Teenagers are old enough to make their own food choices, but they're often not mature enough to consider the health implications of their decisions. Even if their parents are staunch health supporters in the house, teens may buy the bulk of what they eat in their diets at the local convenience store or from their school vending machines.
Processed Foods
Many teens survive on processed foods rather than go for home-cooked meals. They eat on the go, and catching a doughnut from the corner store or some cookies from a vending machine is easy and lets them sleep in a few minutes later. Felicity Northcott, an anthropologist at Johns Hopkins University who researches nutrition, says that teenagers don't intentionally aim to eat unhealthy foods, they just eat whatever is convenient and in their reach. Store-bought cakes and cookies as well as pizza and ice cream are winners with this crowd.
High Carbs
Teenagers tend to eat high-carbohydrate diets that are low in fruits and veggies. The easiest things for them to get are foods such as burgers, fries, pizza, sandwiches and cakes; foods that generally have low nutritional content, especially if they are made from white flour, which they often are. A 2009 USDA study found that only 6 percent of teenagers ate the recommended daily servings of five vegetables, and only 24 percent consumed the recommended daily servings of five fruits.
Grease Is The Word
Teenagers spend a lot of after-school time at local fast food joints where greasy, high-fat foods are the main stars of the menus. Burgers, fries, milkshakes, and pizza are loaded with unnecessary fats, much of which is saturated and should be a very small part of a healthy diet. Obesity rates continue to skyrocket amongst teenagers and fried foods may contribute to this negative trend. A 2005 study published in the Journal Of Pediatrics found that teens between ages 9 and 14 who consumed greater quantities of fried foods outside of their homes tended to be heavier.
Bring On The Calrories
Many teens consume way more calories than necessary in their diets. Between high-calorie drinks and junk foods such as packaged baked goods, chocolate and candy bars, some teenagers eat almost double the recommended daily calories for healthy growth and maintenance. Soft drinks are loaded with sugar, and high-calorie sodas are one of the largest contributors to obesity in the U.S. Active teenagers need around 2,500 calories in their daily diets, and only 10 percent should come from added sugars.
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