Teens often lack calcium and nutrients such as vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E and so on. You would be forgiven for thinking that cutting back on fat and sugar is enough to keep your teenager healthy, for we also need to make sure our diet provides teens with enough vitamins and minerals.

Vitamins, minerals and nutrients are essential for keeping teens healthy and protecting them against illnesses. For example, milk products are needed to build bones and keep bones and teeth strong. Tofu or soy milk with added calcium is useful for teens that don't like or are allergic to cheese and milk. Remember, fresh fruit and vegetable are important for providing vitamins and minerals which convert amino acids into the crucial neurotransmitters, while antioxidant vitamins C and E can help tackle harmful free-radical molecules (particles which are thought to accelerate cellular degeneration in the body) and are vital for promoting and preserving memory.

Talk to your teen and inform them that as you get older, you stop being able to build bones. So think of your bones as a savings account into which you deposit calcium from the food you eat and drink. Your bones store up the calcium to build your bones now and to keep them strong when you get older.

All fruit and vegetables are good for the teen body, but some are even better than others. How much should a teenager consume a day? Aim for at least five portions of fruit and veggies a day:

• Blueberries contain up to five times as many antioxidants as apples or carrots, and when neuroscientists fed blueberries to lab rats, it slowed down age-related loss of mental capacity.



• Red peppers contain 20 per cent more vitamin C than green peppers, and have 15 times more of the antioxidant beta-carotene.



• Kidney beans and haricot beans are a good vegetarian source of protein, which provides amino acids for the brain, and are also high in minerals and carbohydrates.



• Green leafy vegetables such as spinach provide folic acid, which is vital for proper mental functioning (research has shown that children with behavioral difficulties such as Attention Deficit Disorder have lower levels of folic acid).

Furthermore, studying for exams is often the main focus for teenagers, which means exercising is far down the list of priorities. So look for ways to incorporate activity into everything you do, such as taking the stairs instead of the lift, or getting off the bus one stop earlier and walking the rest of the way. Do this with a friend to make exercising as fun as possible. Remind you teen that Breakfast means "breaking the fast" and is the most important meal of the day. After 8-10 hours without food, the body needs to replace its blood sugar. Breakfast prepares teens for learning and studies show that students who regularly eat breakfast score higher on tests at school.

I had an email from a lady, let's call her Penny for the sake of anonymity, who wanted to know

"I read a book to motivate myself to quit smoking...how do I get motivated, really motivated to stop eating"

The thing is, eating is even more addictive than smoking. We are biologically programmed to eat. It's definitely NOT the same as smoking. If we don't eat we die. If you don't smoke, you live longer! We can't just not buy food or stay away from other eaters. Or chew a food substitute.

And unfortunately for the state of our waistlines, it seems we are also programmed to eat as much food as we can when food is plenty so that we are able to cope with lean times ahead.

Now the trouble is that these days there are no leaner times to use up our fat stores so some of us (well a whole lot of us actually) just eat and eat to the point of obesity

Those of us who want to be slim, simply have to learn to regulate ourselves, like it or not. We have to learn to read our body's signals. To know when we are physically hungry and when we have had enough. We have to eat slowly and pay attention to our bodies.

And once you are aware that you have eaten enough you have to stop eating before you feel stuffed. And not start again until you are physically hungry.

There are a few strategies you can use to let your body (and mind) know it's time to stop eating :-

• Like smoking, eating too much (or eating when you're not physically hungry) can be a kind of habit so if you stop yourself snacking or eating too much at each meal (using sheer willpower in the beginning) eventually you will be quite used to that and stop naturally.
• If you like chocolate (like me) you may allow yourself a square with coffee at the end of your meal to signify that you have finished eating. You won't mind stopping so much, because chocolate is coming :)
• Some people find it useful to brush their teeth when eating is over. This may be a helpful strategy for Penny who used to use a cigarette to signal the end of a meal.
• You could also use clearing the kitchen of all dishes and leftovers, rinsing out the sink and putting out the kitchen lights.

Penny is also asking how she can be motivated to WANT to stop eating.

For that you need to understand what you want to achieve by losing weight and keep reminding yourself how much you want to achieve it - every time you reach for food you don't need.

