A Parent’s Guide to Healthier Eating

“Correct nutrition during teenage years builds the foundation for future health. It includes not only serving the right diet but also developing habits that prioritise self-health. If the kids don’t learn these nutritional habits now, they might have to pay its tax later in their lives.”   

• Dt Luna Jaiswal, Founder of Addlife

Eating a balanced diet is the key to leading a healthy and active lifestyle. During teenage, eating a healthy diet is even more essential. Correct nutrition for teens averts the risk of chronic health diseases in the later stage of life. It also develops in them a habit of eating nutritious foods and following a healthy lifestyle. Once these habits develop in teenagers, they never leave their lifestyle even when they grow old, ensuring a disease-free life. 

There are also many other factors associated with teenagers, such as the development of tissues, hormonal changes and mood swings. A well-formulated nutritious diet ensures that teenagers achieve optimum growth and development, boost their immunity and enhance their physical and mental health.

Nutrition For Teens: Tips You Can’t Afford to Miss

• Teenage years call for the development of bone mass. During this time, it is essential to incorporate calcium-rich foods into your kids’ diet. Hence, make sure to add a good quantity of dairy products such as milk, curd, paneer, chenna, etc., along with other calcium-rich foods, like spinach, ragi, broccoli, white sesame seeds, makhana, chickpeas, fig, curry patta, rai, etc.     

Addlife Tip:

Including all these foods in your kids’ diet might be challenging. Addlife suggests making interesting snacks from these foods, like chenna sandwiches, paneer-spinach wraps, chenna tikki, ragi dosa, ragi idli, etc. You should also add tempered curry patta and rai wherever you can.

• Calcium and vitamin D go hand-in-hand. If you wish to absorb calcium properly, you need to intake sufficient vitamin D. Egg yolk and mushrooms are a few of the best vitamin-D rich foods. However, the best way to invite vitamin D into your kids’ life is through sunlight. Make sure your kids spend at least an hour in sunlight every day.

• During the teenage years, muscles grow, tissues develop, and haemoglobin levels increase, marking the requirement for both iron and protein. Therefore, the diets for teens must include high protein and iron-rich foods. Some of the best foods are green vegetables, kidney beans, kala chana, beetroot, hari methi, flax seeds, pomegranate, black sesame seeds, chironji, munakka, figs, raisins and blackstrap molasses.         

Addlife Tip:

Cook your food in an iron vessel to increase the intake of iron in your kids’ bodies. 

• Just as calcium and vitamin D go hand-in-hand, simultaneously, iron and vitamin C are buddies for life. If you wish to absorb iron in your body, you need to include vitamin C in your diet. In addition, vitamin C also provides antioxidants that help build immunity and fight free radical damage, which is one of the leading causes of many chronic diseases. To add vitamin C to your kids’ diet, serve them Amla Murabba and citrus fruits, such as lemons, oranges, kiwi, sweet lime, etc.

Addlife Tip:

Mix Amla powder with honey and serve this to your kids after lunch for their daily punch of vitamin C.

• Teenagers need a good amount of fats and carbohydrates for energy and growth. Some of the best carbs and fats you can include in your kids’ diet are whole grains (wheat, ragi, millets), nuts, vegetable oils, potatoes and sweet potatoes. However, you must understand that the choice of carbs holds all the importance in teen nutrition. You must choose healthy carbs and avoid bad carbs.     

• Teenage years are also crucial for the development of eyesight and vision. Therefore, the diets for teens must include foods rich in carotenoids, such as black grapes, tomatoes, apricots, beetroots, carrots and almonds.

Addlife Tip:

Make a Mukhwas with moti saunf, dhage-wali mishri and grated coconut and serve this mixture 2-3 times a day to improve your kids’ vision.   

• As Addlife believes that nutrition during teenage builds the base for the future pillars of health, it always encourages physical activity for growing teengaers. Kids must go out and indulge in sports, games or physical exercises for at least 1 hour every day to boost their physical as well as mental health.

If you wish to learn more practical tips to improve nutrition for your kids, read our blog on:

“The Best Approach Towards Kids’ Nutrition And Immunity”