symptoms associated with anxiety.
One can go for healthy beverages like milk/milk shakes, fruit juices, panagam, buttermilk. An excellent alternative to all these would be smoothies which is a blend of fresh fruit/fruits or fruit with vegetable / milk/dry fruits or combination of all. Appropriate amounts of these ingredients could be blended just for 2 minutes in a mixer. Smoothies can replace a meal and can keep you going for a long time until the next meal.
Eating at their favorite hang-outs – Adolescents eat about one third of their meals away from home, wherein their nutritional status is enhanced or hindered by the choices they make. Making healthful choices definitely contribute to the nutrient needs of the teenager.
Some tips for eating out are:
· Balance the menu with low fat and high fat foods eg pizza with less of cheese and more of vegetables/ idli with vadai.
· Enjoy salad buffets
· Avoid having empty calories like carbonated beverages
· Do not order too much quantity for you may end up eating forcibly
· Very important – do not get addicted to eating out.
Erratic eating habits and social pressures have made adolescent girls more susceptible to atleast two important nutritional problems namely obesity and eating disorders
Obesity : Obesity has become the burning issue of adolescents. One in every five teens are over weight or obese – the problem more evident in females. The consequences of obesity are so dramatic and our society’s attitude toward obese people is so negative that even teens of normal weight perceive a need to control their weight. Incorporating physical activity as a component of the lifestyle helps to maintain a desirable weight. Physical activity should be a sustainable one and not attempted intermittently, that is exercising when there is weight gain and discontinuing exercise when weight loss as this practice tends to put on more weight than before.
Studies have shown that the prevalence of obesity or excess body fat increases about 2 % for every hour per day of inactivity coupled with munching snacks that is associated with television watching. Television watching has become a normal part of snack routines for most of the adolescents and adults .It has become so automatic that one indulges in snacking while switching on the television or the other way round. This habit becomes a problem as it is difficult to know the amount of snack that is consumed when one is involved in T.V watching. Simply, you tend to over eat.
As activity patterns developed in adolescence often prevail throughout adulthood, adopting habits of active exercise at an early age becomes important in preventing obesity in adulthood.
Eating Disorders - Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa
As teenage girls often try to emulate fashion models or favorite heroines, they often aspire to an unrealistic and unhealthy body size that leads them to follow an unwise, crash diets for weight loss. In some instances social pressures and personal tensions paves way for self- starvation diets which result in a complex and far reaching eating disorders such as Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa that could be potentially hazardous to health.
· Anorexia nervosa is a psychological condition manifested by a refusal to eat in order to achieve an unusually thin appearance.
· Bulimia nervosa is the practice of bingeing on food, followed by self
induced vomiting/ defaecation/ excessive exercise/ fasting to prevent
weight gain.
This unhealthy practice, in pursuit of figure consiousness leads to an
inadequate intake of nutrients at a time when they really need for growth and for accumulation of reserves for the reproductive year to come as in pregnancy and lactation, complicates the situation more.
The importance of appropriate adolescent nutrition has also been recognized and reflected in the new regulations of the beauty contest (with effect from 2005) which has declared that models having BMI of < 18 (ideal BMI – 18 to 24.5 ) should not participate in the catwalk events.
These twin problems can be combated by the BE SIZEWISE approach.
Teens often don’t think about long term benefits of good health. They have a hard time relating today’s action to tomorrow’s health outcomes. Many of them tend to think that they can change habits later; there’s no hurry.
Still, healthful teen food habits don’t have to include giving up favorite foods. It’s just the matter of making sensible food selections.
Snacks and eating outside themselves are not the problems; but POOR FOOD CHOICES ARE.
The question arises as how to make good food choices? The answer is GO FOR THE FOOD GUIDE PYRAMID.
The food guide pyramid is an appropriate guide for adolescents food choices even when snacking.
The food pyramid represents the basic five food groups at various levels
Group 1 The base of the pyramid being the largest part is dedicated to cereals and cereal products like rice, wheat, ragi and bread
Group 2 and 3 - The next level consisting of two major food group – the fruit and vegetable contributes to fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Group 4 – a much smaller section occupied by milk and milk products and meat and meat products (exclusively for non vegetarians) In case of vegetarians meat and meat products are replaced by pulses which could be grams or dhal.
Goup 5 – the last level that tips the pyramid represents fats and oils and sugars.
The pyramid by the virtue of its shape indicates the amount to be consumed, the base being the largest warrants more intake amounts which gradually decrease successively as the pyramid tapers to the tip.
Making daily selection from each of the five food groups to each meal not only adds variety but also ensures a balanced diet.
Eg. For a breakfast selecting a cereal - Idli (cereal + pulse)
Picking a fruit – apple/banana
Choosing a serving of milk – one glass of milk/coffee
From the pulse group- sambar/vadai
Oil and sugar used in preparing food
YOU NOW ARRIVE AT A BALANCED DIET
WHAT CONSTITUTES THE WINNING EDGE
HABITS DIE HARD – true to this saying, inculcating the habit of wise selection of foods in adolescence would definitely continue through adulthood to old age would not only help to
· reduce or delay the incidence of chronic diseases BUT ALSO
· boost confidence and self esteem as evidenced by good mental health.
No matter what your past experience has been relating to improving your health and fitness, today can be the beginning of realizing your health and fitness dreams. So go ahead and give yourself a healthier YOU with sensible choice of food and physical activity.
