Tips to Influencing Your Teens Diet
Understand sources that can influence your teen's food choices
- Peers and school.
- Media and advertisements.
- Family eating habits.
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Three ways to encourage your teen to eat healthy at home
- Offer healthy snack and meal choices at home and limit the amount of junk food in the kitchen.
- Make healthy foods easier - keep fresh vegetables and fruits washed and ready to eat.
- Instead of soda, stock up on water and 100% fruit juice.
Show your teen good eating habits
- Be a good role model - eat a nutritious diet yourself.
- Eat healthy meals as a family.
- Don't eat at fast food restaurants everyday.
Tips to getting your teen to see the benefits of healthy eating
- Connect good nutrition to their appearance - eating a balanced diet can give your teen a more healthy weight, hair, and skin.
- Talk to them about the importance of healthy eating in relation to sports and academic performance.
Personalize good nutrition for your teen
- When grocery shopping, purchase nutritional foods you know they will enjoy.
- Give your teen healthy, eat-on-the-go options like low-fat granola bars, popcorn, string cheese, bananas, apples, and nuts.
Encourage good eating habits in your teen
- Remind teens to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and not to skip meals.
- Encourage them to read nutritional labels to understand what is in the foods they eat.
- Inform them of the healthier choices now available at most fast food restaurants.
Talk to your teen about the images portrayed in the media
- Discuss marketing tactics used by companies to sell products.
- Point out that there are extreme body types on television - very thin or very overweight - and that they should concentrate on a healthy lifestyle and achieving a weight that is healthy for them.
- Help them develop a positive body image.
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