If you don't want to lose weight enough then the compulsion to eat will be too great. So reinforce your reasons by going through them (in your head or on paper) whenever you can.

Plus, if you want more help with motivation and strategies to follow you can get my FREE 7 part weight loss motivation course here

When you say you had a good meal what do you mean?

A good meal could be one which gave you enormous pleasure. It could be that it was absolutely delicious. You enjoyed every mouthful and felt quite satisfied after eating it.

Maybe it included some of your favorite foods - just like your mom used to make. True comfort food.

Maybe it was pure indulgence with food you love but which you don't normally allow yourself to eat on your diet.

Maybe you pushed the boat out a bit and ate in a top restaurant and are still remembering the whole experience of dining like royalty.

But there's another definition of a good meal I would like you to think about. It's one where you don't say "That was delicious" and then regret the calories when you get on the scales the next day.

A truly good meal is delicious but it also nourishes your body and provides a good balance of protein, carbohydrate, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals without going over the top on calories. It's one which has a healthy balance between tasting fantastic and making you feel fantastic too.

You may think that such foods don't exist - that a good meal isn't a good meal without a multitude of calories and a sticky dessert but I'd have to say you just haven't found the right recipes yet.

Make it your mission this year to find one new delicious healthy recipe every month (or every week if you can manage it). Find a healthy recipe that you would look forward to eating, try it out and make sure you love it then add it to your usual list of potential meals. As time goes on and you have collected a few recipes, you will be able to have a good meal whenever you like without wrecking you diet - you'll have your own treasure trove of personal favorites.  

To find recipes take a look at the cookbooks you have at home, search for "low-calorie recipes" or "low-fat recipes" online or check out some specialist magazines from your local book store.

I had a reader ask me a question recently about losing weight caused by hormonal imbalance. She was looking for help to find websites which deal with natural remedies which would make the process of losing weight easier.

In these situations I always try and find the true cause of excess weight and I answered her with a few questions to try and get to the heart of the matter. I add my response here in case it helps anyone else. As usual I try and tell it like it is - I won't tell you there's an easy solution when there isn't.

"Mmmmh... Why do you think you have a hormonal imbalance? Has a doctor diagnosed that? If so, your doctor is the best person to give you the answers! Or visit a natural therapist locally who can can look at your case on an individual basis - they treat the whole person not just the symptoms - so there's no single solution to an imbalance but there are many answers to suit different individuals.

Patients with abnormal diastolic function (when the heart is relaxed and expanded) in the left ventricle of the heart have a substantially lower maximum capacity for exercise, as per a research studyin the January 21 issue of JAMA
A number of factors, including age, female sex, body mass index and co-existing medical conditions are known to be linked to a decrease in exercise capacity. Identifying potentially reversible mechanisms underlying the decline in maximum exercise capacity could have important implications. Some research has suggested that assessing left ventricular (one of four chambers in the heart) function could be used to predict exercise capacity, as per background information in the article.

Jasmine Grewal, M.D., of Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and his colleagues conducted a study to examine the relationship between left ventricular diastolic function and exercise capacity. The study included 2,867 patients undergoing exercise echocardiography (a noninvasive diagnostic procedure that uses ultrasound to study the structure and motions of the heart) with routine measurements of left ventricular systolic (contraction of the heart) and diastolic function. Analyses were conducted to determine the strongest correlates of exercise capacity and the age and sex interactions of these variables with exercise capacity.

The scientists observed that diastolic dysfunction (impaired relaxation) was strongly and inversely linked to exercise capacity. Compared with normal function, those with resting diastolic dysfunction had substantially lower exercise capacity. Variation of left ventricular systolic function within the normal range was not linked to exercise capacity.

Other independent correlates of exercise capacity were age, female sex, and body mass index greater than 30. Compared with those with normal diastolic function, patients with diastolic dysfunction had a progressive increase in the magnitude of reduction in exercise capacity with advancing age.

"In identifying diastolic function parameters as strong correlates of exercise capacity, we have identified potentially modifiable and preventable factors in the development of exercise intolerance. It is well known that exercise training improves diastolic function in healthy individuals ," the authors write.


Posted by: Evelyn    Source