Why is it important for teenagers to eat healthy foods?

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When teens hear the word “healthy”, they automatically think about working out and exercising. Many teens don’t realize that how one eats is a big factor of how “healthy” you are. During your teenage years, it is especially critical to eat healthy. There is increased growth in teens both physically and mentally, leading to a sudden need for energy. This energy, of course, comes from the food you eat. And what you eat and where you get your energy can have a huge effect on how healthy you are. Here’s an example. You have a nice red apple in front of you. And a bag of salty, oily potato chips. Which one do you want? Mmmm… Those chips look delicious. You want to eat that. But what’s really more important? That happy five minutes of crunching on those chips? Or the detrimental effects that lies hidden inside that bag? The negative effects outweigh those few minutes of pleasure.

EFFECTS of EATING HEALTHY: Increased growth during your teenage years require many important nutrients including protein, calcium, iron, folate, and zinc, depending on which part of the teen’s body is growing at the moment.  Out of these nutrients, iron, protein, and calcium are crucial to a teen’s health and the stages of growth that they are going through.  For example, iron helps one’s brain function and circulatory and immune systems.  Iron is a particularly important nutrient in girls going through menstruation.  Protein helps with the muscle growth that a body needs while growing.  In order for a person to grow in the first place, however, a person will need to enlarge the frame of their body, or their skeleton, and to do this, they will need a lot of calcium.  During puberty, the body sends signals to absorb as much calcium as it can, as the need for skeletal growth is increased. Eating well improves performance. Supplying your body with the right nutrients helps it perform its best. You want to ace that math test? You have to feed your brain what it needs. You can’t do it if you snack on junk food and skip breakfast.  Also, eating healthy can give you better skin. No one likes those zits dotting their face, right? Fortunately, eating healthy can decrease acne breakouts. Eating unhealthy foods that are greasy and high in fat clog pores and causes acne to form. Long-term health effects are potentially more serious. Eating right builds a strong foundation for life later on. Last years millions of Americans were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease and countless numbers had strokes. These were caused by plaque buildup in the arteries, caused by unhealthy eating. Eating junk food basically puts a ticking time bomb in your body. How you eat as a teenager inevitably determines your health later on in life.

Sources: http://www.nutrition.com.sg/he/heteens.asp

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/healthy-eating-teens.aspx

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/feeding-your-teenager