The Dietary Guidelines State That Adolescents Should Aim

Breads and cereals are essential part of a healthy diet and they are good sources of fibre, carbohydrates, protein and a wide range of vitamins and minerals. This food group is the main source of kilojoules (energy) in a child’s diet. A 5 year old requires 5 serves of breads and cereals a day to maintain nutrients and energy for a child’s normal growth and development.

This influences what foods are chosen for the meal. Fast food, takeout, quick microwave meals, etc. are the basic foods a lot of children are getting on a daily basis. The kids diet contains a lot of fat, salt, and sugar, but very few vitamins and whole, natural foods.

Because school-aged children’s families are busy, they have more of a potential for skipped and/or missed meals, which leads to fast food intake. This places the child at risk for obesity and metabolic disorders. This again leads back to parenting. Education is important when it comes to nutrition.

Our focus group is adolescent high school students between the ages of 12 - 18 years. The selected high schools are located in both Texas (Arlington high school) and California (Abraham Lincoln high school). The challenge with this age group is that teenagers tend to be very hungry during early adolescents due to the increasing body demands. These increasing demands can be attributed to puberty and the rapid growth spurts

Youth weight is a verifiably fundamental issue that can set children up for a lifetime of perpetual wellbeing conditions. Clearly, reasonable pharmaceuticals for youth heftiness are required. Researchers at Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University set fat adolescents (age 9-18 years) and people on either a veggie significant other eating routine or the kind of eating regimen that is suggested by the American Heart Association. The Heart Association eating regimen is not a veggie mate eating regimen.

The nutritional requirements of children differ according to their age and activity levels. The basic principles of a healthy diet are the same for all groups, including adults. The correct balance of macro and micro nutrients differs however as children need their food intake to support physical and mental

Today, our world is filled with food. While some are healthy, it seems like teenagers are more focused on the unhealthy foods. Yes, there are athletic programs; teens are still not eating the right foods they should be. They get the simple, easy to depend on, low cost foods which most likely are from fast food restaurants. Teenagers often pick the easy choice, which is why the obesity rate is rising in our state, including heart attacks and diabetes. Even though it seems like the unhealthy choices are more dependent when you’re in a rush and need a quick bite to eat, not caring about the nutrition, teenagers don’t realize that it will affect them in the long run, literally.

Proper nutrition is essential for the long-term health of children. A healthy diet helps protect against all forms of malnutrition that can lead to nutrient deficiencies, obesity, diabetes, and other chronic disease. (1a) Giving a child a supportive and adequate nutritional start has a positive impact on their not only their physical development but also their mental and social development (1). A study completed in 2013 investigated the intake of 5200 5th grade student and tested their academic abilities. This study found that students with a higher intake of vegetables and lower caloric intake of fat were significantly less likely to perform poorly on academic assessments. (11)

Addressing nutritional concerns can be implemented with the correct planning of substitutes to be consumed to provide a nutritionally adequate diet to be obtained in young adolescents. As the exclusion of all animal derived products impact the variety in which foods can be consumed, available and nutritious sources must be thoroughly compensated to provide adequate supplementation. As with any diet, the potential for deficiencies is arguable especially amongst the vegan diet and simply due to poor planning and often identified deficiencies are iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin B12 and vitamin D, which can lead to more serious complications. As

One of the most noticeable physical changes in adolescents at this stage is the sudden increase in height and weight along with other bodily changes like maturation of reproductive system and changes in the body composition. Therefore, with rapid growth and development of the body, there is a need for an increase of nutrients being supplied through their diet. Adolescence boys require greater amount of nutrients and energy as compared to adolescence girls due to the differences in their developmental process. (Sharlin and Edelstein,

There are a wide variety of nutritional requirements for children aged 8-11 years old, for a child to remain healthy they must consume nutritious foods from each of the five food groups these being breads, cereals and pasta, Vegetables and fruits, Dairy, Meat and poultry and fats and oils group. The groups that children need to consume most of is the groups that contain more colour like vegetables, fruits and many more. Children aged 8-11 must partake in physical activity to maintain a healthy weight. The RDI (recommended daily intake) of the nutritional requirements are of the following:

The goals of our group are to educate and informed school children ages 6-8 about healthy food choices at Roosevelt Elementary School. The prevalence of obesity in the United States has risen dramatically in both adults and young children. The increase in the numbers of overweight children is addressed in Healthy People 2020. Strategies designed to approach this issue include: Increase iron and calcium intake, increase fiber and whole grain intake, decrease use of sugar and sodium, increase fruit and vegetable intake, and decreased the use of solid fats.

The DRI table shows average or higher consumption of grain products comparable to the food guide. The main component of grain products is fibre and the DRI table shows a consumption of 21.6 which is almost average for the age group of 20-year-old women. The food guide recommends 6-7 servings of grain products a day. The DRI

The Importance of Good Nutrition and a Well Balanced Diet in Children 0 – 6

Adolescence is the period that extends from the onset of puberty until full growth is reached. For most individuals, adolescence occurs between the ages of 12 and 20. It is second only to infancy in the nutritional requirements necessary for growth and development. The period of transition from childhood to adulthood is called adolescence with accelerated physical, biochemical and emotional development. It is during this period that the final growth spurt occurs. There are many body changes which result due to the influence of hormones. The growth spurts of the boys are slower than that of girls. The growth spurt signalling the onset of a critical body composition of 10% body fat. Greatest nutrient need for boy is between 12-15 years and for girls is 10-13 years. Both males and females are influenced by th adequacy of zinc status. They attain their adult stature between 18-20 and bone mass continues to increase up to age of 25. With the profound growth of adolescence there are increased demands for energy, protein, minerals and vitamins.