The National Institutes of Health recommends healthy teens get about an hour of exercise every day. Exercise can include sports, active play, cooperative games and physical activity such as walking. Help teens learn about nutrition by offering them choices that allow them to feel the direct effects of their selections. Offer a teen a sugary doughnut and ask him how he feels an hour later. Later, offer him peanut butter toast on whole-grain bread with sliced banana. Teens will most likely choose to eat the foods that give them energy and not a "sugar crash."
Active Play Every Day
Give your teen active play time every day. During the school year, if it is safe and practical, allow her to walk to and from school with other friends or a caregiver, if you can't accompany her yourself. After school, encourage her to play sports as part of a school program or sign her up for something else she will enjoy: karate or a kids hip-hop class. Or, turn her loose in the backyard for 30 to 60 minutes with a football or Frisbee to play every day before dinner.
Make Daily Exercise a Habit
Make physical activity a daily habit. During the summer, go hiking, swimming or biking to the beach. Walk to the grocery store and back once a week with your teen. Including the family will help the idea of regular exercise become ingrained. This will help him achieve long-term weight management and stress relief.
Encourage him to make up active games or drills. Capture the flag or dodge ball are classic games but also ask your teen to come up with any kind of game that keeps him physically moving and to reduce boredom or shyness about competing.
Include Your Teens in Food Shopping and Preparation
When it comes to eating, teens will tend to model their behavior on what their parents do. Provide a balanced diet that includes vegetables; fruits; lean proteins; whole grains such as brown rice, oats, millet and quinoa; eggs; low-fat dairy foods; nuts and nonsaturated fats. This way of eating is outlined in a nutritional matrix called My Food Pyramid designed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Ask your teen to go with you grocery shopping so she can select her favorite fruits and low-sugar peanut butter. Allow her to help prepare at least one meal a day. Explain why eating whole foods provides vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber. Rather than restrict her to a strict calorie count, encourage her to stay active and eat a whole-foods diet.
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