Healthy Diet for Active/Athletic Teen: 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

Healthy Choices for Active Teens

First of all, what is an active teen? Where is the line drawn? There is no line, but for our purposes, we'll consider a teenager who participates in rigorous physical activities for an average of 1 hour a day. Activities like football, soccer, tennis, and baseball are definitely rigorous. Activities such as bowling wouldn't qualify as rigorous activity.

Active teens use more energy than average teens, so they need to consume more energy, in the form of carbohydrates. An average teen would probably need about 1500 to 3000 calories a day, while active teens will need somewhere from 2000-5000 calories a day, depending on many variables such as weight, time spent doing activities, personal metabolism, and the type of activity. This blog will give insight to what a healthy diet for active teens looks like, and why they need what they need.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Importance of Healthy Food/ Daily Caloric Needs

Importance of Healthy Food:

Eating the right foods gives you more energy and a better sense of well-being. If you eat too much unhealthy food, it can cause your blood glucose levels to rise quickly. When this happens, you may feel tired or sick.

If you eat to little or not at all, you may find yourself with a lower blood glucose level. This is called hypoglycemia. If your blood glucose levels drop too low, then you may become dizzy, weak, and grumpy. There is also a chance that if you have hypoglycemia; you could go into a diabetic coma.

Healthy eat can help you manage weight. If you don’t eat the right foods, it makes it much harder for you to manage your weight. By eating right and working out, you make it easier to lose or gain weight as you please. If you help keep your blood glucose levels in the right range, you lower the chance for you to have heart disease.

Something to watch is the amount of cholesterol you consume. Too much of cholesterol in your body may cause problems, like heart disease. No more than 300 mg of cholesterol should be consumed a day. There are two different types of cholesterol. One is called high-density lipoproteins (HDL). The other is called low-density lipoproteins (LDL). HDL cholesterol is usually good for you. HDL cholesterol takes cholesterol to the liver to be broken down and processed. LDL cholesterol is bad for the body. It clogs blood vessels and blocks it from going to certain parts of the body. When you eat too much LDL cholesterol, it builds up in the walls of arteries, which is called plaque. If you consume too much LDL cholesterol, the plaque on the arteries builds up so much that it may block blood flow. If that happens, then there are serious dangers such as atherosclerosis.

Daily Caloric Needs:

Active teen boys requirements depend on factors such as age, weight, and activity level. They usually require more than 3000 calories in a day. Teen boys need approximately, 3500 calories per day. Because they are active, they burn off all the calories very fast. This means that they require more than inactive teen boys.

Active teen girls requirements depend on factors such as age, weight and activity level. They usually do not require as many calories as active teen boys. Active teen girls usually require more than 2200 calories in a day. They most likely need close to 2500 calories or so if they are really active.

Macronutrients

Carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates are the foundation of any diet. To put it simply, they provide most of the energy your body needs. Since an active teen uses more energy than average teens, they need more carbs than average teens.

Carbohydrates are composed of sugar, starch and fiber. When people eat carbs, they get broken down into mostly glycogen and stored in your liver where it can be infused with blood and transported through every single cell. For this reason, they are important to provide the energy to make new cells and new tissue.

Some healthy sources of carbohydrates are thinks like whole wheat bread, beans, potatoes, and brown rice. Almost every food have carbohydrates in them, so there are many unhealthy sources of carbs. Things like candy, chocolate, white bread, and sugar drinks all have carbs. Although these carbs are still used the same way, these ones do not have as many micronutrients that are also extremely important.

The recommended intake vary based on factors such as age, weight, gender, etc. On average though, about 55-65% of total calories consumed should be from carbohydrates. But these should mostly be from good sourses of carbs like the ones listed above, not bad ones.

Proteins:
Proteins are important in the growth, development and repair of your body. It not only helps build muscles, but also helps with your health of hair, immune system and enzyme production.

Foods that are called complete proteins contain 9 essential amino acids, which the body cannot produce by itself. Foods that are complete proteins include: Meat, poultry, certain beans, nuts and soy products. Incomplete proteins include grains, fruit and vegetables. However, foods can be combined to create complete proteins such as rice and beans.

Recommend intake vary based on factors such as age, weight, gender, etc. However, there is a formula for calculating the recommend intake of protein:
(Body Weight/2.2) • (between 0.8-1.8) = grams of protein

If you are highly active you will multiply the first number by a higher number between 0.8-1.8 (Ex. (Body Weight/2.2) • 1.3 = grams of protein). This is due to the fact that you require more protein if you are highly active, particularly if you are weight lifting and you are trying to bulk up.

According to MyPyramid, Teens should eat an equivalent of 6 ounces worth of meat and poultry: http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/meat_counts_table.html (see chart)

A single gram of protein is 4 calories; 10%-15% of your daily caloric intake should come from protein.

Fats:
Fats are important in all diets. There are good fats and bad fats.

