A healthy diet for teens consists of the basic food groups listed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture: grains, vegetables, fruits and milk, along with meat and beans representing the protein group. Some teens follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. It is the official position of the American Dietetic Association that vegetarian and vegan teens can attain a healthy diet by consuming adequate calcium, protein and other nutrients from vegetable sources.
Weight Loss
When talking about teen weight loss, dieting is not the answer. An unhealthy diet recommending drastic calorie reduction or elimination of food groups leaves teens without the nutrition necessary for proper development, cautions the Weight-Control Information Network. Unhealthy dieting may actually cause you to gain weight rather than lose because drastic calorie reduction can result in binge eating. For a healthy way to diet, eat nutrient-rich natural foods like fresh fruit and whole grain cereal.
Online Tools
Eating a healthy diet provides teens with the correct balance of nutrients required for optimal physical and mental performance. Online tools make it easy to figure out exactly what balance of nutrients each teen needs to eat a healthy diet. The USDA provides an online tool, called My Pyramid Menu Planner, that instantly produces personalized dietary guidelines for teens. These guidelines provide proper servings of each food group based on age, height, weight and amount of physical activity.
Protein
The average teen needs to consume 45 to 60 g of protein daily to maintain a healthy diet, according to HelpGuide.org. Dietary protein may come from an animal or vegetable source. Animal sources of protein provide a complete protein. Vegetable sources of protein are incomplete proteins. You must eat complimentary vegetable proteins, such as beans and rice, over the course of the day to consume complete proteins from vegetable sources.
Calcium
Calcium is part of a healthy teen diet. This essential mineral helps support the growth spurt that occurs during puberty. Although each teen's need for calcium may differ, in general teens need about 1200 mg daily. Add calcium to your diet by drinking milk with your meals and consuming calcium-fortified cereals and juices. Sesame seeds and leafy green vegetables are good vegetable sources of calcium.
Calcium Deficiency
When teens consume inadequate amounts of calcium, the body leaches calcium from the bones to obtain what it needs, warns HelpGuide.org. This leads to weak bones and the health condition called osteoporosis as adults. Avoid soda and other foods with added sugars because they leach calcium from the bones too.
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