

How to balance sweets will be a challenge, but I encourage you to make your home a health haven where your teen can get the nutrition he needs to grow well. Of course, sweets and treats will be the lure. Healthy meal plans including nutritious foods such as lean protein sources, dairy (or non-dairy), fruits, vegetables and whole grains should anchor your teen’s diet. This is where you’ll have to draw the line and set rules around family meals and friend meals. Obviously, you can support your teen through all this growth with good food and healthy eating habits.Īn eating schedule for meals and snacks still works well with the teen, even though your teen may be drawn to eat outside your home. It’s no wonder teenager eating habits become a central focus! Good Eating Habits of Teenagers As such, nutrient needs and calorie requirements are at an all-time high, preparing the body for its last phase of growth. Read more details about when boys stop growing.Īll this growing requires energy and nutrients. When do boys stop growing?īoys begin puberty about two years later than girls, which is around age 12 to 13.īoys grow for a longer period of time, and typically reach their peak height by age 18 years. Read more about when females stop growing. Most girls finish the majority of their growth two years after they start their period, typically around age 14 or 15. Puberty for girls begins around age 10 years with menses starting around age 12 1/2. Because anytime there’s an uptick in growth, an increased appetite follows. It helps if you know the signs of the typical teenage growth spurt, so you can be ready with more food. To say it’s a roller-coaster is an understatement! The teenage growth spurt is characterized by increases in height, weight and social-emotional changes.

Bad eating habits full#
Puberty is in full swing, with both girls and boys growing at a rapid pace. The teenage years are a time of heightened growth and development. Puberty, Growth Spurts and Teenager’s Foodīefore I get going, though, you need to understand what’s going on during the teenage years because it has quite an influence on eating. In this article, I will review some of the common teenager eating habits I’ve seen that are counterproductive to their health, and highlight why they happen and what you can do about them. Other unhealthy eating signs, of course, are not.įor example, if you see the signs of an eating disorder, you should never consider this typical or normal. While you may fret and worry about bad food habits, I know that much of the time unhealthy eating habits are anchored in normal teen development. Let’s face it, if you have a teenager in your house, you’re probably starting to see some bad food habits.įrom skipping breakfast to overeating at the end of the day (what I call back-loading), teens may go off the rails when they get a little freedom.Īs a pediatric nutritionist who’s worked with teens over the years, and as a mom who has raised four teens myself, I’ve seen what I consider the typical teenage diet.

Learn about 5 common teenager eating habits that get in the way of health and how to fix them.
