A student’s intro to nutrition and working out
Do you want to feel strong? Do you want to feel amazing? Do you want to look and feel changed? Learning about nutrition and working out can help you.
Nutrition is the process by which organisms take in and use food to support growth, energy, and overall health. Diets are a big part of nutrition, and are infamously mistaken for fads or ways to lose weight. However, your diet is actually the typical food and drink you consume. Diets can affect your overall health. For example, having a high diet in nutritious foods can benefit your overall health, but a diet lacking in essential nutrients or inadequate calories can affect a number of things, including, cognitive performance, mood, metabolic health, and more. Beware the choices you make about your diet, because less healthy dietary patterns established during adolescence can increase health complications later in life. Likewise, dietary habits established in adolescence can transition to adult-hood – good or bad.
During adolescence, many aspects of your body increase: height, weight, muscle mass, bone density, and organs increase significantly and grow in size. 50% of adult body weight is gained during adolescence. This makes adolescence an opportune time to provide for your body with nutrients and calories because your bodies undergo significant growth and development in this long period of time. One consequence of not providing your body sufficient calories is that your growth will be stunted, your puberty will be delayed, and menstrual irregularities can occur.
The foods you eat provide you with the calories that your body needs that come from the three macro nutrients (proteins, carbs, and fats) and some micro nutrients. Macro nutrients are the most crucial and important, because those are the main source of energy for our bodies, helping our growth and development, cognitive function, and reserves of energy for our body.
This is a recommended Caloric intake for moderately active adolescents from the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines For Americans (DCA)
Age | Caloric Intake For Moderately Active Adolescents |
12 | Girls: 2,000, Boys: 2,200 |
13 | Girls: 2,000, Boys: 2,200 |
14 | Girls: 2,000, Boys: 2,400 |
15 | Girls: 2,000, Boys: 2,600 |
16 | Girls: 2,000, Boys: 2,800 |
17 | Girls: 2,000, Boys: 2,800 |
18 | Girls: 2,000, Boys: 2,800 |
19 | Girls: 2,200, Boys: 2,800 |
Keep in mind that the amount of calories each person needs can vary and this chart gives a general idea how much you should eat at a specific age. For example, student-athletes may need 5,000 calories for their demanding sport. Also try to be aware or in tune with your body's cues and needs.
Refining your nutritional choices can be difficult because people think that they can’t indulge in their favorite foods and snacks, like soda, but that is far from the truth. You need to be cautious, because most teens' diets are low in micro nutrients. For example, vitamin D deficiency is most common among all teenagers ranging from 21% - 42% in the U.S. Causes linked to increased risk of vitamin D deficiency are being overweight, obesity, darker skin color, medical conditions that impact vitamin D absorption and utilization, and spending less time outside.
Teenagers tend to be low in other micro nutrients as well, like how girls tend to be deficient in iron. Some important eating tips are to not skip any meals, eat 3 times a day with at least one snack, and try to stay hydrated throughout the day. It´s important to be cautious about diets because they might have inadequate calories and not provide you with enough macro and micro nutrients. Avoid diets that restrict certain food groups or nutrients. The most important tips are: don’t be overly self conscious and overly concerned about your food choices, body weight, or activity levels because this can negatively impact your mental and physical health, and beware of being misinformed and blindly following what people say about fitness and nutrition online because they can just be spreading misinformation.
Exercise is controversial because there are various ways to participate in exercise. For example, a sport, going to the gym, calisthenics, cross fit, pilates, zumba, any aerobic exercise, ect. The most common way to participate in exercise are sports and our school has a wide selection of them (all the sports available according to the schools website).
Personally, I prefer going to the gym, because I enjoy the community and the feeling of accomplishment after completing a workout. I’m sure you may have heard that it is unsafe for teens to lift weights, however it is only unsafe if you lift weights that are too heavy. When lifting weights your first focus is on form and control so you can prevent injuries and gain muscle and strength. As for exercising, the minimum amount of exercise you should do is thirty minutes, three times a week. An example of a standard exercise program for anyone includes elements of cardio, strength, mobility work, this applies to teens as well.Teenagers who are in sports or sports are a big part of a your life, exercise can benefit from agility training, enhancing their reaction time and agility, and includes exercises that train power and balance.
The benefits of exercising are that adolescents experience less incidence of depression, they tend to have stronger bones, and healthier body fat consumptions. But, be aware because you can suffer from too much exercise as well such as Injury, reduced immunity, sleepiness, and depression. Be cautious about fixating on your body as well because it can lead to disordered eating and a compulsion to burn calories.
Signs that you are exercising too much are anxiety surrounding workouts, fear about or unwillingness to miss a workout, significant changes to the body (bulking up or losing weight) in a short amount of time, isolation from old friends, reluctance to participate in former hobbies in favor of working out, loss of menstrual period, restricted eating, or frequent injuries. Keep in mind that these can happen from time to time, but be cautious because they can become a predominant pattern.
Finally, some exercise tips are: moderation is key, consider your size when trying to use equipment, celebrate progress, not diminish it, don’t let the appearance of your body consume you, and focus on the benefits of exercising. I hope this information helps you!
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthy-eating-for-teens https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/exercise-for-teenagers
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