As girls enter adolescence, their nutritional needs change and grow. A balanced diet with daily input from all the food groups provides the correct proportion of essential and beneficial nutrients. Teenage girls, however, may pursue fad diets and poor eating habits that can damage their short-term and long-term health. Show your child how to plan meals that support her physical growth -- not weight gain -- and meet the nutritional recommendations that are specific to female health.
Calorie Requirements
Body-image issues and busy schedules can cause teenagers to fall short of general caloric recommendations, which may create vitamin and other nutrient deficiencies over time. Depending on your daughter’s activity level, she should consume 1,800 to 2,400 calories daily in order to get enough protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals to sustain her metabolism. A day of healthy eating begins with breakfast. The Food Research and Action Center reports that teenage girls who eat breakfast actually have less likelihood of becoming overweight than those who skip it. Staying within reasonable calorie limits is important too, because overweight adolescents tend to become overweight adults.
Minerals
Help your daughter choose foods that provide essential potassium, magnesium, calcium and iron every day. Whole grains, seafood, beans, dairy products, tomatoes and leafy green vegetables supply these minerals. In particular, females ages 14 to 18 need extra iron and calcium. Fifteen g of iron per day will help replace blood lost to menstruation and build up body iron reserves for child-bearing years. Girls have a higher risk than boys for low calcium intakes, which threaten their bone health. Serve low-fat milk and other dairy products to help your teen get 1,300 mg of calcium per day.
Vitamins
Girls need vitamins A, C, D, E and the eight B vitamins, preferably from food sources, each day. A variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, meats and seafood will supply the right amounts. Some vitamins are necessary to make minerals available to female bodies, specifically vitamin C to benefits iron absorption and vitamin D to assist in calcium absorption.
Additional Nutrient Concerns
Some food sources provide detrimental forms of the protein, fats and carbohydrates that female teens need. As you help your daughter make wise food choices, emphasize low-fat protein sources, such as fish, lean meats and poultry and nonfat or 1-percent fat dairy products. Reduce her intake of the saturated fat found in butter by offering healthier olive and canola oils, and emphasize fruit, vegetable and whole-grain fiber and starch over sugar carbohydrates. The result will be a healthy weight and heart along with complete daily nutrition.
References
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
- Food Research and Action Center; Breakfast for Learning; Fall 2010
- Office of the Surgeon General: Overweight Consequences; January 2007
- Weight-control Information Network: Take Charge of Your Health, A Guide for Teenagers; August 2009
- American Heart Association; How Do I Follow a Healthy Diet?; June 2011
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