Adolescent Eating Habits
Most of us didn’t get through school without taking at least one “Health” class in which we learned about the Food Pyramid and how it was made up of the Five Food Groups. We could also name them, and perhaps some of us still can.
Today, the lack of eating among TV and movie starlets is more than obvious. Sadly, it seems, the race is on to see who can be the thinnest and most skeletal looking. But in the end, the true outcome of the physical results is of no real concern except to the individual involved. Unfortunately, this has now become the norm in some circles in the “real world”, enough so that adolescents use peer pressure and Hollywood to compare their self-worth with the way they look.
Aside from the belief that too much time is spent on thinking “thin is in”, an added concern is just how much “good” food are they eating? It’s hard enough to be a teen without having to worry that you can’t eat ‘fun’ foods in moderation.
Luckily, as a new push toward helping grade school children and adolescents re-learn how to eat healthy, the President has asked the schools to focus on changing their menus and incorporate physical activity into the daily class schedules. He’s also given “physical activity” a boost when he’s photographed running in the park or down the street.
So what does that mean for you? Watch how your teens eat. Often the growth of an eating disorder goes unnoticed until it’s too late. Make sure that mealtime is a time that family does together. Not only is this an important time for family bonding, but if you don’t eat meals with your kids, you can’t see when there’s a problem developing. Warning signs are that your child plays more with her/his food than actually eats it, or says she/he isn’t hungry a lot. Another would be noticing she/he is starting to lose weight. Some eating disorders do not result in weight loss, however, which we’ll save for another blog.
To read the abstract of this study, go to; http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hbrc/diet/AFHQreliabilityandvalidity.pdf
To learn more about adolescent eating behaviors, go to; http://www.epi.umn.edu/let/pubs/img/adol_ch2.pdf
Today, the lack of eating among TV and movie starlets is more than obvious. Sadly, it seems, the race is on to see who can be the thinnest and most skeletal looking. But in the end, the true outcome of the physical results is of no real concern except to the individual involved. Unfortunately, this has now become the norm in some circles in the “real world”, enough so that adolescents use peer pressure and Hollywood to compare their self-worth with the way they look.
Aside from the belief that too much time is spent on thinking “thin is in”, an added concern is just how much “good” food are they eating? It’s hard enough to be a teen without having to worry that you can’t eat ‘fun’ foods in moderation.
Luckily, as a new push toward helping grade school children and adolescents re-learn how to eat healthy, the President has asked the schools to focus on changing their menus and incorporate physical activity into the daily class schedules. He’s also given “physical activity” a boost when he’s photographed running in the park or down the street.
So what does that mean for you? Watch how your teens eat. Often the growth of an eating disorder goes unnoticed until it’s too late. Make sure that mealtime is a time that family does together. Not only is this an important time for family bonding, but if you don’t eat meals with your kids, you can’t see when there’s a problem developing. Warning signs are that your child plays more with her/his food than actually eats it, or says she/he isn’t hungry a lot. Another would be noticing she/he is starting to lose weight. Some eating disorders do not result in weight loss, however, which we’ll save for another blog.
To read the abstract of this study, go to; http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hbrc/diet/AFHQreliabilityandvalidity.pdf
To learn more about adolescent eating behaviors, go to; http://www.epi.umn.edu/let/pubs/img/adol_ch2.pdf
posted by Margie Geiser, MBA, RD, NSCA-CPT at
8:36 AM
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