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Teenage years are an interesting chapter: not only do teens learn (with parental help) how to become successfully independent, teenage years are also very important and formative years in terms of setting lifelong habits and defining values. Food, drink, and physical activity are huge components of teenage life. Teens need to create healthy habits such as a balance between healthy foods, sweet treats, soda consumption, and physical exercise; in turn these habits will make their transition into adulthood a smooth and happy journey! A huge emphasis should be on helping the teens become health-conscious and balanced individuals in relation to what they eat, drink, and their physical activities.
Here are 7 tips to help your teens find healthy balance and make smart food and drink choices:
1. Cook at home from scratch, using whole food ingredients! I remember my parents cooking this way when I was growing up, and I know that it was the best way to instill my core food habits. Being a good role model for your teens and being consistent with healthy food choices is the best way to establish healthy eating habits. Kids like to mirror. Lead by example!
2. Always welcome sweets and treats, in moderation! Teenagers love sweet drinks, energy drinks, and other fun treats. Set a personal example by consuming those fun foods in moderate quantities and balancing healthy foods with fun foods.
3. Actually have a conversation about your food philosophy! Whenever it seems appropriate or whenever the subject of food comes up, talk with your teen about how to maintain a balanced, healthy diet, how to balance healthy foods with fun foods, such as desserts and sweet drinks, and how to make sure everything is consumed in moderation. Talking about food is important, and it's usually a fun conversation, too! It's especially important during teenage years when kids are more capable of understanding and making the right food choices.
4. Get plenty of physical activity every day! One of the best ways to keep teenagers out of trouble is to keep them busy with sports. It's very important to keep your teenager busy with healthy activities that benefit both his/her mind and body.
5. Get outside with your teen! In our current world filled with technology and internet, it's important to find balance in that too, and we make sure to spend a lot of time outdoors! We like to be active, but we also like to be out in nature, enjoying the fresh air, being with other active friends and their kids, and appreciating the beauty around us. Only out in nature we can become witnesses to really striking moments:
Experiences like that really have a formative effect on our teens. They learn to appreciate the beauty and the world around us and to see that we are not the only inhabitants on the Planet Earth:
6. Get good sleep! Making the right food choices, active lifestyle, and good sleep will help your teen go through his/her teen years and the hormonal changes in a smooth manner.
7. Help your teen discover his/her passion! Everything will be easier, more fun, and more positive for your teen if you help him/her discover his/her passion and support it! When teenagers have a hobby they are passionate about, it helps them stay balanced emotionally, helps them feel fulfilled and important. What does your teenager enjoy doing? Hiking, biking, photography, science projects? Help them discover things they feel passionate about and support them in pursuing those passions!
We're all busy, including our teens. But amid tons of homework and after-school activities, let's communicate with our teens about healthy eating, having an active lifestyle, occasionally enjoying sweet treats, sodas, and the idea that everything we eat and drink should be in moderation. It will help make their transition through adolescence so much smoother and happier.
Mixify is an on-going effort by Coke, Dr Pepper and Pepsi to educate teens and help them balance their foods, drinks and physical activities. For teens, MyMixify.com offers experts (from nutritionists and dietitians, to coaches and athletes) who are standing by to answer any questions they might have about healthy balance. The website also provides tips and tools, such as healthy recipes, a calorie calculator, tools to discover national parks, trails, and nature in general! Parents can also connect with ABA Delivers on Twitter, or ABA Delivers on Facebook. You can also learn more about America's Beverage Companies' commitments and initiatives to helping achieve a healthier lifestyle, such as removing full-calorie sodas from schools, and their new goal to cut beverage calories consumed per person by 20 percent by 2025 via Delivering Choices for Balance.
"Coke, Dr Pepper and Pepsi understand that getting a balanced mix of foods, drinks and physical activities for your family isn't always easy. That's why they're coming together for the first time ever to talk to teens about balancing what they eat and drink with what they do. With tools to help teens get active and information to help them think about when they've had too much, or maybe when it's time for a treat-America's beverage companies are supporting our efforts to find a balanced mix that works for our families."
We are also giving away a $100 Visa gift card! To enter for a chance to win, please leave a comment telling me: What do you do to keep your family balanced? Any tips or real life examples?
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I make up a very detailed shopping list and gather all my ingredients and plan for make ahead meals. I also encourage my 6yo to help with cooking and explain healthy choices vs non healthy choices. I've been overweight in the past and she has seen my struggle so we encourage healthy eating and at home cooking vs always eating out. That's saved for special events.
Great article. In our hectic lives it is hard to find balance. We are sure to have dinner together at the table every night.
https://twitter.com/sinsofthelion/status/547544995486793728
I had a wonderful pediatrician, when my children where little, he gave priceless information on child rearing. Here are his best and since my children are grown with children of their own I can swear these work.
1. always envision your children as the very best your children can be, such as getting degrees and living successful lives.
2. If you offer healthy choices in food and drink your children will balance their own diets.
3. Never call your child by anything but something positive.
Your tips are just like mine - exactly! I also like making cooking fun, by having a "smoothie station," a "taco station," or "pizza parlor", like pretend shops. It helps make everyone want to participate and enjoy healthy eating!!
I am not sure if my mandatory entry posted so here it goes again: we stay balanced by eating healthy homemade meals and staying active
tweeted -https://twitter.com/neiddy_ruiz/status/547490845646405632
Our way to stay balanced is to eat healthy and well balanced homemade meals, we only get the kids fast food in special occasions and we only go out to eat 2-3 times per month.
To help me stay healthy, I wear a fitbit and monitor my steps daily.
I tweeted here: https://twitter.com/MsTofuFairy/status/547460103457484800
We struggle to keep our weekends free for fun stuff with so many errands that need run and only one car. SO, to keep our weekends as fun as possible, hubby does errands after work on his way home and we do our grocery shopping after work as well. That way, weekends are for relaxing and doing what we want to do, not what we have to do.
Make healthy meals
We make sure there are at least 3 or 4 different colors of food on the plate.
Eating meals together is a great way for balance.
I would love to win the gift card! I am going to make the shrimp pasta. I love shrimp and love pasta!!