Good fats include unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated). They help with the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K. They also provide essential fats such Omega 3 and Omega 6, which help brain function, regulate blood pressure, blood clots and immune system response. Unsaturated fats are found in foods such as vegetable oils, nuts (omega 6s), fish (omega 3s) and avocadoes. Monounsaturated fats help reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) and are a good source of vitamin E, which is an important antioxidant. Monounsaturated fats offer more heart protection than polyunsaturated fats

Bad fats include saturated and trans fat. Saturated fats are fats mainly found in meats and dairy products such as pork, butter and cheese. Consuming saturated fats increases your bad cholesterol (LDL), which increases risk for heart disease and atherosclerosis. Trans fat is created by adding hydrogen to vegetable oils to make them solidify. Another name for trans fat is partially hydrogenated oils. Trans fat raises bad LDL cholesterol levels while also lowering good HDL cholesterol levels. This has a drastic effect on risk of heart disease. Saturated and trans fat should be limited, and instead unsaturated fats should be substituted.

Recommended intakes vary based on factors such as age, weight, gender, etc. An active/athletic teen should eat roughly 60 grams of fat a day (vigorous activities may call for more fat in a diet).

Most of this fat should come from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends less than one percent of your daily caloric intake should come from trans fat, which equates to less than 2 grams. The AHA also recommends less than 7 percent of your daily caloric intake should come from saturated fats, which equates to about 16 grams daily.

According to MyPyramid, teens should eat an equivalent of 6 teaspoons of oils. http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/oils_count_table.html (see chart)

A single gram of fat is 9 calories; 20-25% of your daily caloric intake should come from fats.

Good Foods vs. Bad Foods

Foods to Eat:

Whole grains: foods that are whole grain give longer lasting energy because they are complex carbohydrates which take longer to digest

Bananas: bananas are a good source of potassium which can reduce cramps in athletes

Fish: fish such as tuna or salmon are excellent sources of essential fats as well as good protein

Nuts: scientific evidence suggests that eating almonds may help lower heart risk. Tree nuts are also a good source of protein and essential fats

Sweet Potatoes: sweet potatoes contain complex carbohydrates known as amylose, which supplies long-lasting energy

Fruits and Vegetables: fruits and vegetables are always a good choice of food for vitamin and mineral purposes

Chicken and Turkey: these are non-red meat which are good sources of protein; broiled or barbecued is much better than fried

Lean Red Meat: lean red meat can be a good source of protein. However, too much red meat potentially contributes to breast cancer.

Fresh-Squeezed Fruit Juice: fresh-squeezed juice is much better than canned juice. Canned juice also tend to put in extra sugar or high fructose corn syrup

Foods to Limit

Junk Food: your body does not require the bad nutrition found in chips, fast food, ice cream and cake. You can live the rest of your life without ever eating this stuff again. These foods are high in sugar and bad fats, as well as cholesterol often times.

Soda: this contains a lot of sugar and actually dehydrates your body

Energy Drinks: these contain a lot of chemicals that are harmful to your body. It is under many peoples opinions that energy drinks should not be sold to minors

White Rice and White Bread: despite white rice being the staple for most people in Hawaii, white rice and white bread aren't actually good sources of carbohydrates. They are simple carbs and go straight to the blood stream (empty carbs), brown rice and whole wheat bread are much better options

3-Day Diet Plan

[Amount of food varies based on age, gender, weight, activity level, etc. Portion size can be changed if needed]

Day 1:
Breakfast: 1 ½ cup cooked oatmeal with ½ – ¾ sliced banana on top and 1 ½ oz of deli style ham

Lunch: Tuna sandwich made with reduced fat mayonnaise on whole wheat bread with lettuce and ½ an apple

Snack: 1-1 ½ oz of oven roasted sea salted almonds

Dinner: 1 Roasted chicken breast with 1 cup brown rice and ½ – 1-cup cooked green beans and 1 cup fruit salad (greater variety is better)

Day 2:
Breakfast: 1-1 ½ cup whole grain cereal and 1-cup non-fat milk with a handful of sprinkled raisins

Lunch: Chicken Caesar salad (1 chopped chicken breast, reduced fat cheese, light dressing and 3-4 cups of lettuce)

Snack: Banana and 6 oz non-fat yogurt

Dinner: 4-6 oz broiled salmon with ½ – 1-cup cooked broccoli and 1-cup fruit salad and 4 oz of Okinawan sweet potatoes

Day 3:
Breakfast: ½ cup Egg beater (egg whites) omelet with reduced fat cheese, chopped up bell peppers and green onions and 1 slice of toast with minimal margarine spread

Lunch: 5 oz Tofu parmigano (tofu topped with marinara sauce and reduced fat cheese) with 1-cup pasta and either a banana or orange

Snack: Low- fat whole grain granola bar and 1 cup grapes or 6 oz non-fat yogurt

Dinner: 1–1 ½ cup chili with corn with 1 – 1 ½ cup brown rice and 1-cup fruit salad

(It is important to keep hydrated, as an athlete your body loses many fluids during activity. Lots of water should be consumed throughout the day, a rule of thumb is your urine should be almost clear)