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Right food for teenagers
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Teenage years demand a higher level of calories due to increased physical activity. Read on to find out the right kind of food...
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THE TEENAGE years are the time of rapid growth and development. Proper balanced diet and adequate nutritional intake is very vital. Given below are some nutrient intakes for teenagers:
Calories: During puberty and teenage, there is a big demand for calories by the body due to increased physical activity and metabolic rate. Adolescent boys, 13-15 years of age, need 2500 calories and girls of 13-15 years - 2200 calories. For boys of 16-18 years, 3000 calories and for girls 2200. The increased need for calories must be taken of by proper meals at home. But this does not mean that you have to eat large meals. You can make these following changes in your daily diet pattern:
— Increase the intake, and the amount of cereals and pulses too during lunch and dinner. For eg, if you are eating two chapatis, increase it to three. If you are eating one measure of rice, make it one-and-a-quarter measure.
— Include nuts, dried fruits and peanuts in your diet. Eg, eat five soaked almonds everyday, and also roasted peanuts as snacks.
* Eat at least one extra fruit per day like banana, mango, sapota or 100 gms of grapes. These are high in calories.
* If you do not take the extra calories during meal time at home, you will tend to consume empty calorie foods like soft drinks, ice cream, snacks and junk food in-between meals. This could lead to problems of overweight and obesity, which is the last thing you want.
Proteins: The need for additional protein and nitrogen during this age is also high, as additional caloric need and nitrogen need are thought to be proportional.
If you do not take the required amount of proteins at this time, it could lead to lower growth spurt and lower resistance to infection. Proteins are also required by the body for production of hormones, enzymes and digestive juices, important for health and fitness. The daily recommended allowance of protein is 55 gms for boys and 50 gms for girls (13-15 years) and 60 gms for boys and 50 gms for girls (16-18 years).
The increased demand for proteins can be met in the daily diet in the following ways:
* If you are a vegetarian, eat at least one bowl of pulse / dal / legume everyday (channa, karamani, rajmah).
* Try to have a mixture of dhals together. Ex., mix tur dhal (sambar dal) 50 per cent and masoor dal 50 per cent as this increases the quality and availability of proteins from dals.
* Drink at least 1 glass - 250 ml of milk daily. You could, if you like, drink more. If you do not like milk, you can take milk in the form of curds or desserts, in custard or payasam, etc.
* If you are a non-vegetarian, eat fish / chicken / mutton at least once a day, preferably without deep-frying.
* For vegetarians, soyabean / tofu or its processed products like nutri-nuggets should be included in the daily diet. Soyabean has 40 per cent protein compared to 18 per cent in meat/chicken etc.
* Groundnuts and nuts are also good sources of protein. These can be included in the diet.
Iron & calcium: These are the two most important minerals required during puberty, more so for girls, as the two will influence the health and well-being throughout life.
This is the time to build up the body stores of calcium and iron, which are vital to withstand the physiological stress during childbearing and child rearing years. Deficiency of iron in the diet leads to nutritional anaemia. During puberty, the need for iron increases in girls, as there is loss of iron during menstruation. The normal level of haemoglobin for males - 13 gms, females - 11 gms and children 11-12 gms. The daily recommended iron allowance during teenage are 25 mgs for boys and 35 mgs for girls.
Intake of iron through the following sources:
* Include at least one dish (about 100 gms) of any green leafy vegetable (keerai) everyday.
* Among the cereals, ragi and bajra are very good sources of iron. At least twice a week, you can take it in the form of porridge, preferably everyday. This will keep your stomach full and prevent you from snacking during the day.
* Use jaggery instead of sugar to sweeten milk, desserts, etc as jaggery has a high iron content.
* Raisins and dates are high in iron. Try to include this in your diet.
* If you are a non-vegetarian, include chicken or mutton liver in your diet. This is an excellent source of iron.
* Use an iron vessel like a kadai to cook vegetables, etc. This increases the iron content of the food cooked in the vessel.
* Vitamin C helps in the absorption of iron. So eat foods rich in vitamin C like citrus fruits (sweet lime and orange), guava, gooseberry, etc.
* Sprouts are also a very good source of vitamin C. Include a lot of sprouts in your diet.
LILY MADHOK
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